Starting on a cracking rendition of the Mission: Impossible Theme, this is a collection
of film score giants performed by the RPO. Many are firsts for the orchestra,
with an impressive Lord of the Rings being the newest of the bunch. Other recent
hits (Gladiator, Harry Potter, Titanic, Shakespeare in Love) are mixed
with some reaching back a few years (Schindler’s List, The Bodyguard, Robin
Hood: Prince of Thieves, Batman, Out of Africa). The effect of which is
a playlist centred around a couple of decades of the biggest award-winners and
popular titles.
This disc is in a series privately produced by the Orchestra; the only one concentrating
on film music. In many ways this is like a very well produced concert recording.
In fact it’s more like a rehearsal for concerts yet to come – which is actually
the case at the time of writing. As with any re-recording, die-hard fans of
any popular item will flinch at the slightest difference in performance. But
these are as solid as any collected together in a commercial film music collection.
Paul Tonks
4
Gary Dalkin adds:
This is not a collection for the serious film music buff, being
more a modern day incarnation of the sort of Great Themes albums Geoff Love
used to release very successfully in the 1970's on the Music for Pleasure label.
A range of albums through which many found their first taste of film music.
Likewise this album will make a good introduction to many popular themes for
those just starting out with an interest in film music, and there is one genuine
highlight; here is quite the best suite from Stephen Warbeck's Oscar-winning
Shakespeare in Love that I have yet heard. As, despite the Oscar, one
of the most undervalued scores in recent years the album is worth hearing just
for these glorious ten minutes.
Gary Dalkin
3