This particular Journey to the Center of the Earth is a Hallmark mini-series, one of a line of adaptations of classic stories from the company which has previously featured an acclaimed version of Gulliver's Travels and more recently a retelling of the Arthurian legends from the perspective of Merlin. The series stars Treat Williams, Jeremy London and Bryan Brown, and is directed by the George Miller best known for The Man From Snowy River, The NeverEnding Story II, and Andre (rather than the George Miller behind the Mad Max and Babe series). Bruce Rowland is not a particularly familiar name, however he is a regular collaborator with George Miller. They made their feature debuts as composer and director on The Man From Snowy River, and Journey to the Center of the Earth is at least their eleventh project together. The series, which aired in America in September, received generally good reviews, and apparently follows the Jules Verne novel fairly closely. The CD contains a great diversity of music, with 37 tracks spread over 68 minutes. Rowland employs both orchestra and electronics, and the first thing to note is that he has wisely avoided any direct comparison with Bernard Herrmann's great score for the 1959 MGM film version of the story, taking a totally different musical direction. This really is a mixture, with the opening electronic atmospherics bringing to mind Vangelis and particular Blade Runner, while the pulsating rhythm first heard in 'Troopers' might make one expect Christopher Reeve's Superman to suddenly appear. 'Maori Long Boat' features authentic sounding chanting over a minimal backdrop, while 'Chief's Game' introduces a humorous motif before the arrival of several brooding suspense cues which make good use of otherworldly synthesiser patches, and tend to have words like Pterodactyl and Raptosaur in the title. 'The Kiss' develops an attractive piano love theme, through the electronic strings in the early part of the cue are a disappointment. 'To the Village' fuses 'World' music drumming with a 'Western' fanfare and yet more electronics, introducing a part of the album which features three dances and a theme for 'Ralna' (played by Petra Yared). The rather light-weight feel of these sequences brings to mind nothing so much as a BBC2 documentary series, with the sound being especially evocative of the world established by Sheldon Mirowitz with his score for Columbus and the Age of Discovery. The album takes a more sombre turn with 'Troubled' and offers a further development of the piano theme in 'Thinking of Alice', before 'Exile Village' introduces a synthesised choir to add a sense of New Age Renaissance grandeur to the drama. 'Jhotan' builds a sense of foreboding impressively, before the inevitable cues for 'Escape' and 'Parting'. This lengthy album would seem to give a good presentation of Bruce Rowland's score, and it certainly sounds as it might work well on screen. The blend of orchestra, electronics and New Age sensibility is unusual for such a subject, and the score is surprisingly understated for such a tale of high adventure. There are only a few moments where the music comes fully to life in the expected manner, and in these passages the orchestra never attacks with great intensity. It may simply be that this is music for a more melancholy, mystical version of Verne than we have seen before, and while synthesised strings are no substitute for the real thing, there is a considerable amount of attractive, if not exceptional music on this disc. The sound quality is very good, and this is certainly a superior modern television score, but you may be best advised to wait until you have seen the mini-series before deciding to part with your money. Reviewer Gary S. Dalkin	Reviewer Gary S. Dalkin Reviews from previous months Reviews carry sales links but you can also purchase from:
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