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Soundtrack
Editorial Review:
The most eagerly anticipated movie of 1999, if not the decade, The Phantom Menace was also a mouth-watering prospect for soundtrack fans. Star Wars, after all, has become arguably the best-known and most influential movie score ever written, so a new instalment from John Williams, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, was always going to be a cause for celebration. And if the movie proved ultimately unable to live up to audience's almost impossibly high expectations, the music more than compensated. This is Williams at his expansive best. Always a supremely confident inhabitant of the Star Wars universe, the composer once again marshals the techniques of leitmotif and thematic transformation to depict the exotic landscapes of George Lucas's imagination; and here, 22 years after the original, his scoring exudes the maturity of a highly accomplished master of his craft. Take the centrally important "Anakin's Theme", for example, in which the seeds are sown for transformation into "The Imperial March" (Darth Vader's theme), or the Miklós Rózsa-esque march of "The Flag Parade" (the comparison with Ben-Hur is only fitting in context), or the magnificent choral set-piece, "Duel Of The Fates", in which a choir chanting a Sanskrit text (!) is propelled headlong over a driving ostinato rhythm. Original themes are used sparingly, but when the Force theme floats ethereally into "Watto's Deal" or the Emperor's sinister theme introduces "The Appearance Of Darth Maul", their impact is all the more telling for its subtlety. Throughout, the picturesque orchestration conjures vivid images--whether or not you are thinking of the movie--helped greatly by a magnificent performance from the LSO, whose excitement and sense of enjoyment in this music is tangible (the brass playing is, as ever with this team, a joy to behold). The recording at Abbey Road Studio No. 1 is also one of the most realistic ever captured on disc: listen through good speakers and it's like sitting in the studio itself. This 74-minute album assembled by the composer is intended to offer a musically coherent presentation: doubtless a complete version of this score will surface to satisfy collectors, but for now there's scarcely a better way to experience the magical fusion of music and cinema. --Mark Walker
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Absolutley Wonderful Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace. Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace was the first of the "New Movies" that George Lucas has done, and he has brought back to the helm John Williams, Naturally! John has done it again! The music on this Soundtrack is of utmost quality, but nothing to surpass the originality of the first three feature films; Episodes 4, 5, and 6. The story for episode one may have seemed a bit juvenile when comapred to the first of the Star Wars Saga, but the music is still... more info
John Williams picks up where he left off... The rousing, and epics scores of the original trilogy, are the best part of the stories, if not the whole series of movies. The movies and powerful epic that is called the Imperial March are one of the most well known and one of the strongest pieces of film music that has ever been written. John Williams then ingeniously re-engineered old themes to provide new ones that tie togehter old and new. When I heard about the release of the first of the series of 3 prequels, I beleived that it might be a flop, with... more info
Worth it for 'Duel of the Fates' John Williams music is always good and his Star Wars related themes are particularly wonderful. This CD provides pretty much everything that you'd expect, so does not really require much of a review. For me, far and away the best scene in the film is the fight between Qui-Gon, Obi-wan, and Darth Maul which is accompanied by the stirring piece of music 'Duel of the Fates'. Being able to listen to this piece alone had made this CD worth buying. Other than this, it makes pretty effective background music if... more info
Wow! Absolutely loved it!Im 15,female and this is my favourite album.I was always a Star Wars fan but this soundtrack surpasses the previous three.My favourites are "Anakin's Theme","Duel of Fates" and "He is the Chosen One".The music is familiar yet in other ways completely different.I loved the "Force" music in "Watto's Deal" and the Darth Vader theme in "The High Council Meeting".I never heard anything like this!
Tracks:
Star Wars/The Arrival At Naboo
Duel Of The Fates
Anakin's Theme
Jar Jar's Introduction/The Swim To Otoh Gunga
Sith Spacecraft/The Droid Battle
Trip To The Naboo Temple/The Audience With Boss Nass
