Erich Kunzel - Great Film Fantasies (CD)

Great Film Fantasies

By victor_davion3035  Aug 25, 2006

Pros: The con might not be such a bad thing

Cons: Does not sound like the originals

I bought this cd because I really liked the music from all three movies. Composers John William's and Howard Shore's works are pure genius and I wanted to listen to those themes again, even in a covered form. Well, for a start, one should NO...T buy this CD expecting to hear the exact same things that were preserved in the original soundtrack recordings of the films. Much of it is substantially different, I stress; right down to the entire feel of the music, the percussion volumes, style of conducting, etc etc. Some of the Star Wars tracks were rather similar to the original, like the Imperial March and Battle of the Heroes, but tracks like Across the Stars (a really beautiful love theme prevalent in Episode II) were shortened, remixed, given a makeover. The Quidditch excerpt from Harry's Wondrous World (beginning around 3:00 of the track) was grossly different even though the notes were the same - in comparism to the original it sounded sort of like someone put a pedal to the brass. Not necessarily bad, but certainly different. Now the deciding factor for my purchase of the CD was the last three tracks. In track 14 I was really looking forward to enjoying some sort of rendition of the theme/song "In Dreams" - at this point in time probably my favourite film theme ever. It was not even played once, but there were FOUR glorious readings of the Fellowship Theme, a pleasant instrumental rendition of Enya's "May It Be", and yes, some folk music from the Shire. However in my opinion track 14 as a whole did not really sound like a Lord of the Rings soundtrack piece. The Hornburg, track 15, was around the same as the original. In the Ride of the Rohirrim the ethnic string instrument accompanying the trombones in the beginning was replaced by trumpets, and the end modified into a typical loud orchestral finale. In short, most of the sixteen pieces, in my opinion, especially the majestic orchestral moments, were more or less played in a manner that one would expect from a pops orchestra (which it was, really), and NOT the London Symphony or London Philharmonic. I stress again, not necessarily bad, but most certainly different. Keep an open mind listening to this CD and one might just walk away pleasantly surprised. I mean, it IS completely unreasonable to expect a cover to sound exactly like the original... Read more Less