The Score (2001)

Alexander Anissimov’s 1997 Naxos one with National Symphony Orchestra and RTÉ Philharmonic Choir…Helen Field, singing for Anissimov, is a real delight in the slow movement, poignant, lyrical and clear in enunciation in a performance that has two fine Russians (tenor Ivan Choupenitch and baritone Oleg Melnikov) as the other soloists and an approach to the score that transmits a broad, well honed spectrum of emotion.

Through the decade of the 1990's, director John Singleton was known best, of course, for 1991's Boyz N the Hood, and his 2001 companion film Baby Boy is a similarly structured urban drama involving the disadvantages and trials of African American black men in urban settings. The film is once again a challenging look at the central themes that Singleton often raises in his projects, and while critics praised his ability to maintain a realistic perspective within the genre, many black audiences were less than pleased about the stereotypical portrayals of gang-tempted blacks in predictable and disappointing situations. Many viewers agreed, however, that Singleton's film presented far more questions than answers. An interesting answer to one question was David Arnold, whose hiring to write the music for the project was considered a curious move by the fans of the composer only familiar with his small body of soundtrack work. The British composer was widely recognized as the composer of several very large-scale orchestral film scores of the 1990's in America, and the last genre that came to mind when most fans thought of Arnold was rhythm & blues. And yet, Arnold's fans should never have been surprised that he could pull it off, because his ability to adapt his talents to several different genres, whether pop, electronica, jazz, or orchestral, is well established.

This soundtrack album to the acclaimed BBC television series Blue Planet – Seas of Life is by George Fenton. Isolated from their accompanying videos, soundtrack albums often just don't hold up. Even if you haven't seen this television program, however, that is not the case with the Blue Planet CD. Indeed, the music here works quite well as a "sit down and listen" album. It also seems that the neo-classical arrangements surely capture the mystery, majesty, beauty, playfulness, power, and even terror of the ocean world very well. You may be reaching for a towel after listening to this one.

In 1977, Sir Lew Grade and acclaimed Italian director Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo And Juliet, the wonderful Mel Gibson Hamlet) were in the midst of finishing their sprawling six-hour miniseries about the life of Christ when they turned to veteran composer Maurice Jarre for the musical chores. While Jarre apparently had his reservations about doing work for television, in this case his fears turned out to be unjustified. With an all-star cast, exotic locations that spanned the globe, and most importantly the type of budget that could afford the kind of epic score Jarre had in mind, many still consider Jesus Of Nazareth to be one of the definitive filmic depictions of the J-man to date. Quite a feat, considering that the Guinness Book Of World Records calls Jesus the single most portrayed character in the history of cinema.

FSM returns to the treasures of the Warner Bros. archives (The Omega Man, The Towering Inferno) with a masterpiece by Jerry Goldsmith: The Illustrated Man. The film stars Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom in an adaptation of several short stories by Ray Bradbury, affording Goldsmith the crowning achievement of his work in the anthology format (CBS Radio Workshop, The Twilight Zone), as well as one of his most memorable and original works in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres.