Mercury Classics Archive

“Collage” – The Last Work of JAMES HORNER – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/ David Arnold & Royal Philharmonic/James Martin – Mercury Classics

by Audiophile Audition | Nov 11, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

“Collage” – The Last Work of JAMES HORNER [TrackList Follows] – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/ David Arnold & Royal Philharmonic/James Martin – Mercury Classics 481, 64:00 (9/23/16), 64:00 ****: A lovely tribute to the music of the late film composer James Horner. If you see any films you’ve doubtless heard the music of James Horner. He wrote the music for Titanic and Avatar, two of the top- grossing films in history. He had written  for another 130 or so films, before he tragically died in a small plane accident last year. Some of his other notable works include Star Trek II, 48 Hours, Cocoon, Glory, Field of Dreams, Braveheart and Apollo 13. He had an academic life before entering the world of film scoring, teaching at UCLA. I didn’t consider him a first-tier composer, the equal of say Miklos Rozsa or Alex North, but he had an excellent sense of matching the music to picture, and the films he scored were helped immensely by his good musical taste. This disc contains some symphonic arrangements from some of his films, including First in Flight and Aliens. It concludes with Horner’s last work, a concert piece called Collage, written in 6 movements. It’s […]