Space and Beyond (Compilation)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

If there is one existing series of compilations worthy of attention, it is still the Space and Beyond albums. As of today those are renowned for their impressive efforts on sound and power, the collaboration of the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the Crouch End Festival Chorus really upholds its reputation. The first release set back in '96 was the hit of the series, and is of today still the strongest competitor, followed closely by the second and at a minimum distant the third. This release offers us some of the best science fiction music ever. Of course no album like this could do without its two prime favorites, Star Trek and Star Wars. Especially the Star Trek sound is extremely recommended and receives plenty of space on the second disc. Yes you heard it, not one but two discs of the best film music in category "to the stars and beyond". For the price and for its collection and performance it is a sublime effort, worthy to stand beyond all those others.

As with all compilations, it is the success of the piece itself with the performance of it that counts and both are perfect on the album Space and Beyond. With the usual miss interpretation and handful of errors we have come to expect of the City of Prague Philharmonic, the overall impression is really good. The power and the subtlety with various moments have made some of the re recordings even better then the original. I found that the slow pace of Species worked better here then the original performance where it sounded rushed and most importantly needed to be rushed because of the begin and end credits. Other fine interpretations are Close Encounters of the Third Kind (with a perfect choral performance), The Right Stuff (using Shostakovitch's variations but overall a brilliant performance), Lifeforce of Henry Mancini (when I heard this I first thought of John Williams), the great sound during Cocoon and Barry's The Black Hole. Worth noting are the unused Alien credits and the stunning performance of Capricorn One. In other words, you receive your classics in fabulous sound and performance.

While disc 2 captures Star Wars and Star Trek, there is much variety and a lot of perfection needed to capture the astonishing themes. And the orchestra succeeds more then ever. I do believe that every performance combines the best of their capabilities, especially worth noting is Star Trek: The Motion Picture of Jerry Goldsmith, the new theme receives a perfect performance. And Space and Beyond beyond anything else delivers not only excellent re recordings but fine material. Especially the fans receive unseen and hard to get stuff, On the first disc we already received Species, Lifeforce, Alien (unused credits), Cocoon (hard to get at that time) and most importantly from the second the rejected cues from Alex North's 2001 and the concert arrangements of Deep Space Nine's rousing main theme. Worth adding a note for is the emotional piece of McCarthy for the episode 'He's Toast', this is extremely vital material and no doubt will make an impression during that certain scene.

And since Star Trek fanatics receive 90% of the material of the shows and movies (the third Trek movie is surprisingly missing), this is especially worth seeking out simply for those astonishing scores. The rousing fanfares of Horner's much beloved score (and probably the best score of the series), the sudden difference but a nice fun theme for the fourth (probably the best movie of the series), and especially brilliant are Goldsmith's themes for the fifth and series Voyager, Cliff Eidelman's highly respected The Undiscovered Country and the best piece of McCarthy's Generations. All add the mere fun of being music fan in the first place. The fans will also have noticed the inclusion of sound effects, they might distract the fun of listening to them but surround possibilities open the future for an impressive reaction nonetheless. Since today, 2001 this is still the best Space and Beyond compilation, and fans of Trek music, and in certain ways much more the science fiction fans are in for a real treat. No doubt to say that the overall double disc will set your heart on fire, it really has gone where no one has gone before. Or in the words of William Shatner in the fifth, you have to buy it, just because its there.

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Tracks

Double Disc

Disk One: 74.41

2001: A Space Odyssey (Richard Strauss)

1. Introduction (1.49) Excellent Track

Apollo 13 (James Horner) Orchestrations by Derek Wadsworth

2. SFX - Apollo 13 lift-off (0.52)

3. Main Title (3.01)

The Right Stuff (Bill Conti)

4. Finale (4.40) Excellent Track

Species (Christopher Young) Orchestrations by Peter Anthony

5. SFX - Accelerated Protein Synthesis in Alien Organism (1.01)

6. End Titles * (7.46) Excellent Track

Lifeforce (Henry Mancini) Orchestrations by Henry Mancini

7. End Title (4.00) Excellent Track

Alien (Jerry Goldsmith) Orchestrations by Arthur Morton

8. SFX - The Nostromo (1.00)

9. End Title (3.52)

Capricorn One (Jerry Goldsmith) Orchestrations by Arthur Morton

10. Overture (3.16) Excellent Track

Cocoon (James Horner) Orchestrations by Jack Hayes

11. Theme (7.23) Excellent Track

The Black Hole (John Barry) Orchestrations by Nic Raine

12. SFX - Event Horizon (1.25)

13. Suite (4.55) Excellent Track

The Empire Strikes Back (John Williams)

14. Han Solo & The Princess (4.09) Excellent Track

Heavy Metal (Elmer Bernstein) Orchestrations by Christopher Palmer

15. Taarna's Theme (5.36)

Enemy Mine (Maurice Jarre) Orchestrations by Christopher Palmer

16. SFX - Dogfight (1.29)

17. Suite / Fyrine IV / Scavengers / Drac Holy Council / The Relationship (9.37)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (John Williams)

18. The Conversation Begins (0.52)

19. Main Title / Resolution & Finale * (7.23) Excellent Track

Disk Two: 64.14

2001: A Space Odyssey (Alex North) Orchestrations by Christopher Palmer

1. Prelude: The Dawn Of Man (1.34)

2. Space Station Docking (2.53)

Star Wars (John Williams)

3. Main Title (5.24) Excellent Track

Star Trek: The TV Series (Alexander Courage) Orchestrations by Mike Towsend

4. SFX - Warp Drive (0.45)

5. TV Theme ** (2.23) Excellent Track

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Jerry Goldsmith) Orchestrations by Arthur Morton

6. End Title (3.57) Excellent Track

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Dennis McCarthy) Orchestrations by Jack Hayes & Dennis McCarthy

7. SFX - Away Team (0.54)

8. Theme (3.56) Excellent Track

9. He's Toast (3.40)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (James Horner) Orchestrations by Jack Hayes

10. SFX - The Bridge (0.30)

11. Overture (6.33) Excellent Track

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Leonard Rosenman) Orchestrations by Ralph Ferraro

12. End Title (3.32) Excellent Track

Star Trek: The Next Generation (Ron Jones) Orchestrations by Ron Jones

13. Tasha's Farewell (9.15)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Jerry Goldsmith) Orchestrations by Arthur Morton

14. SFX - Battle Stations (0.31)

15. Life Is A Dream (4.02) Excellent Track

Star Trek: Voyager (Jerry Goldsmith) Orchestrations by Hummie Mann

16. Main Title (1.59) Excellent Track

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Cliff Eidelman) Orchestrations by Mark McKenzie & William Kidd

17. End Title Suite (6.31) Excellent Track

Star Trek Generations (Dennis McCarthy) Orchestrations by Mark McKenzie

18. SFX - Crash Landing (0.47)

19. Overture * (4.41) Excellent Track

SFX stands for Sound Effects

* Performed by The Crouch End Festival Chorus

** Solo Soprano: Jill Washington

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