Glory

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

As ever, I find Horner in the classic days to be much better then he is now. The occasional master stroke can't compare as what he wrote year after year of classic scores. And it seemed that almost each year, there was one. Count Glory of '89 to be the one of its time. This is the kind of Horner that takes it all into one amazing score, dramatic strings up the wazoo, amazing themes that shine almost any time in their most bombastic form and choir that doesn't stop holding you in its grasp. It seems that Horner really had inspiration since it basically covered one of the best war movies ever. War movies are almost never unemotional but with this kind of music through it, it becomes better, stronger and more heartfelt than ever before. Glory was at that year what Legends of the Fall and Titanic were at their time. It easily maintains to be one the best of Jimmy's career. If people are still looking for scores to light their fire, emotionally that is, with great themes I might add then look no further. The only crime is that you have to still figure it out by reading this review. I could easily summarize it in one word, Stunning!!

Yet I'm gonna start with a more then sad note. Even if it is superior music and one of the best Horner has ever written, I still can't give it five stars. More, I seem to listen to it only sparingly. Perhaps this is the reason why I don't give it five in the first place. Strange but that is the truth. However don't see this one little mislip as the reason not to buy the score because frankly 95% of the rest will think that I am wrong. So, perhaps you do too. Now back to the score, it is orchestrally compelling and chorally sweeping and I don't know if I'm making these words up but it deserves to be heard by anyone. The score works like magic into the motion picture and equally well on disc. Horner wrote two themes, the one appearing the most is the main theme, it starts the score and it ends the score, all with choir I might add. 'A Call to Arms' uses this theme as the noble heroic anthem and explodes at the end with full bells and horns and whatever you want it to accompany with. Further it receives stunning majesty in the following tracks 'The Year of Jubilee' when it accompanies a war march on flutes and 'Closing Credits' when for once it receives the best choral performance of all. I am not kidding, in the begin this is sensational stuff and was used brilliantly in the trailer of Backdfraft before it explodes a little later with pure pride through the speakers. Still, the other theme is equally grand, a dramatic string wash that doesn't stop to mesmerize you and its best outing is found in 'Preparations for Battle', again exploding on disc at the end with bells (almost Titanic like).

Still, the best isn't said and it is one of those tracks that keeps surprising me each time I hear it on disc. 'Charging Fort Wagner' is THE Carmina Burana track of the score, not that bombastic but equally strong in its meaning with a choir that doesn't stop in making the scene everlasting in its effect. Also, a neat joke to say is that for once Horner didn't rip from somebody else but someone from him, because 'Burning the Town of Darien' is too close to Stargate from Arnold, with its almost replica sounding strings and theme development. Still, as mostly when the music is good I comment "Who Bloody Hell Cares". Glory isn't a long album, isn't a Horner rerun score and captures from begin to end the soul of the movie without a weak point to be heard. That I hardly listen to it says a thing about me and not about the score itself. I still adore this score to the end and so shall you, whoever that didn't hear it so far. Glory is a classic as all the others and equally a score that proves that James Horner is still the master of the Dramatic Epic movie. So go out and buy its mighty representation on disc before you lose your touch of film music.

\도도1/2/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. A Call To Arms (3.07) Excellent Track

2. After Antietam (2.38)

3. Lonely Christmas (1.54)

4. Forming The Regiment (5.26)

5. The Whipping (2.10)

6. Burning The Town Of Darien (2.31)

7. Brave Words, Braver Deeds (3.10)

8. The Year Of Jubilee (2.26) Excellent Track

9. Preparations For Battle (7.35) Excellent Track

10. Charging Fort Wagner (2.53) Excellent Track

11. An Epitaph To War (2.35)

12. Closing Credits (6.52) Excellent Track

Total Length: 43.24

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: James Horner ===