The Secret of NIMH

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Where The Secret of NIMH succeeds in is in creating the environment of the movie, magical, mysterious and dark at certain occasions. Where it fails in my point of view is to amuse me as an complete earth shattering listening experience. It's one of the few animated scores Goldsmith has composed and it is now one of the ultimate collector scores to have. In a way I can categorize it with The Challenge, it's a scoring way I'm not accustomed with of Goldsmith, his typical energetic music does sound familiar but as melodic, it doesn't approve in any way possible. Very rarely do we get a complete melodic movement, in this case the highlight track 'Flying High / End Title'. A great extra touch of Goldsmith is the inclusion of the hunter theme of Peter and the Wolf of Tjakofski, it gets some small variations in the score. Another part of the magic is created by The Ambrosian Singers, bringing with their choral singing a depth of mystery and magic to the soundtrack. But this only happens briefly during the running time. The rest features horns, brass and energetic orchestrations. All very impressive but it fails to amuse me and isn't supreme music in motion.

The sad point of The Secret of NIMH is that the main themes of the score are hardly used. The begin, middle and end feature moments but sparsely and not enough. Also the songs which are based around Goldsmith's main theme are nice but not that special. But in the end The Secret of NIMH will most likely surprise Goldsmith fans all over the world. For those that wonder where I got this copy from, this is one I rented in a library right here in Belgium, but good to knows is that I have seen it somewhere in musical stores on the internet. I can not categorize this score as a usual and typical Goldsmith score but as a complex but energetic animation score, featuring choral singing and various instruments and tones. Maybe some people might like this score, I can not find enough interesting moments to enjoy it. And frankly the interesting moments can not lure me to listen to it more then often. But do not hesitate to pick up an available copy. It's to rear to leave it lying there. Goldsmith food probably but I'm afraid I haven't found the secret yet of Goldsmith's animation soundtrack.

\ЕЕЕ/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. Main Title (3.13)

2. The Tractor (2.57)

3. The Sentry Reel / Story Of NIMH (6.03)

4. Step Inside My House (4.39)

5. The House Raising (4.32)

6. Moving Day (7.54)

7. No Thanks (2.00)

8. Allergic Reaction / Athletic Type (2.39)

9. Flying Dreams / Lullaby * (Vocal: Sally Stevens) (3.15)

10. Escape From NIMH / In Disguise (4.57)

11. Flying High / End Title (2.37) Excellent Track

12. Flying Dreams * (Vocal: Paul Williams) (3.24)

* Lyrics by Paul Williams

Total Length: 48.32

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

=== Link to Composer Site: Jerry Goldsmith ===