{"id":4649,"date":"2012-04-13T15:38:03","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T19:38:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4649"},"modified":"2012-04-13T15:38:03","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T19:38:03","slug":"cd-titanic-an-epic-musical-voyage-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4649","title":{"rendered":"CD: Titanic – An Epic Musical Voyage (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>T to U<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label: BSX Records\/ Released: April 10,, 2012<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 15 tracks \/ (67:00)<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Special Notes: n\/a.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Composer: various<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Review:<\/p>\n

Featuring arrangements by Dan Redfield, the latest Titanic-inspired compilation offers material from James Horner\u2019s 1997 score and Maury Yeston\u2019s Tony Award-winning musical Titanic<\/strong>, with some additional themes and period songs, all performed by the amusingly titled White Star Chamber Orchestra, of which some musicians played on Horner\u2019s original score recording.<\/p>\n

In terms of consistency, Redfield\u2019s arrangements are clean and precise, and the orchestra features a balanced array of chamber, folk, and vocal artists, so there\u2019s consistency in tone and mood throughout the album. The CD\u2019s engineering is equally precise, with each instrument\u2019s nuances coming through very cleanly.<\/p>\n

Those not<\/em> fond of Horner\u2019s love theme (and more specifically, its vocal version) may prefer the original soundtrack album, as the arranged selections here cover the score\u2019s main and most popular cues \u2013 the title theme, the ship\u2019s departure from Southampton, a piano version, \u201cHymn to the Sea,\u201d and an up-tempo vocal version, performed by Zoe Poledouris. Poledouris\u2019 version is a bit of a struggle as her voice doesn\u2019t quite match the dynamic harmonics which diva-belter Celine Dion was able to tackle; and the lyrics, sung in a more measured (and intelligible tone) also reveal the inherent banality of the libretto. It\u2019s quite clear the song affected listeners because of Dion\u2019s powerful voice, and the repetitive melody that carried a catchy corkscrew chorus.<\/p>\n

The Yeston songs from the musical offer a better contrast with their rock-solid lyrics and fine vocal arrangements, and most of the selections are used to break up the inherent monotony of hearing Horner\u2019s love theme in slightly different guises. Vocal performances in \u201cNo Moon\u201d and \u201cWe\u2019ll Meet Tomorrow\u201d are very lovely, and surprisingly avoid the bathos that tends to affect Horner\u2019s vocal theme. Yeston\u2019s tunes are interpolated between the Horner cuts, and nestled in-between are versions of \u201cNearer My God to Thee,\u201d the supposed last song played by the Titanic\u2019s orchestra; John Williams\u2019 \u201cTitanic Trot\u201d from pilot episode of Irwin Allen\u2019s The Time Tunnel <\/strong>TV series; chamber versions of John Barry\u2019s main themes for the cinematic dud Raise the Titanic<\/a><\/strong>; and Howard Blake\u2019s rarely heard theme from S.O.S. Titanic<\/strong>, cleverly built around three monotonous piano hits mimicking the Morse Code distress signal.<\/p>\n

Blake\u2019s orchestrations are really inventive in the way the 3-note motif establishes the tempo, spins off the melody, and shifts chords to infer varying levels dramatic gravitas. It\u2019s the CD\u2019s most dire cue, and the performance between chamber strings and piano is quite exquisite. Pity more of the score wasn\u2019t included (or more of Blake\u2019s work exists on CD, for that matter).<\/p>\n

BSX Records\u2019 lengthy CD also includes detailed liner notes by Randall Larson, who provides a brisk overview of prior scores for TV, film, and Broadway, and comments on the selected themes.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

External References:<\/p>\n

Soundtrack Album<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0T to U<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ T to U . Rating: Very Good Label: BSX Records\/ Released: April 10,, 2012 Tracks & Album Length: 15 tracks \/ (67:00) . Special Notes: n\/a. . Composer: various . . Review: Featuring arrangements by Dan Redfield, the latest Titanic-inspired compilation offers material from James Horner\u2019s 1997 score and Maury […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1210,327,283,148,1211,1205],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1cZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4649"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4653,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4649\/revisions\/4653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}