by Demetris Christodoulides on 11/18/2004
favorite track: 1
 
This 1998 film was directed by Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai) and starred Denzel Washington, Annette Bening and Bruce Willis among others. The score belongs to composer Graeme Revell, who presents an attractive whole, built of Duduk and eastern-sounding rhythmic and groovy percussion (track 2 and 5), reminiscent of the tricks Hans Zimmer utilised later in Blackhawk Down. Noteworthy instrumentation includes the brilliant duduk alone (track 10), ethnic male and female vocals (track 4, 6, 10, 11, 12, or the fascinating track 1), beautiful string lines (track 3, 11), dark synths and haunting piano (track 1, 4 ), gentle piano writing in (track 10 and 12), lively and vivid percussion playing, Odd wind instruments, like the pan flute (track 3 and 6)... which clearly sends us to Hans Zimmer's overall sound for Beyond Rangoon. Altogether, these elements make up for an interesting result. I do not say "excellent result" because all this dreamy atmosphere is ruined by the numerous tracks that serve only for plain underscore for the movie and reduce the CD's listening quality. Now, for the standout tracks, along with the opening piece, the best cue of the entire score is also track 11, which starts with some mysterious lines by the horn and continues with sweeping string lines along with the ethnic vocals, which contrast with each other and successfully create a wonderful atmosphere.