John Williams Charles Gerhardt National Philharmonic Orchestra - The Empire Strikes Back Symphonic Suite From The Original Motion Picture Score (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

Best performance of Williams's best "STAR WARS" score

Reginald D. Garrard | Camilla, GA USA | 08/24/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, the first was a monumental recording in the history of film scoring, but the music to "The Empire Strikes Back" ranks as one of Williams' best. And this version is worth the purchase. With the cooperation of the composer, Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra have lovingly and dramatically presented the highlights of the score. Mere words cannot do this one justice. You've got to hear it to believe it."

One of the best renditions of the Empire score

Alex Diaz-Granados | Miami, FL United States | 09/29/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Even though I had owned the original soundtrack recording of John Williams' score for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back on vinyl LP and cassette, but when Polygram released that soundtrack on compact disc, I was less than thrilled. The tracks were out of sequence and fewer in number...so it was a bit of a gyp. So when I found this wonderful album of the Empire Strikes Back Symphonic suite on CD, I was ecstatic. Basically, this 13-track album consists of the basic Concert Suite (The Imperial March, Han Solo and the Princess, Yoda's Theme, and The Asteroid Field), supplemented by several other cues from the film score, including Alfred Newman's Fox Fanfare, Main Title/The Imperial Probe, and Training of a Jedi Knight. To avoid repetition of familiar material, composer John Williams, conductor Charles Gerhardt, and producer George Korngold present some of the compositions with different arrangements. The Imperial March, for instance, leads off with material used while Han Solo is being frozen in carbonite. The new intro adds menace and malice to the already dark and jeering theme for Darth Vader. My personal favorite twist is the rendition of the love theme (Han Solo and the Princess). It is presented here with new orcheestrations and no sudden cut to Vader's theme as in the film soundtrack. As it goes through the theme and variations cycle, little quotes of Princess Leia's Theme from the first film appear, first subtly by plucked harp strings, then more boldly by the violin and wind sections. Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic do a magnificent job on this amazing film score. Williams fans should run, not walk, to get this recording."

Variation on Themes.

11/22/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a nice piece of work. It takes most of the well-known Williams music and encapsulates it into suites--"The Asteroid Field," for example, comes to mind. For a long time, this was the only place certain music from the trilogy was available; the advent of the Special Edition soundtracks has rectified that, but this still has arrangments that are *better* than the soundtrack's, for the simple reason that they're arranged symphonically. A must-have for die-hard Williams/Star Wars fans, and not a bad piece to pick up even if you're only marginally interested--I'd suggest it to the novices over the lengthy SE ESB soundtrack."

Best performance of ESB so far.

Observer | England | 12/29/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Superb CD. I knew it was a selection from the score, but i had this CD for a long time without actually realizing it was'nt the original 'recording'. When years later i obtained the Special Edition recording of the original,i actually found myself going back to this one much more (and still do). Its a far far superior performance of the music (and Williams himself agrees on the sleeves that they are beautiful suites of his score). Gerhardt gets the full ooomp and brassy power out of the orchestra and this makes for a stunningly powerful performance of Empire strikes back's main themes and cues. The Asteroid field is 10 times better here than on the original recording where its infact quite weak and incidental background quality. This version will leave you with you hair sticking up and a sound blasted face. Incredible power. Williams himself is not a fan of full released scores and prefers to release "Selections from" CD's of his scores. I,like many JW fans used to grumble about this no end, but more and more i appreciate why he and Jerry Goldsmith prefer this. It makes for a much more balanced,well paced,and enjoyable listening experience. The 2 disc Phantom menace score from Sony was an example of how "ALL" the music in the film on disc is not quite as enjoyable as you would of imagined. Give this CD a try and i can guarantee you'll prefer this one anyday."

Good idea, bad execution

Z. Herrmann | Wallburg, NC United States | 03/07/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I find the lack of not-so-great reviews here a bit amazing, really. Now I claim Empire as the greatest film ever, and I listen to the soundtrack on a regular basis. But that's not to say I can't enjoy a different interpretation of the score. But this just is not very good. For starters, by making this a "suite," an attempt has been made to join parts of the score that were originally interrupted by different themes due to the on-screen action. In the movie, sometimes the scene changes suddenly and the music reflects that, so this album tries to "fix" that, to change it into something you could just go to the symphony concert and hear played. And while John Williams himself worked on this "suite," it's really a terrible job. The new changes sound forced and are no less jarring than the original. I expected a smooth, flowing interpretation and this is anything but. But worst of all is the musicianship. These guys are just NOT that good. I heard at least three trumpet flubs on this CD, guys just trying to hit high notes and flat-out MISSING. And the cymbal player... I kid you not, on a couple of songs it sounds like they got a middle school kid off the street to play the cymbal. I honestly was thinking to myself, "can this guy not count?" I knew this wasn't THE soundtrack when I bought it, and I understood the idea behind it and it had the potential to be good. It's just... not."

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