Search - Various :: Star Trek: Astral Symphony

A satisfying summation of the first five films

Stuart M. Paine | Arlington, VA USA | 06/24/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THE ASTRAL SYMPHONY is a worthy sampler of cues from the first five STAR TREK films, scored by Goldsmith, Horner, Horner, Rosenman and Goldsmith. There are three selections from each one of those films on this disc. All are very good, substantial selections - no trivial filler. The recordings are original soundtrack recordings - the real thing. When I got this CD a decade ago, I had only one other Trek disc (STAR TREK V), so this one got a lot of play, and I mean a lot. It never disappointed then and still doesn't, even though I've collected many more Trek albums.



The two composers who impress the most here are Jerry Goldsmith, who defined the STAR TREK sound in film, and James Horner. Both wrote music which is (fittingly) massively expansive and open. One can hear "into distance" in their writing. Amazing. I don't know much film music from any time or place which could be said to be better than Goldsmith's STAR TREK music, especially that for the first film, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. Two tracks from that film, "The Enterprise" and the stunningly beautiful "Ilia's Theme", are my favorites on this disc. Horner's Prologue and Main Title from SEARCH FOR SPOCK always get me, too - such HUGE sound.



Rosenman is the odd man out. Although he quotes Trek themes, his score for THE VOYAGE HOME feels distinctly different from Goldsmith's and Horner's earlier work. It's recorded much drier and doesn't soar as does that of the others, although it's still both entertaining and effective. Maybe he was just furnishing the sound he and Leonard Nimoy, the film's director, felt most appropriate for that mostly Earth-bound, occasionally comic adventure. Of his cues, the highlights are "Chekov's Run", a sub-2:00 bit of mock-Rimsky-Korsakov, and "Hospital Chase" which sounds like a cross between Mancini and an Offenbach can-can.



There have been other Trek collections on CD which include selections from the later films and some of the television music, but THE ASTRAL SYMPHONY has more of the music which established the film franchise sound. It's a worthwhile purchase."