James Horner - A Beautiful Mind: Original Motion Picture Score

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Music reviews of A Beautiful Mind: Original Motion Picture Score

Music Review: A Beautiful Soundtrack!
Rating: 5 Stars

"Bicentennial Man", was an amazingly deep and moving score, covering many emotions, mostly happy and a few sad. "A Beautiful Mind" is another such score, although this time around, Horner delves into another type of emotion, that of dark and confusing uncertainty. The movie deals with a genius, and the theme to represent this aspect is played to great extent at the beginning of the score, and is almost exactly the same as the "Machine Age" track from "Bicentennial Man". This theme is now brought to the forefront after it's small usage in the aforementiond score, as well as "Searching for Bobby Fischer", and is a main theme used to represent the intellectual side of the main character, Steve Nash. He is married, and has a happy life, and this is represented in the second theme, which is new, although still very Horner-like. It is a pleasant and slightly romantic theme. However, Nash is also schitzophrentic, and has a dark side. This side is well represented in the middle portion of the score, where the main themes slowly turn darker and more foreboding, and the introspective side of the score conveys the feeling of somebody who has gotten lost in despair and is searching for a way out. However, all this is done in such a way that is not a bad listen. In fact, a complete listening of the cd will flow very smoothly from one stage of Nash's life to another. Towards the latter third of the cd, the tracks come back to the more positive nature, and present hope for the future. The closing track does a good job of showcasing all these sides of Nash in a nutshell, including a brief period of the dark score, to remind us that while Nash's life has turned better again, he is still haunted by his dark side from time to time.

Something new Horner has brought to this soundtrack as well, is the use of renowned soprano Charlotte Church. She does all the vocals in the score, and is excellent. Her vocals really help set the mood as well, and present a picture of the soaring accomplishments of Nash, sort of saying "The sky's the limit" for his capacity. Church also adds a song near the end up the cd which is very melencholy and flows with the score very well. But her vocals are really the highlight of her contributions to this album.

So in closing, I say again that if you didn't like "Bicentennial Man", don't touch this one with a ten foot pole. However, if you like a very beautiful, yet introspective score, and don't mind "Hornerisms", then this will be a prized addition to your colection. I know it sure is to mine!

P.S. If you are a fan of Charlotte Church's music, but don't normally listen to soundtracks, this may still be one for you to check out, as her voice is put to great use here.

Description of A Beautiful Mind: Original Motion Picture Score

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