John Williams - Munich
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CD Details
Artist: John WilliamsEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2012-03-14
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
- Munich, 1972
- The Attack At Olympic Village
- Hatikvah (The Hope)
- Remembering Munich
- Letter Bombs
- A Prayer For Peace
- Bearing The Burden
- Avner And Daphna
- The Tarmac At Munich
- Avner's Theme
- Stalking Carl
- Bonding
- Encounter In London And Bomb Malfunctions
- Discovering Hans
- The Raid In Tarifa
- Thoughts Of Home
- Hiding The Family
- End Credits
Music reviews of Munich
Music Review: A beautiful soundtrack to a beautiful film - John Williams proves his mastery yet again
Rating: 5 Stars
Steven Spielberg's "Munich" was, and is (at least in this reviewer's opinion) one of the finest, and most inherently misunderstood, works of art to rise out of the chaos and uncertainty of the post-9/11 world.
It is my personal philosophy that, in a realist style of filmmaking, the various media incorporated into the film's presentation simulate different aspects of the viewer's own experience "inside" the story - images simulate vision, sound simulates hearing. But there is one crucial part of the human experience that film alone cannot possibly simulate; emotion. John Williams has always greatly incorporated this philosophy into his film scores, which has surely contributed to his status as a deeply respected and beloved composer. But in a film where emotion runs deep, ambiguity runs strongly, and subtlety abounds, one might expect even the best of composers to hit his limit. Not so for John Williams. His ambient, exquisite score for "Munich" encapsulates the mood, feeling and concept of the film with striking accuracy.
Williams falls back from sweeping overtures in this film to compose a score that is affecting, yet ambient. Rather than sculpting the music to choreograph each scene, Mr. Williams primarily uses only a few core themes, varying them to the appropriate degree for each scene in which they are used. The quiet consistency is strikingly effective; without even realizing it, we come to identify "Avner's Theme" with the ray of hope, the humanity that Avner and his fellows struggle to maintain even in the face of their grisly line of work. "Munich, 1972", played over the opening scenes of the film, passionately inflicts upon us the horror and tragedy of the attacks at the 1972 Olympic games; its reprise, "Remembering Munich", played as bloody story of the Israeli athletes is retold in greater detail, emanates of unease and shock. Most involving, perhaps, is the tense, feverish rhythm of "Encounter in London", which mimics a human heartbeat - Avner's heartbeat, the assassins' hearbeat, our heartbeat. Ingeniously played at strategic points throughout the film, the nightmarish beat quickly becomes a harbinger of brutality to come, filling us with dread and anticipation, completely immersing us in the action. But perhaps most memorable of all is the genuinely haunting overture of the "End Credits" followed by "Avner and Daphne", originally played over one of the most chilling endings I have ever experienced in film. The melancholy reprise of the film's major themes, the combined feeling of deep sadness, mourning and yet a tiny spark of hope for an uncertain future - these powerful elements ensured that every conscious and open-minded viewer walked out of the movie theater in deep contemplation, which is certainly something which is surely something from which Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Williams would derive a great sense of accomplishment. The tune, and the ending, still sends a shiver up my spine whenever I see it, and I've rewatched and relistened to it many times.
Anyone who has seen and experienced this exquisitely tragic film owes it to themselves to pick up this quietly beautiful soundtrack, which proves once again beyond a shadow of doubt that John Williams possesses well-nigh infinite potential for capturing the emotional essence of films in music.
On my personal ratings scale... this album receives a 10/10.
Description of Munich
Munich by John WilliamsThis product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
This soundtrack caps a busy year for John Williams: In addition to Munich, he also scored Star Wars: Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, and Memoirs of a Geisha. When it comes to Hollywood's A-list big-budget needs, Williams, with 46 Oscar nominations by the end of 2005, remains the go-to composer. But does he deserve his reputation? Well, it depends on what you want from a score: If you expect it to surprise you at every turn, you should look elsewhere; but if you want music to faithfully match the mood of the images it accompanies, and as lavish as said images usually are, Williams is worth every penny he gets, as Munich amply proves. While Steven Spielberg's drama-thriller starts off in 1972, Williams eschews period touches and delivers a mix of powerful, string-heavy atmospherics--"Hatikvah (The Hope)," "A Prayer for Peace," "Thoughts of Home"--while ethnic elements (which could easily have been overdone in a film dealing with Palestinians and Israelis) are, cleverly, almost subliminal. Fans of otherworldly female vocals should note that sought-after session singer Lisbeth Scott (The Chronicles of Narnia) appears on tracks such as "Munich, 1972" and "Remembering Munich." --Elisabeth Vincentelli
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