Great themes, intimate romance, epic drama and tragedy - James Horner's Legends of the Fall has it all. This is a beautiful, beautiful film score and - along with Braveheart, written the same year - Horner's towering accomplishment. Forget Titanic, this is where it's at.

The album opens with a trumpet soloist performing the main theme - the first of many stylistic similarities between this score and John Barry's Dances with Wolves. The main theme will be recognised as having been ripped-off by David Arnold for Independence Day the year later. However, it is the second track, "The Ludlows", that represents Horner at the absolute peak of his powers. The secondary theme is heard in a simple piano solo arrangement, followed by a lush orchestral piece, and finally a solo violin version of the theme. It's an absolutely magnificent piece, perhaps Horner's best-ever.

"To the Boys..." is an orchestrally enormous piece of tragedy, and is followed by "Samuel's Death", which is riveting action music. It is very similar to the action music from both Glory and Apollo 13, so chances are that if you like those, you'll like this, too; the piece contains a section of totally unrestrained orchestral anguish. Superb stuff. The romantic music is just as good - "Alfred Moves to Helena", among others.

This is an album full of one magical moment after another, and will live long in the memory. I can't recommend it highly enough.  It is one of Horner's earliest really long albums, which now almost invariably last at least half an hour too long - but this one isn't too long at all.  Great stuff.

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Tracks