38 Western Themes Including: Alamo, Fistful of Dollars, How the West was Won, Magnificent 7, Wild Bunch, etc.
This grandly conceived two-disc collection of Hollywood and television Western themes showcases the City of Prague Philharmonic's indefatigable passion for rehashing great works from composers like Max Steiner, Dimitri Tiomkin, and John Williams. But listeners less prone to swoon over highbrow symphonic grandeur may respond with a yawn. Yes, the collection is a wonderful reference source, with a sweeping chronology from John Ford's Stagecoach to Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp. And the pieces are competently executed, with John Barry's contribution among the highlights. But the concert-hall acoustics--with little to no studio artifice--have a dulling effect. Those with access to the Dolby Surround may detect a rewarding nuance or two, but for others with fewer audiophile idiosyncrasies, the mood may be stuffy and uninspired. --Joseph Lanza
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
The Wild West: The Essential Western Film Music Collection:
I'm a snowbird and have bought two copies of this CD; one for each home. It's a wonderful, well orchestrated, symphonic CD. If you love great soundtracks and great composers, you will love this. Very exhilarating!
Quanity And Quality:
What a find. The best of everything. Great orchestrations Great sound, and lots of it.
The Wild West-Western Film Music Collection:
Great collection! Has a little bit of everything, most of which I loved. Very well done.
Wonderful Western music themes:
This is the best collection of Western Movie themes I've heard. All the great ones are here including the incomparable Ennio Moriconne's. There is one defect of manufacture on the second DVD which has still not been corrected. (I have 2 copies due to borrowing by offspring.)
