WILLOW EXPANDED EDITION: OUR EXCLUSIVE REVIEW

Thirty-four years after the release of Virgin Records’ original soundtrack album, Intrada treats us to an expanded version of Willow. This marks the end of a notedly long wait for all of us whose only access to the music omitted from that release was via the film, or by turning to The Story of Willow, a narration of the story (including sound effects, dialogue and music) released in 1988 by Buena Vista on vinyl, audio cassette and CD. Now at long last, this new edition allows fans to discover the wealth of previously unreleased cues in stellar sound quality. While there[...]

BSX PIANO COMPILATION: INTERVIEW WITH DAN REDFELD

Whenever we stumble across new recordings of James Horner music, we wonder: why bother? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Re-recordings have invariably been a mixed bag, ranging from the good (Collage: The Last Work) to the not-so-good (the 2011 Silva Screen album). Now Dan Redfeld and BSX bring us a new compilation for solo piano. Right off the bat, it is impossible to compare full symphonic recordings and interpretations for solo piano. No fewer than 15 of the Maestro’s scores are on tap here, and as explained by Dan Redfeld, it was obviously necessary to set aside such luxuries[...]

NEW HORNER COMPILATION CD FOR SOLO PIANO ANNOUNCED

A new album titled Braveheart: The Film Music of James Horner for Solo Piano has been published by BuySoundtrax Records (BSX), the label that brought us Humanoids from the Deep and Battle Beyond the Stars in 2011. Arranged and performed by Dan Redfeld, the album features selections from some of Horner’s best-loved scores, including The Wedding from Deep Impact, The Ludlows from Legends of the Fall, and Rocketeer to the Rescue from The Rocketeer. It also features some less prominent pieces, such as the love themes from Krull and Battle Beyond the Stars, and Darby’s Theme from The Pelican Brief.[...]