Many thanks John for bringing us the welcome news of this highly significant expanded version of James Horner’s ‘Titanic’. It has taken a long time for someone to break open the secret vaults and finally put into the public domain cues that did not make it onto the original Sony soundtrack cd in 1998 and the ‘Back to Titanic’ set that followed it. Massive gratitude to La La Land Records for having the fortitude to make it happen.
There is much for Titanic die-hards to enjoy on this four-cd bonanza, specially timed to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the film’s release in December 1997. The original ‘Titanic’ cd, which sold in iceberg-breaking amounts in 1998, was never the definitive soundtrack to the movie, and although ‘Back to Titanic’ went some way towards supplying the demand for more music from the film, no single release has ever done justice to James Horner’s ground-breaking and record-breaking score. It certainly looks like the La La Land people have succeeded in bringing together everything that Horner created and recorded for the scoring of James Cameron’s masterpiece.
Having said that, it strikes me that our understanding of what constitutes the ‘definitive’ soundtrack of ‘Titanic’ has moved on somewhat in recent years. The advent of the ‘Titanic Live’ spectacle (the performance of the film’s score by orchestra and choir synchronised with a screening of the movie), first unveiled at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2015 a mere eight weeks before the composer’s untimely death, is a game changer.
The ‘Titanic Live’ show, which looks destined to tour the world for many years to come, brings with it a two-act arrangement of the ‘Titanic’ score, comprising no less than 44 pieces of music. Act I (29 cues) begins with ‘2½ miles down’ and ends with ‘A mathematical certainty’; Act II (15 cues) continues with ‘2,200 souls’ and concludes with ‘End credits’.
The whole thing is amazing, and there is no doubt in my mind, having attended the April 2015 performance, that the ‘Titanic Live’ arrangement is the definitive soundtrack we have been waiting for. My initial feeling after the show was that the entire work must be recorded and released as a priority. This hasn’t happened yet, but I am certain it is bound to be captured on a cd set one day.
But in the meantime, we have this exciting La La Land release to keep us going. It is a very different animal from ‘Titanic Live’, which sees this magnificent score assume its rightful place as a major work regularly performed by the world’s greatest orchestras. The twentieth anniversary edition of the soundtrack comprises original recordings conducted by Horner himself, and it is important that the full scope of his work for this film is made readily available.
Sadly, Horner himself is no longer with us, but the story of his great score for ‘Titanic’ does not end with his tragic loss. The baton has passed along to other hands, and the music most definitely, as the song puts it, ‘goes on’. I may have to wait a while longer to add the definitive ‘Titanic’ soundtrack to my cd collection, but right now there is a copy of the ‘Titanic’ 20th anniversary soundtrack on La La Land Records with my name on it!