Somewhere in Time
Label: Varèse Sarabande
Catalogue No: VSD 5911
Release Date: 1998
Total Duration: 41:24
UPN: 0-3020-65911-2-5
“I think that in a sense music is the highest of the arts, because it really begins where the others leave off,” wrote C.S. Lewis in his book “They Stand Together.” Of course, when wonderful, emotional… nay, wonderfully sentimental music appears wrapped in resplendent layers of those ‘lesser’ arts, one may then call the result a complete joy. This is an attractive release, from the heartfelt reading by John Debney and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to the lavish cover painting by Matthew Joseph Peak. Honest sentimentality, so wrongly and maliciously maligned by cynics, receives a warm embrace.
As a reminder of the feelings a romantic film score can generate, this expanded re-recording of John Barry’s classic score soars, and reaches down to touch the soul. The original “Somewhere in Time” recording was hapless. Murky sound, remastered or not, is murky sound, and the limited selections did not do the score justice. For those cynics who already met Barry’s somewhat obsessive fondness for whole notes with OUT OF AFRICA and DANCES WITH WOLVES, the presence of yet more sluggish film scoring may sound unthinkably dull. However, this is a real eye-opener. While the album has its share of melancholy, most of the score revolves around the beautifully plush main theme – composed with the same liquid style Barry used in MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS and would later use in OUT OF AFRICA and DANCES WITH WOLVES, among others.
What sets it apart from the rest is that it has feeling. John Barry can write music that is note-perfect and a surefire ear-pleaser, but the music ultimately must succumb to pure feeling if it is to connect with the listener in a profound way. The only quibbles are with pianist Lynda Cochrane’s occasionally mechanical performance, strange noises in “Rowing,” and the tiny cursive listings on the back that are liable to make someone cross-eyed. Still, virtually everything about Varese Sarabande’s re-recording exudes sincere artistry. The music is exquisite, the playing is top-notch, someone remembered to include Rachmaninoff’s gorgeous 18th variation from his “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” (always a plus), the sound is quite near being utterly superlative, the liner notes are perfectly appropriate, and the packaging is heavenly. It is the ideal recording for the soundtrack-lovin’ romantic.
Jeffrey Wheeler – Originally published in Soundtrack Magazine Vol.18 / No.69 / 1999
