Search - Steve Graziano, Nick Glennie-Smith :: Highlander: EndGame (2000 Film)

I love this CD!

Eric Heinemann | Midland, USA | 10/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This soundtrack is perfect. It has a great balance between traditional classical music and modern techno-rock - exactly like Highlander's balance of traditional and modern visuals and sensibilities. I will admit like most people have that I greatly missed some of the Queen songs so associated with Highlander. It is not quite the same with out 'Who Wants to Live Forever' or, especially, the Highlander theme song 'Princes of the Universe'. Still, this album does make for an entertaining listening experience.Returning from the third film (and the series episodes 'Homeland' and 'Not to Be') is 'Bonny Portmore'. This is always a welcome piece of music for me. It has a tragic but also hopeful quality to its sound that exactly captures the feeling of Highlander.The score itself is also excellent. At first, I was weary of two composers working together, because I felt the music would sound disjointed. However, it all blends very well. Watching the finished film, you don't even notice the difference.Stephen Graziano's strength seems to lie with techno sounds but manages to layer it with good orchestral music. He was hired, I imagine, with the present day scenes (the action scenes particularly) in mind. He does a great job of it. His best on this album 'Say Goodbye to Kate/Last Supper Slash'. Graziano may have a future in action movie music - good action movies, though, not 'Gone in 60 Seconds'.The real heart of the soundtrack, however, comes from Nick Glennie-Smith. Most of his music appears in the flashback sequences and the really emotional scenes. He has the Scottish sound down very well. The highpoint of his portion of the score has to be 'Killing an Old Friend' - the score for Connor's death by Duncan. Adrian Paul's and Christopher Lambert's acting in that scene, in conjuction with Glennie-Smith's music, nearly made me cry.My one major qualm with the CD is that the music is presented in seqential order with the scenes in the film. I realize that the music is broken into sections for each composer, but had the music been put in order, it would have been much easier to relive the movie straight through. An approach like that was used to great effect in the 'Star Wars: Special Edition' soundtracks (I've heard that a new 'Episode 1' CD will be released with every piece of music in proper order late this year or early next).Regardless, the 'Highlander: Endgame' soundtrack is, like the film it scores, exceptional. I highly recommend it."

A Fitting Score For The Endgame

Eriban | CA, USA | 10/09/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Highlander: Endgame was scored by two composers: Steven Graziano (who took credit for the music in the film's credits) and Nick Glennie-Smith. The CD is divided into two sections, each section covering the music of one composer. When watching the film, it is easy to see which of the two composers is the better: Nick Glennie-Smith, with his beautiful sweeping Highlander theme and heart-rending scoring of Connor's death sequence is light years beyond and ahead of Graziano. For his own part, Steven Graziano's music fuses traditional Scottish music, synthesizers, and female vocals into an interesting mix; however, it is Glennie-Smith whose music embodies the epic, beautiful saga of what the Highlander is all about. Tracks 9-14, scored by Glennie-Smith, are probably the best tracks on the CD, with the exception of track 6, scored by both Glennie-Smith and Graziano, that, while short, is probably the most powerfully emotional and beautiful track on the CD. It is unfortunate that Glennie-Smith could not have scored this film entirely on his own... he is an incredibly talented composer, but, as is, this CD embodies what is probably the best of ALL the Highlander scores, possibly surpassing even Michael Kamen's music for the original film. The only thing missing from this film (at least musically) were the cool rock songs by Queen..."

Terrific Score

Stephen M. Sturgeon | Indianapolis, IN United States | 04/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I knew as soon as I saw the movie that I would love the soundtrack. The music has a perfect mix of classical and rock. The first song, Bonny Portmore, was particularly haunting and nostalgic. One thing I have seen constantly criticised in previous reviews is the lack of the Queen songs. My response? The queen songs were from the FIRST movie. If you want the songs from the first movie, go figure, you just might want to get the soundtrack to the FIRST movie. This is the soundtrack to Highlander ENDGAME! Get over it! Endgame had a lot of beautiful music in it's own right and Queens music would only serve to ruin the atmosphere this one sets. And it does set a very particular mood with it's half celtic half american rock mix. It is defineately worth the pick up."