Search - Jeff Danna :: The Gospel of John [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

Inspired

03/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"jeff has a gift that few film score composers have these days: the ability to find the great melody. This score has one of his best, and it is breathtaking... you'll want to hear it again and again."

So close to what it should've been and yet so far

John Wheeler | King David's Harp, Inc., Houston, TX. USA | 10/18/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Mostly because of the music featured on the Web site's original previews, I've seen THE GOSPEL OF JOHN -- both the movie (in theatres) and the DVD. Also, I'm very familiar with the recordings published by Esther Lamandier that were cited in the movie. I was pleased with the richness and diversity of Jeff Danna's film score, and so naturally I wanted to hear this soundtrack.



Regrettably, that rich diversity is largely missing on this album. Where is the marvelous, ethnic-sounding music of the wedding at Cana, for example? While the music chosen for the soundtrack is excellent, it focuses mostly on a very few orchestral themes arranged in ways that differ not all that much from track to track. But the addition of ancient and early instruments and the use of ancient modes is certainly very well done, as is the sampling and interweaving of vocal tracks performed by Mme. Lamandier.



One nit I especially want to pick is the way Mme. Lamandier's contributions are described. The liner notes (and the Web site) cite her as being "renowned for her soulful realizations of ancient Hebrew music. Integral to the score are the Aramaic chants sung by Ms. Lamandier." Well, "The Prayer" seems to be sung in Aramaic (even if the beautiful melody seems to be Mr. Danna's composition -- we aren't told), but only one other fragment in the film seems to be taken from Mme. Lamandier's recordings of Aramaic Christian chants. All her other, all-too-brief contributions are performances of biblical Hebrew texts: Psalm 93, the Song of Songs, and the Priestly Blessing. (This last text is used twice, in the tracks "Mary Washes Jesus' Feet" and "Follow Me"; the others do not appear in the soundtrack.) The Hebrew melodies themselves were restituted from the Masoretic accentuation by Suzanne Haik-Vantoura, who is nowhere mentioned in the liner notes or on the Web site, but who thankfully is mentioned properly in the film credits. Her choral arrangement of Psalm 121, likewise cited in the film, does not appear in this album either. (See the book and the recording called THE MUSIC OF THE BIBLE REVEALED, sold elsewhere on Amazon.com.)



Overall, this is a very good album, but it could've been better still. If memory serves, surely the original film score was not so surprisingly repetitive as this soundtrack!"