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Composer Jerry Goldsmith weaves a tapestry of classical and avant-grade music for an incredible film score that stands alone on is own incredible artistry.This is a tour-de-force in how a soundtrack can speak in a voice that sounds fascinating and beautiful without even a trace of knowledge of the movie.
To paraphrase one of Mr. Apart from the majestic main theme music, which was to serve much later on for the spin-off series "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Goldsmith weaves a tapestry of interstellar sounds redolent in many ways of such 20th century classical masters as Debussy and Holst, and even some avant-garde influences, in the "Cloud" and "Vejur" cues. With all this, it is a bit surprising that the composer didn't win the Oscar in 1979 for this score (though he was also nominated that same year for ALIEN, which may have resulted in a cancelling-out due to double nominations).Oscar win or not, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE was one of Goldsmith's finest achievements in the film scoring business. Like his fellow film composer John Williams, the resume of the late Jerry Goldsmith is the kind that any self-respecting film composer would kill to have. Spock's famous sayings, Goldsmith lived long and prospered. And one of his greatest scores in the last-mentioned genre is the one he composed for STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE in 1979.While STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE was considered by many to be very ponderous, in contrast to the classic 1960s TV series that spawned it, a majority of people found Goldsmith's music to be spot-on perfect. That resume spans every Hollywood genre: westerns (HOUR OF THE GUN); horror (THE OMEN); World War II (PATTON); and, of course, science fiction (the original 1968 sci-fi classic PLANET OF THE APES). And that it is.
At any rate, it's worth owning. I had this on LP when I was growing up, and somehow wound up playing the B-side over and over as I read the Hobbit for the first time; Vejur Flyover is the sound of Mirkwood, to me. Check it out. This is arguably the best score of any of the Star Trek movies (I would give it the edge over James Horner's ST II score, as well as the ST VI score, though both of the latter are excellent), and is an amazing work of music taken on its own. The main theme is majestic (when played at the correct tempo, rather than the ridiculous up-tempo version used for STTNG), and the rest of the pieces are evocative and atmospheric.
Make sure this one is in your Star Trek collection. Nothing less than perfect. This is the soundtrack that started this fantastic franchise. The incomparable Jerry Goldsmith on this one.
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