Bill Conti's film scoring career is a curious mixture of what are now dated pop scores, a few symphonic scores and the occasional off the wall surprise, such as his recent Thomas Crown Affair. The one thing about almost all Bill Conti symphonic efforts is that he gets a little too close to his classical inspiration for comfort. In this instance, his Oscar winning The Right Stuff is most guilty, plundering quite liberally from Holst's Planets and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. However, the same is not (as far as I can tell) true for North and South.
In fairness, I know almost nothing about North and South but it was evidently a large mini series about the American Civil War. At first, Conti's score pushes every noble and stirring button, his main theme plunging right into soaring brass and strings in the way that only a score about the American Civil War can. The theme appears on a few occasions during the suite presented here and overshadows the equally lovely other material. The middle sections present some considerably more intimate material, which is affecting, if not nearly so memorable as his main theme.
The Right Stuff has become almost notorious for its liberal use of Jupiter from the Planets as well as one of the themes from Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. I would assume that the producers wanted a sound alike score as I can't even imagine that even the most talentless composer (which I don't believe Conti is) would be quite so shameless. Not so much homage as simple paraphrase, the strains of Jupiter are very evident during Breaking the Sound Barrier. Mars makes an appearance during Glenn's Flight, which seems to dissolve in and out of Conti's own material, I can only wonder what the LSO musicians must have thought about all this. Having said that, Conti does weave these ideas well into his own material, but the dividing lines are so thin, it's hardly surprising. Another supremely heroic score is drawn from these sources, with the final Yeager's Triumph being a popular compilation entry.
The album does not use music from the original recordings, but are suites performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The times are quite short so things and the feeling that more should have been included does occasionally creep in. These aren't exactly high art - high pastiche perhaps - but for music to lift the spirits, Conti doesn't hold back and while the subject of the original film and show were different, the triumph of Americans over anything means the patriotism factor is high, but not gratingly so. I'm convinced Bill Conti could quite happily write more original material than he does, but I assume he succumbs to temp tracking, which is a shame. That having been said, this is a hugely enjoyable album, bracingly performed and recorded.
Rating ~ Total Time ~ 37:50
North and South
The Right Stuff