One of the best, most movingly evocative scores in
Randy Newman's long movie career, the Avalon music was nominated for an Academy Award. Quietly bittersweet piano chords are enveloped by waves of melancholy string arrangements, perfectly matching the slowly sweeping nostalgia of cinematographer Allen Daviau's visuals of Baltimore. It sounds great on CD as well -- the elegiac trumpet solos by Malcolm McNab are achingly beautiful in juxtaposition with
Newman's occasionally Polish-flavored strings. It should come as no surprise that this moving music is frequently appropriated for commercials for other movies. ~ Darryl Cater