Conductor
John Mauceri, who has established a mixed but generally good record with his revivals of film music in concert and on CD, gets just a little too cute on this release for his own good. Opening with Vintergatan from Aniara is a good touch, but using
Alexander Courage's original Star Trek theme and
Jerry Goldsmith's theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture pushes things a little too far toward the lighthearted, even with the inclusion of
Goldsmith's superb "Klingon Battle Theme" from the same score -- and who was the moron of a producer who insisted on the inclusion of storm sound effects (or a brief vocal passage) on the suite comprised of the
Franz Waxman music from The Bride of Frankenstein? It's also unclear what the music from The Witches of Eastwick is doing here, or why someone felt compelled to reprise the opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In all, it's a mess of a CD, though a good-sounding one if you can ignore the annoying inconsistencies and too-frequent foolishness. ~ Bruce Eder