For this love story about a young pianist,
Lalo Schifrin was able to write a lush, melodic score for once (though his rhythmic tendencies finally came out in
No One Home). The centerpiece of the score is the 42-minute "Piano Concerto #2 (The Americas)," which is nothing less than a serious contemporary classical work disguised as movie soundtrack music. Typical of a soundtrack composer, however, it is fragmented, with many conflicting sections and no real development beyond an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach that seems intended to dazzle with the composer's sheer virtuosity. Both in its brashness and in its lack of organization, it sounds like the sort of thing a much younger composer, one needing to prove himself, would write. Also included are English and Italian versions of a title song with lyrics by
Tim Rice that are wasted in the English version, since
Placido Domingo, for all the glory of his voice, has no command of the language and cannot be understood. Far more coherent is
Simply Red, who contribute "We're in This Together." ~ William Ruhlmann