ost science fiction fans probably wouldn't expect an inconspicuous Czech orchestra to be a source of stellar cinematic music, but this 38-track double-disc set clearly exhibits that the little-known ensemble can generate genuinely out-of-this-world symphonic sounds. The first half of this album is devoted to 14 different motion pictures, ranging from classic films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars to lesser-known ventures such as Lifeforce and Enemy Mine. Short selections from Apollo 13, The Right Stuff, Species, Alien, Capricorn One, Cocoon, The Black Hole, The Empire Strikes Back, Heavy Metal, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind are also featured.
The remainder of the assemblage, which accounts for almost the entire second CD, is a Star Trek bonanza, presenting 11 cuts culled from Gene Roddenberry's enduring franchise. Included in this section are tracks from six of the first seven Star Trek films and a composition from every incarnation of the television show.
Sprinkled throughout the package are 10 sound-effect segments which serve as brief preludes to a number of the tunes. For example, a synthetic recreation of a Saturn 5 lift-off precedes a rendition of James Horner's "Apollo 13 - Main Title" while the famous Enterprise "Red Alert" klaxon leads into Jerry Goldsmith's "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - Life is a Dream" cue. Ironically, amidst all the euphonic excitement, the only thing noticeably missing from the set is Shirley Walker's music from Space: Above & Beyond--the short-lived TV series which the title of this CD seems to recall.
Solid symphonic fare
With so much material to cover it's tough to create a perfect compilation, but overall the orchestra does an admirable job. The eerie "Species - End Titles" by Christopher Young, with its menacing yet mournful melody, is a highlight of the initial CD, while both John Barry's "The Black Hole - Suite" and Goldsmith's "Capricorn One - Overture" clearly prove that even when a movie may be insubstantial, the music can remain vivacious. Elmer Bernstein's seldom-heard "Heavy Metal - Taarna's Theme" is also included, which is fascinating not only due to its romantic mingling of organic and electronic effects but also because, even though it was originally intended (but never used) as a motif for Farrah Fawcett's character in the 1980 flick Saturn 3, the melody still manages to evoke highly emotional imagery in its animation-oriented incarnation.
With the exception of a skillful but nevertheless ersatz rendering of Alexander Courage's "Star Trek - TV Theme," the creations on the second portion of the package are also first-class, especially Ron Jones' eulogistic "Tasha's Farewell" (from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Skin of Evil"). The section and the album conclude with Dennis McCarthy's regally resonant "Star Trek Generations - Overture," which offers an exciting and extravagantly cinematic finale to this survey of speculatively symphonic sound. Listeners certainly could do without the distracting sound effects, but as a whole this assemblage features ambitious and adept renditions of both commonplace and fairly hard-to-find compositions.
