John Williams: Star Wars Suite Classic FM CD

[Omen II 1,235]

Does anyone else have this CD?

 

 

Star Wars Suite and other great film music

 

I cannot remember ever seeing this one mentioned here (but stand to be corrected).  I was browsing in HMV in Brighton before the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's Heroes and Aliens concert on Saturday and they had a better soundtrack section than I have seen in HMV for some years, including this gem.  It is part of the Classic FM Full Works series of CDs and I would normally give this sort of thing a wide berth, but it's actually a pretty nice compilation for several reasons.  They were flogging two for a tenner so I thought what the hell.

 

First and foremost, it contains the legendary Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind suites performed by the LA Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta.  I only had these on tape cassette (remember them?) and my copy was mangled years ago, so I wanted a nice digital version.  Remember that the former suite includes the rarely heard The Little People and The Battle movements, while the superb, longer thirteen minute suite of the latter is I think the only such version.

 

The rest are various selections from the Decca / RPO back catalogue, including a number of 'gap fillers' for Williams fans.  For example, there is the End Title Suite from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which I think I am right in saying is the only recording to date that tries to replicate the film version.  There is also a version of Schindler's List played by none other than Janine Jansen, now one of the best violinists in the world.

 

The only faux ami is Nick Ingman's bizarre arrangement of the Jaws theme, the inclusion of which in several RPO concerts I have lamented more than once (twice, in fact).  However, even that has a certain curiosity value and I quite like having it on CD.  The CD only seems to be available from HMV shops in the UK - I have not been able to find any online retailers selling the physical CD except as a used copy.  If you are in the UK and you see this in HMV, I would recommend it.

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

I have this as well. Got it from my local HMV, took me by surprise. Quite like the rendition of Jaws. Ticks all the boxes really, and I'd imagine a nice way for someone who doesn't know John Williams that well to get started with.