Search - Jim Meacock :: The Planets: Soundtrack From The BBC TV Series

A beautiful and subtle soundtrack album

01/07/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Planets is a great work - I loved the BBC documentary series itself, of course, but Jim Meacock's score stands in its own right as a superb suite of music that runs right across the emotional spectrum. The more percussive stuff (Jupiter, Mars) is brilliant, but the tracks that suggest the vastness of space and the huge reach of the planetary system that surrounds our little, blue planet are poignant and full of wonder. "Moon" is both serene and yearning and "Neptune" is positively lyrical with a little piano refrain that suggests that planet's location right at the very edge of human knowledge and understanding. Indeed, as a musical voyage, it's a very human journey into a realm that is untravelled by humanity, except via our minds - don't expect the bombast of standard Hollywood musical grammar, rather something more thoughtful that draws from a much wider pallet of emotional (and musical) nuance. A must-have for anybody who is a fan of good movie or TV scores, or indeed, just good music. I hope that we see and hear more of Jim Meacock's work soon - this album is an announcement that there is an important new talent in this field."