Search - Patrick Williams :: Jesus: The Epic Mini-Series (Television) (Score)

How does a composer approach the greatest story ever told without feeling as if the legends of the various ages (from Bach and Handel to Rosza and Newman) aren't staring over his shoulder? If you're Patrick Williams, you acknowledge them succinctly and then get with the business at hand, underscoring a work as full of human drama and betrayal as it is with divine hope. Which is to say that while the proceedings are occasionally ponderous (those big, minor chords often being held a l-o-n-g time; this is, after all, a miniseries), Williams makes an effort to inject a little John Barry-esque modernism into the genre, and to good effect. With a memorably plaintive theme carried alternately by solo trumpet, flute, and orchestra, Williams hasn't exactly reinvented cinema's liturgical lexicon here, but he has certainly moved beyond its typically tired restraints. --Jerry McCulley