Search - Various Artists :: Cinema: A Windham Hill Collection

In the past, cover albums of movie scores were usually overproduced easy-listening affairs of well-worn cinematic themes. But there are many memorable compositions and cogent atmospheres that never seem to make it beyond the film, and producer Dawn Atkinson attempts to remedy that, gathering the Windham Hill Players to furnish their takes on scores renowned and obscure. Cinema screens cues from Amélie, Cinema Paradiso, and The Princess Bride. A haunting song from Bagdad Café is played here by cellist Jean Jeanrenaud and oboist Paul McCandless in a supple classical arrangement. But even popular scores are given new spins. John Williams's "Hedwig's Theme" is reworked by violinist Tracy Silverman in a multitracked, plucked, bowed, and electronically enhanced arrangement that captures the antique mysticism of Harry Potter and his owl. Yet for every inventive reimagining and obscure gem, there are also predictable choices. Keyboardist Fred Simon's rote reading of "Scarborough Fair" and Jim Brickman's solo piano rendition of "Over the Rainbow" are safe and banal, while Phillipe Saise manages to make the sentimental theme from Summer of '42 simply maudlin. George Winston, on the other hand, brings his special sense of space and contemplation to "The Black Stallion" and his turn on "Theme from 1,000 Pieces of Gold" is brilliant. Winston uses his harmonica like a Chinese sho with a country/blues twang, backing the delicate plucking of gu-cheng player Wei-Shan. It's personal interpretations like that which make one hope for, rather than dread, a sequel to Cinema. --John Diliberto