Hey Gamespot!
I've officially given up on the Lord of the Rings scores, and I'll likely return to them. Just not any time soon. Expect reviews for other movies and games.
This week's astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue came from the biggest surprise in the industry for 2006: The Promise, written by Klaus Badelt.
When you step back and look at The Promise in retrospect, it should have been a disaster. A foreign film about some classic Chinese legend no one had ever heard of being scored by a German composer who had yet to prove himself capable of recording anything truly great without the use of synthesizers. Synthesizers to suit a Chinese legend?
No matter how you look back at it, The Promise should've failed. Instead, Badelt decided to have his work recorded through the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra. As a result, the score turned out magnificently. The incredible beauty of the orchestral recordings playing Badelt's remarkable themes for the score created one of the best scores of 2006, if not all time. In one go, Badelt proved he was knowledgable enough in music to utilize an orchestra to fantastic degrees while at the same time proving that his writing wasn't terribly boring or flawed, merely poorly recorded.
Also an impressive aspect to the score was a wonderful album presentation that featured all the primary themes in the first 6 tracks or so. This made it particularly easy to pick your way through the score and appreciate the fantastic ways with which Badelt was able to mix his themes together.
The best track is undoubtedly Come Back, featuring a heartrending rendition of the Love Theme mixed with Kunlun's Theme. The music here is simply phenomenal, with the overwhelming emotion and beauty reaching staggering levels. Badelt's usual chord progressions are rather obvious as well, though it works magnificently. The instrumentation is spot-on, the themes are beautiful, and the recording is simply gorgeous. Give this album a chance.
If it wasn't clear, the astoundingly memorable soundtrack cue was Come Back. Grab it here.
http://prostopleer.com/#/tracks/631760GfVd