Tracksounds Rating = 8/10

Composed by James Horner
Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra
Released by Sony Classical on August 25, 1998

With such a lengthy movie there would obviously be significant amounts of score left out from the original release, so with Titanic’s immense popularity a second volume was inevitable, but welcome. There are those who do not enjoy scores with dialogue included, but, most of time, I feel it adds to the score if used in moderation. The inclusion of dialogue is certainly nothing new for James Horner’s work. Both Apollo 13 and More Music from Braveheart contained dialogue from the respective movies.

The album starts off with a special suite composed, arranged and conducted by James Horner and the London Symphony Orchestra. This suite pulls from the well known melodies of the soundtrack and weaves them together with intriguing transitional orchestrations. The tempo seems to be a bit slower than the original, but that doesn’t take away from the performance much. To their credit the final three minutes of the suite is absolutely spectacular as the flute first plays softly and then leads into an symphonic burst from the choir and orchestra. It is one of those chills-up-the-spine-moments which reminds one why they listen to film music in the first place.

There are a good number of brand new cuts on the CD that bring back different memories of the film. The Gaelic Storm track is fairly good, but the dialogue during the middle of the song could have easily been omitted. Not much is gained in hearing Rose and Jack go "Eek! Ah!" here and there. The classical pieces are done very well and remind me of the irony of the positive music being played by the quartet as a watery death becomes more and more certain.  The beloved solo piano version of the main theme is finally released being played by the maestro himself.  Unfortunately, it is a very poor recording for some reason and I get lost in that fact more than the melody itself.

The CD concludes with the popular rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" sung by Celine Dion with dialogue from the film.  As wonderful of a song as it is, for me, it is just a case of too many times played, too many times heard.  Following this track is another performance of "Nearer my God to Thee" which could have easily been omitted.  After this though, one of the best tracks of the disc begins. Performed by the full orchestra and choir is "Epilogue - The Deep and Timeless Sea."  This is a very emotional performance.   In my opinion it is even better than the initial suite of music from track one.  

On the whole, I enjoyed this album. It is nicely produced and recorded (except for "The Portrait"). There is a large fold out poster included as the liner notes. There is a good sampling of score and other types of music that subtly contributed to make Titanic what it has become.

Titanic Suite

19:05

An Irish Party in Third Class

3:47

Alexander's Ragtime Band

2:29

Jack Dawson's Luck

5:38

A Building Panic

8:08

Nearer My God to Thee Ð

2:49

Come Josephine.  In My Flying Machine  Ð

3:32

Lament

4:35

A Shore Never Reached.

4:26

My Heart Will Go On * Ð

4:42

Epilogue - The Deep and Timeless Sea

12:35

Ð - dialogue track   * - pop track

Category

Score

Also See:
The James Horner Showdown

What was supposed to be the real gem of this album, the "Titanic Suite", has become its biggest disappointment. Excluding all of the dramatic stuff in favour of variations on the timeless, romantic themes, the suite is uninspired in its structure and fails to retell the story of the film … " What was supposed to be the real gem of this album, the "Titanic Suite", has become its biggest disappointment. Excluding all of the dramatic stuff in favour of variations on the timeless, romantic themes, the suite is uninspired in its structure and fails to retell the story of the film … "  
Mikael Carlsson - Moviescore Online

Composer James Horner