Lincoln

If I could have one wish come true, it would be that I will enjoy this Motion Picture, as much as I enjoy this Music.I awoke this morning with John Williams' rousing score for "The Cowboys" in my head. That's a beautiful theme and I hadn't hummed it in many months, but knew every note by heart. There hasn't been a day since June 1977 that I haven't had at least one of John Williams' scores playing in my head, or hummed on my lips."Lincoln." This is music which should be listened to in the evening hours. In a dimly lit room, shades drawn. With a glass of wine and candles lit, you'll soon fall into an ambiance of love and remembrance, traveling back 148 years to 1864.Now about Lincoln, the man. We know how the story ends. It's tragic. Lincoln was a tragic figure in American history. A great leader, wise and courageous and a mystery of how he comported himself and sounded in real life. Maestro Williams segregates (forgive the pun) Lincoln in a magnificent aura of haunting melodies to portray the President as a hallowed figure, and a leader who loved America. This is important in fully appreciating this masterful score.Performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the music is utterly flawless and beautiful. Shawn Murphy has been recording and mixing John Williams' scores for many years, and he deserves much appreciation from Williams' fans when it comes to tweaking digital music to perfection. Thank you, Shawn!"The People's House" reminded me just a little of some passages from "NIXON" with a fading solo trumpet, however this is all original and different from anything I have heard from Maestro Williams. It is unbelievably new and you will be moved by it."Getting Out The Vote" will have you tapping your toes to the beat of this great little fiddle melody. This is wonderfully folksy, you're ears will be grinning from this one."The Southern Delegation And The Dream." An incredibly moving and fanciful selection. Nobody does it better than the Maestro."The Race To The House." A period-piece, country lively and city robust that makes me want to see the movie.If there is anything missing in this score (but perfectly understandable) is the scarce use of percussion instruments. In all of the symphonic universe, John Williams is the greatest composer who ever lived to master the use of the percussion section in an orchestra. He must have inherited this from his father. But "Call To Muster" is satisfying in this regard, and the chorus singing "Battle Cry Of Freedom," will make the hair on the back of your neck stand at attention!Perhaps something else missing which I would have loved to hear, would have been the Chicago Symphony and Chorus, conducted by the Maestro doing "The Battle Hymn Of The Republic," included as a bonus on this CD. Rats."With Malice Toward None" (Symphony) and "Freedom's Call." After listening, you'll be proud that you are an American. Incredible music."With Malice Toward None" (Piano solo) will touch your heart, and bring visions of a time when this nation was young and needed a leader like Lincoln, to give it a new way of dealing with giving liberty and justice to all.Perhaps this explains why I woke with the theme for "The Cowboys" in my head this morning. God Bless America and Maestro John Williams!You'll love this music. :-) Keith Anderson

John Williams, through film, has made classical music accessible to more people than any other current or previous American composer. I rate John Williams with Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Howard Hanson, Samuel Barber and those others of greatest America composers. Unfortunately, I fear that the popularity of a score (being both memorable and desirable for repeated listenings) is a strike against truly great American composers, as if the greatest of musicality cannot be appreciated by the unlearned masses but rather only by a select few with special musical knowledge and appreciation. John Williams music is that great reflection of what is substantially unique and great about the American flavor of classical music, evoking landscapes as vast and broad as America and the American imagination. I could scarcely believe there is an American alive today who has watched a film scored by John Williams whose appreciation of both film and music has not increased.John Williams has created a subdued and yet powerful musical landscape for the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln. He has also created I think a soundtrack for the man Abraham Lincoln in the memory of Americans, whether in the pages of Doris Goodwin Kearns "A Team of Rivals" or Carl Sandburg's Lincoln, the Prairie Years and the War Years. The historical film idiom has made the best use of John Williams musical gifts before in his scores for Schindler's List, Amistad, Angela's Ashes and The Patriot as well as other period film pieces. Throughout Williams new score for Lincoln, we find the wit and humor of Lincoln the president and man, the turbulent times of American Civil War, the shadows of the brutal war to end slavery and the great American question which continues unto this day. Before I was even finished listening there were tracks I wanted to go back to and play again and savor. This is John Williams finest work in years from my perspective, the subject being dear to my heart.BEAUTIFULLY PLAYED, BEAUTIFULLY RECORDED. 5 STARS FOR EVERY TRACK!

Sounding almost as if Williams is channeling Aaron Copland, this is one of the composer's more surprising and subdued works. I cannot say how appropriate it is to the story since I haven't seen the film yet but it certainly makes me more eager to do so. It treats the subject with appropriate respect and gravity without the typical bombast and layers of blasting brass that I associate with Williams's work, particularly when he writes for Spielberg.Most of the tracks are somber and meditative, and when they lift above that solemn mode it is because the material seems to call for it. The track containing "Battle Cry of Freedom" is astonishing in the way it seems to capture the mood of a time when both sides of the conflict still believed there was something glorious about their cause. What is most appealing, for this listener at least, is the way in which the recorded score coheres as a complete work. Again, the experience is reminiscent of listening to Copland; I like simply putting the disk on and letting it play straight through as I would with a symphony.If you are a fan of Williams's work, this is a must-have. I'm sure the film will create more interest in his other scores, however this is one of the rare instances when the score may have a life of its own beyond the film (much as Howard Shore's scores for the Tolkien films do--and will).This music owes much, also, to the scores of the Burns documentaries, in particular the piano stylings of Jacqueline Schwab. It would have been nice to see some acknowledgment of that fact in the liner notes but perhaps those musical treatments have become so much a part of our culture that Williams adapts them without realizing it. Overall, this is a worthwhile purchase and repays repeated listenings as few other Williams scores do.

John Williams has written another great score.Evocative and emotional.I love it.

If you love the film music of John Williams, don't miss out on this. It's a bit like his scores for 'Amistad' and 'JFK', which makes sense since those are also dramas involving US presidents. Lots of stirring strings and horns, with some jaunty Civil War folk music mixed in. It's lovely.

A present for grandson as he is in to history and loves his DVD and plays them all the time

As good as described

Beautiful music.