The Terminal (Score)

Those who thought the three-decade collaboration between director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams couldn't possibly yield any more musical surprises will find themselves warmly rebuffed here. Based on the true story of an exiled man-without-a-country who made Paris' Orly airport his home, director Steven Spielberg's storytelling liberties have transformed it into an unlikely comic romance between Tom Hanks' mythical Krakhozian refugee Viktor and Catherine Zeta-Jones' Amelia. Williams' captures the wistful tone with an airy, oft-impressionistic score that recalls a winning marriage of Michel Legrand's elegant piano-jazz conceits and Rachel Portman's delicate, introspective pastoralism. Too often underutilized in recent years, Williams' own rich jazz background frequently serves him well here, informing Amelia's love theme with emotional grace and serving as perfect counterpoint to the ethnic inventions carried by Emily Bernstein's soulful clarinet (Williams even gets to concoct a lovably pompous anthem for Viktor's fictional Krakhozia) and the bracing jolts of bright, post-modernist influenced orchestral music that holds it together. -- Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

repetitive but fun

the music makes you want to dance (ballroom dance) hence why i bought it. It's very uplifting. May 24, 2007

Main title sticks in my head

The Viktor Navorski theme loomed in my head until I purchased the CD and then repeated the .mp3 over & over. Love it. January 20, 2007

The Terminal

This is a very good soundtrack. If you liked the movie, you will like this one as well. The movie is a feel good movie and so is the soundtrack. When you listen to this music you get a happy feeling!
It really belongs in the top of John Williams work!
Enjoy! August 30, 2005

Great Clarinet music

I love the clarinet playing. It made me get this soundtrack! June 9, 2005

A feel-good score

John Williams has done lots of scores, but has mostly got a name with his bombastic or majestic sounding, huge orchestra scores. While those are very good, I find that his precision towards this type of comedy loses no effort. The first track introduces the character of Viktor Navorsky, which has his own theme, a very good one in fact. It is played by solo clarinet and sounds precise, somehow, to the entire movie. Throughout the score we hear accordians, jazz instruments, piano, instruments usually shadowned often throughout his other works. I also find that Track 12, Finding Coins and Learning To Read is a refreshing break from Williams' sterotype, it's a gentle and feel-good track played by harps and piano with the main theme drizzling through. I never knew Williams had it in him. December 27, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...