Record Label: Decca
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The music worked so well with the movie, and I can see why Peter Weir wanted to take that minimal approach to the score. The album features 3 composers, and various classical songs from Bach, Mozart, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Arcangelo Corelli, and Boccherini. Grammy Award winning Cellist Yo Yo Ma also appears on the soundtrack as well. The album starts off with a 9 minute or so track from one of the film composers called “The Far Side of the World”. It starts off all mysterious and goes into action mode, and then calms down and goes into a playful number towards the end. I believe that might be when Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe turn their instruments to the side and rock out haha. Or I think it’s “Excerpt from No. 6, Op. 30” Luigi Boccherini. I’m glad Russell Crowe didn’t sing on the score though, I just don’t him as a singer. As an actor, I think he’s great. I find myself loving the classical tunes more than the film scores songs. The album has a lot of violins, flutes, cellos, and other wind & string instruments to demonstrate when this movie was supposed to take place. Plus Crowe and Bettany play those instruments in the movie so it’s fitting. “The Battle” features rapid drumming and flutes and gets the listeners mind into that they are going into battle. Overall, the soundtrack was done very well and has some brilliant classical tunes on here, along with some score tracks that are also quite good.

Bottom Line: Fans of scores and classical music will really want this soundtrack added to their collection
Notable Tracks: “The Far Side of the World” “Prelude from BWV 1007” “3rd Movement, Violin Concerto No. 3 K.215” “Folk Medley”
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