KILLING SEASON

Premiere presentation of Christopher Young's soundtrack for Killing Season offers his exciting symphonic portrait for cello and orchestra as a fully-drawn classical work in four movements. "The Purest Form Of War Is One On One" states the film poster's tagline. Stars Robert De Niro and John Travolta fight their private war in a remote wilderness, with a focus on haunted Bosnian War experiences, pain and isolation, distant battlefields and ultimately the catharsis of confession. Young creates what might be his finest, most emotionally rich theme of his career to date, with a haunting minor-key line over harmonies both minor and major, in quotes both gently transparent and surging through the full orchestra. Sadness, bitterness and pain can all be heard in this heartfelt primary idea for cello with orchestra. As the conflict gets grim, Young brings ferocious action material for full orchestra into the foreground. The juxtapositioning of these two ideas, one painfully emotional, the other intensely violent, becomes the framework of this superb score. Instead of becoming just a series of short film cues, Young actually reworked new cello passages throughout the score, weaving all into a magnificent, cohesive symphonic work in three lengthy movements plus a brief interlude. Recording engineer Peter  Fuchs captures the detail with stunning clarity. This unusual and moving presentation of a film score recalls an earlier era when Vaughan Williams, Korngold, Rozsa and Herrmann sometimes fashioned their film scores into wholly new symphonic works for the concert hall. Now Christopher Young brings that concept into today's world. Rich and rewarding! Allan Wilson conducts. Intrada Special Collection CD available while quantities and interest remain!