Track List:
Total Time: (39:24) *Contains Dragonheart theme by Randy Edelman |
Composed by: Mark McKenzie Conducted by: Orchestrated by: Performed by: |
Other than the theme, McKenzie uses many styles and approaches to scoring that were used in the prequel including the ascending string triplet ostinatos, which add much to the overall flavor and make it sound very similar. In fact, I was almost startled to hear just how like Edelman this composer sounded. The liner notes (something that too many score are lacking nowadays) reveal that Mark is a friend of Edelman and had contact with him during the time of composition.
The new main theme is appropriately majestic for the movie and acts as an excellent supplement to it's predecessor, as it's own supplemental theme, the "heart" theme works as well. This "heart" theme is unfortunately used as the melody for the all-too-typical love ballad that closes the album. At this point I don't really care if the performance or melody is good, but these ballads will almost always mean one half of a point from my rating from now on. I'm sick of 'em!
The music is performed by the Slovac Philharmonic which do a decent job with no noticeably horrid screw-ups or blunders, but overall do nothing really spectacular. The song at the end is performed by Rona Figueroa, who performs in the movie with lyrics by the film's writer, Sherry Goodartz. Like the score's performance, Figueroa doesn't really screw up but does nothing particularly makes me want to recommend the song over the ten thousand others like it.
If you want to hear the music of a very talented up-and-comer like Mark McKenzie, are a fan of the original, or are a fan of fantasy/adventure in general, I could not recommend this highly enough. Others should find plenty to like too, unless you wish to avoid fantasy-themed scores like the plague, in which case I pity you, but accept your feelings.