Jesus Original Score Soundtra Jesus: The Epic Mini-Series Soundtrack CD

Original score composed by Patrick Williams.
Includes liner notes by Jon Burlingame.
In anticipation of the network television broadcast of the miniseries Jesus on May 14-15, 2000, two soundtracks were released seven weeks earlier. The advance information about the telefilm did not bode well. Subtitled "The Epic Mini-Series" (isn't that a contradiction in terms?), it was described as a "four-hour, $26-million production" (this in the liner notes to the album under consideration here), which seemed like a skimpy outlay at a time when feature films regularly cost upwards of $100 million. But it was the music in Patrick Williams' score that dampened expectations the most. The composer's 17 music cues, ranging between one and five minutes each, tended to be standard somber symphonic material, intending to sound majestic but mostly coming off as dull. Some ominous synthesizer sounds swooped in for "Satan," and "The Passion" brought a burst of percussion work. But much of Williams' score was clichéd and pedestrian, enough so that the interpolation of Sarah Brightman's reading of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Pie Jesu" was welcome. Of course, the "music from and inspired by" song score album, featuring the likes of Leann Rimes and Hootie and the Blowfish, didn't seem likely to be all that appetizing, either. ~ William Ruhlmann
The television movie Jesus features an original score by composer/bandleader Patrick Williams. Symphonic pieces like "Temple, The Early Days," "Raising Lazarus," "Taken To Pilate" and "I Am With You" retell Jesus' life, crucifixion and ascension, while "Pie Jesu" Sarah Brightman's vocals. Jesus's score is a fitting and well-crafted musical companion to the film. ~ Heather Phares

Score By Patrick Williams + 1 Song By Sarah Brightman