Saving Private Ryan Soundtrack CD

Boston Symphony Orchestra includes: Tim Morrison, Thomas Rolfs (trumpet); Gus Sebring (horns).
Additional personnel: Tanglewood Festival Chorus.
Recorded at Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts.
Original score composed and conducted by John Williams.
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture Or For Television.
Composer: John Williams .
Personnel: Tim Morrison (trumpet); Gus Sebring (horns).
Recording information: Symphony Hall, Boston, MA.
Editor: Ken Wannberg.
Photographer: David James.
Unknown Contributor Role: Sandy DeCrescent.
Saving Private Ryan was an unexpected masterstroke from Steven Spielberg -- a powerful, brutal film that didn't flinch in depicting the violence in World War II, managing to be an antiwar film that was also pro-war. Even though it contained a dose of Spielberg's traditional sentimentality, it remained a complex, layered film scored by John Williams. The composer had less room in the film than usual -- many scenes, particularly the battle sequences, were designed to play without music -- yet he added sentiment wherever he could nonetheless. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Saving Private Ryan was an unexpected masterstroke from Steven Spielberg -- a powerful, brutal film that didn't flinch in depicting the violence in World War II, managing to be an anti-war film that was also pro-war. Even though it contained a dose of Spielberg's traditional sentimentality, it remained a complex, layered film marred by only one thing -- John Williams' unexpectedly ineffective and inappropriate score. True, Williams had less room in the film than usual -- many scenes, particularly the battle sequences, were designed to play without music -- but when he did have the opportunity to underscore the action, he overplayed his cards, which had the effect of adding sentiment where it was unnecessary. Furthermore, Williams' score doesn't contain any memorable themes. It was written to provide emotional color -- regardless of whether that color was appropriate or not -- which means it's not particularly engaging on its own. And that makes for a real oddity -- the soundtrack to one of the most emotionally wrenching films of the late '90s is curiously bloodless and unengaging. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
How do you spell blockbuster? Try the following names; Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, while you're at it, how about John Williams, the soundtrack king who composed and conducted the original score for this heavy duty film. PRIVATE RYAN deals, somewhat graphically, with the horror that was WWII, and Williams naturally evokes this in his music. Through the use of ominous, minor key themes, moody orchestral textures, and some military percussion touches, William's score puts the listener in mind of the battlefield and the soldiers who fought and died there.