Notebook Soundtrack CD

Composer: Aaron Zigman.
Personnel: Dean Parks (guitar); Eun Mee Ahn, Al Hershberger, David Ewart, Gil Romero, Katia Popov, Tamara L. Hatwan, Robin Olson, Mark Sazer, Razdan Kutumjain, Alan Grunfeld, Henry Gronnier, Barbara Porter, Ken Yerke, Pat Johnson , Horia Moroaica, Claudia Parducci, Franklyn d'Antonio, Karen Jones, Richard Altenbach, Jacqueline Brand, Bruce Dukov, Natalie Leggett, Phillipe Levy, Ralph Morrison, Sara Parkins, Roger Wilkie, Darius Campo, Liane Mautner, Josephina Vergara, Mario Diaz de Leon, Haim Shtrum (violin); Matt Funes, Shawn Mann, Carole Castillo, Vicki Miskolczy, Michael Nowak, John Scanlon, Brian Dembow, Roland Kato, Janet Lakatos, Thomas Dienner, Harry Shirinian, Shanti Randall (viola); Paula Hochhalter, Tina Soule, Dennis Karmazyn, Jodi Burnett, Bob Adcock, Larry Corbett, Stephen Erdody, Armen Ksadjikian, Cecilia Tsan, Christine Ermacoff (cello); Susan Greenberg, Jim Walker (flute); Jimmie Wood (harmonica); Dan Higgins, Ralph Williams , Emily Bernstein (clarinet); Leslie Reed, Phil Ayling (oboe); Rose Corrigan (bassoon); Gary Grant, Larry Hall , Warren Luening, Wayne Bergeron (trumpet); Dana Kelley, Phillip Edward Yao, Rick Todd, Brad Warnaar, Brian O'Connor (French horn); Charles Loper, Bruce Otto, Stephen Holtman (trombone); Fred W. Greene (tuba); Aaron Zigman (piano); JoAnn Turovsky (timpani); Dan Greco, Mike Fisher , Robert Zimmitti (percussion).
Audio Mixers: Dennis Sands; Michael Stern.
Recording information: Sony Pictures Studios.
Photographer: Melissa Moseley.
The Notebook -- which was based on Nicholas Sparks' novel about an unusual love story spanning the '40s to the present day -- has a soundtrack that features Aaron Zigman's score and jazz and pop from '40s greats such as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. Zigman's orchestral score ranges from the serviceable ("Main Title," "Allie Returns") to the sappy ("Overture"), and, on tracks like "Noah's Journey," nods to the instrumentation of big band music without trying to recapture the feeling of it. However, the original '40s cuts are the real stars of the soundtrack; tracks such as Holiday's "I'll Be Seeing You," Ellington's "Alabamy Home," and Goodman's "Always and Always" give the album -- and the film -- more character than the score does. Songs by Glenn Miller, Rex Stewart, the Ellingtonians, and Jimmy Durante also contribute to the soundtrack's atmosphere. ~ Heather Phares
The soundtrack for THE NOTEBOOK is equal parts 1940s time capsule--as befits this WWII-era love story--and early-21st-century symphonic scoring. The evocative "Main Title," featuring generously pedaled solo piano bathed in dreamy reverb, brings to mind an updated Edvard Grieg "Lyric Piece." While the inspiration for composer Aaron Zigman's lush orchestrations, performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra, is certainly rooted in late-19th-century European romanticism, the themes themselves suggest that bittersweet blend of melancholy and optimism that clearly points to 20th-century Americana. The interspersed tunes from the '30s and '40s, for the most part, offer a jaunty, jitterbug counterpoint. The four giants represented here are Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Billie Holiday, all performing signature tunes. Because of this broad variety of material, the collection manages to create its own little slide-show journey from start to finish, shifting moods between haunted introspection and joyous exuberance.