Spanglish Soundtrack CD

Composer: Hans Zimmer.
Personnel: Heitor Teixeira Pereira (guitar); Eun Mee Ahn, Rebecca Bunnell, Anatoly Rosinsky, Katia Popov, Tamara L. Hatwan, Robin Olson, Mark Sazer, Aimee Kreston, Ana Landauer, Alan Grunfeld, Ken Yerke, Songa Lee Kitto, Lee Kitto, Song-A, Julia Ann Gigante, Rene Mandel, Mari Tsumura, Sungil Lee, Norman Hughes, Daisy Jopling, Eric J. Hosler, Aleksey Igudesman, Jay Rosen, Joel Derouin, Kevin Connolly, Lisa Sutton, Mark Robertson , Patricia Johnson , Sid Page, Richard Altenbach, Jacqueline Brand, Bruce Dukov, Natalie Leggett, Sarah Thornblade, Armen Anassian, Darius Campo, Michael Markman, Liane Mautner, Josephina Vergara, Dimitrie Leivici, Miwako Watanabe, Rafael Rishik, Charlie Bisharat, Endre Granat (violin); Matt Funes, Shawn Mann, Andrew Picken, Karie Prescott, Steven Gordon, Cassandra Richburg, Karen Van Sant, Rick Gerding, Michael Nowak, Gordon Berg, Robert Becker, Keith Greene, Jennie Hansen, Janet Lakatos, Simon Oswell, Danny Seidenberg, David F. Walther, Thomas Dienner, Darrin McCann, Samuel Formicola, Denyse Buffum, Andrew Duckles, Shanti Randall, Robert Berg (viola); Paula Hochhalter, Mathew Cooker, Christina Soule, Trevor Handy, Timothy Landauer, Dennis Karmazyn, Jen Kuhn, Rowena Hamil, Anthony Cooke, Tristan Schulze, Kevan Torfeh, Martin Tillman, Paul Cohen , Larry Corbett, Douglas Davis , Erika Duke-Kirkpartick, Stephen Erdody, Armen Ksadjikian, Dane Little, David Low , David Speltz, Sebastian Toettcher, Cecilia Tsan, John Walz, Steve Richards , Stefanie Fife, Victor Lawrence, Christine Ermacoff (cello); Susan Greenberg, Steve Kujala, Geri Rotella (flute); Phillip OConnor, Steven Roberts, Michael Grego, Donald Foster, Ralph Williams , Gary Bovyer, Marty Krystall, James Kanter (clarinet); Barbara Northcutt, Phil Ayling (oboe); Sara Schoenbeck, Kenneth E. Munday (bassoon).
Audio Mixers: Alan Meyerson; Slamm Andrews.
Arrangers: Henning Lohner; Heitor Teixeira Pereira; Trevor Morris.
Hans Zimmer's elegant score for James L. Brooks' dramedy Spanglish is an understated gem. Zimmer, the man who matched Ridley Scott's visual bombast with its audio equivalent on Gladiator, has crafted a quiet, contemplative work that relies on familial tension rather than blood, honor, and warfare. The composer has managed this feat successfully before -- Green Card, As Good As It Gets -- but never this effortlessly. For Spanglish, he's pared down the keyboard-driven crescendos and worldbeat rhythms of the past into a tight marriage of tense strings and flamenco guitar that never rises above conversation level, allowing the characters room to breathe and the listener the chance to hear them. ~ James Christopher Monger