Angels in America: Music from the HBO Film

Film music is written to support the film for which it is made, nothing more, nothing less. Most of the time film music simply doesn't sound "good" in a stand-alone sense, with Ernest Gold's score for Judgmen at Nuremberg and Anne Dudley's score for The Crying Game two cases in point. But now and then a film composer hits one out of the park: Steiner's Gone With The Wind, Herrmann's Vertigo and Psycho, North's Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Jerry Goldsmith's Chinatown, Gustavo Santaolalla's Brokeback Mountain, John Barry's The Lion In Winter--to name but a few. And Thomas Newman is one of the most consistently successful composers working in film today, creating memorable soundtracks for such films as WALL-E, The Road to Perdition, American Beauty, and The Shawshank Redemption, to list but the most obvious.The story of Angels In America is a strange and sweeping one that involves sexual identity, gender roles, politics, religion--and a heavenly angel with dazzling white wings who has descended to earth with a prophesy for mankind. Not surprisingly, Newman's score uses a lot of strings and woodwinds, especially the oboe and flute. But these are fed through a sensibility that tastes the wind, twisting our expectations of both earthly and heavenly powers with odd, half-heard voices, strange synthesizers, peculair mixtures of the ominious and the triumphant.Perhaps the most immediately recognizable selection is the title sequence, "Angels In America," which uses the oboe against strings and harpsichord to create an ariel, flowing sound that somehow feels both compassionate and completely indifferent--an odd combination that so perfectly the overall tone of the film but which also transends it. And there is the trick, the great trick: could one take the various elements of this musical collection and create a symphonic suite? Such has certainly been done with Gone with The Wind, with Psycho and Vertigo, even the score for The Young Frankenstein. Could it happen here? Most certainly and without doubt.Some of the selections are so entirely attached to the film that they cannot be extracted, with "Threshold of Revelation" and "Ramble" likely cases in point, but overall the music has a chiming, soaring, weaving quality, and it is very easy to imagine great chunks of it played and becoming popular in much the same way that Tara's Theme has become a great standard over the years. Beautiful, elegantly rendered, and recommended.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

It was the score for "Angels in America" that brought the HBO miniseries to my attention in the first place. I've been a stalwart fan of Thomas Newman's excellent film music for some time now, and when I first heard of the score for "Angels" I knew I'd have to hear it. I took a leap of faith and purchased the CD without having heard a note of it, and I have to say that the risk was well worth it.Newman's music for "Angels in America" is much like the miniseries itself -- at times whimsical, at times dramatic, at times serious but with a soft touch, it sets the tone perfectly. Newman's compostions here ride the fine line between hope and heartbreak, creating a memorable soundscape which can be listened to alone (as I first did), but also accompanies the action of the miniseries incredibly well. This is emotional, honest, and complex music for a complex story with powerful themes.While "Angels in America" is a unique score overall, it is also recognizably Thomas Newman's, and one can certainly hear hints of Newman's other work in it. The first few minutes of "Quartet" remind careful listeners unfailingly of one of the darker pieces from "The Shawshank Redemption," and the surprisingly light tone of "Pill Poppers" hearkens back to themes heard in "Finding Nemo." However, Newman is nothing if not original, and he doesn't spend a lot of time borrowing from himself for this score. The main title music is unforgettable and instantly recognizable as belonging to "Angels in America," but avoids the trap of sounding catchy. Early tracks like "Lesionnaire", "Mauve Antarctica" and "Her Fabulous Incipience" help establish different scenes and characters, while later pieces like "Delicate Particle Logic," "The Mormons," "Tropopause," and especially the excellent "More Life" each use the main theme in subtly different ways to evoke different and unexpected emotions.As with many Newman scores, there are a few tracks here not composed by Newman. Duke Ellington's "Solitude," a ragtime version of "A Closer Walk With Thee," and a revival performance of "I'm His Child" were all heard in the series, and are important in some way to the themes expressed there. I can see why they were included, but frankly, I purchased this CD for Newman's music alone, and while the other three songs are all good songs, it is his score that makes me put this in the CD player again and again."Angels in America" is a rich, moving score which I first got to know before I even really knew what the HBO miniseries was about. Now that I've seen the miniseries, and listened to the CD many times over, I can only say that the experience is that much richer. This is the ideal music for the miniseries from beginning to end, and one of the best examples of why Thomas Newman is a groundbreaking composer of modern film music.

I've bought many Thomas Newman soundtracks, The Player, American Beauty, Road To Perdition -- they're all great. I just really like his sound and the instruments he uses. Angels is a terrific play and film and the score to the HBO production is wonderful. Very much worth owning. Great background music to working in the office, writing, reading or just sitting back, closing your eyes and dreaming.

Listen to this soundtrack while cruzin' the internet.Very peaceful, until you get to track 31, that'll have ya jumpin' for Joy.

I've been a fan of Thomas Newman's work for a while now, as well as 'Angels in America', so I was delighted when I discovered he had scored the soundtrack for the HBO production. This is a lovely album, and a worthy addition to anyone's collection.

This is Thomas Newman at his very best with lush orchestration and sublime chords that are his trademark. The eerie vocals add a somewhat mysterious flavour to the album and embellish it enormously. Can't wait to now see the film .

Another great score.

Timeless.

A wonderful and complex score to one of the most wonderful and complex pieces of television ever made . Completely recommended

This is surely one of the best soundtracks around. I've been a fan of Thomas Newman since American Beauty, so I bought this expecting good things but it has really outstripped my expectations by a long way. Buy it - you won't be disappointed.

Perfect cd and great seller

Ein Film, mit einfach "nur" superguten Schauspielern, tiefstem Handlungs-Hintergrund über Amerika und seine Politik und die Gesundheitspolitik, in der Zeit, als HIV und AIDS "aufkam", -aber auch vielen phantasievollen Einlagen, genug Momente zum Schmunzeln(auch über die Künste der Schauspieler!!), ... Sehr gut ist auch der zügige Handlungsablauf. DieSpannung bleibt bis zum Schluss und der ist erst nach ein paar Stunden .-) -was kein Problem ist, wenn man weiß, dass man Zeit hat.

Sehr schnell hier, eine super CD mit Traummusik