Music Album Review: 'Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture

As a fan of classical-styled film scores, I've developed an affinity for the works of various composers who work mostly in this genre. Topmost among these artists is, of course, John Williams, but as moviegoers and music lovers know, there are other composers who enhance the moving images we see on those theater screens with their compositions.

I first became aware of the late James Horner when Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan premiered in June of 1982. Director Nicholas Meyer, anxious to give his entry in the Star Trek franchise its own identity apart from the less-than-acclaimed first motion picture, commissioned the young Horner to write a score that evoked the nautical traditions Meyer wanted to infuse into his vision of Starfleet and the starship Enterprise. He asked for, and got, music that calls to mind seagoing sailing frigates and the age of Horatio Hornblower, albeit with a 23rd Century backdrop of dueling starships.

Considering Horner's penchant for composing scores with nautical or exploration-adventure themes (Clear and Present Danger, Apollo 13), it's not surprising that director James Cameron would ask the now-established composer to write the music for his 1997 tale of star-crossed love aboard the even more star-crossed Titanic.

And why not? Horner uses all his expertise with seafaring and action-adventure themes in creating one of the most popular film scores in history and the one that would earn the composer an Academy Award for Best Original Score in March of 1998. Starting with Celtic-inspired motifs that evoke both the nautical theme and the haunting realization that RMS Titanic went to the bottom on that cold April night in 1912, Horner's score runs the gamut from excitement and wonder (track 3, Southampton) to love and romance (track 4, Rose, which is the melody for My Heart Will Go On), confidence and exuberance (track 6, Take Her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch), and finally to disaster and doom (track 10, Death of Titanic) after the fatal collision between the late, great White Star liner and that iceberg.

Horner strived mightily to give the music a certain level of timelessness, avoiding overuse of period-music in the film except when absolutely necessary, yet steering away from styles that place the material in the late 1990s. Here it worked very well, except for the inclusion of Celine Dion's syrupy rendition of My Heart Will Go On. Yes, it was played only during the end credits, and yes, it was wildly popular and helped this album become THE top-selling original soundtrack record of all time, but (a) I think it was overexposed, and (b) Celine is a nice singer but she's not one of my favorite chanteuses. She tends to over-emote at times, so for me My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme from Titanic) is sheer torture.

My other quibble is that for a film that lasts over three hours, Sony Classical's initial Titanic soundtrack album is relatively skimpy. Obviously no one involved in the making of this very expensive film imagined just how successful it would become, so a barebones soundtrack was released shortly before the film premiered in December of 1997. Later, realizing that there was gold in dem dere CD bins and watching this album's sales go through the roof, Sony Classical released Back to Titanic, a one-disc supplement with unreleased cues by Horner and source music (material that would have been heard by the film's characters) such as the Irish jig played in steerage and the hymn Nearer My God to Thee.

Track List

  1. Never an Absolution
  2. Distant Memories
  3. Southampton
  4. Rose
  5. Leaving Port
  6. "Take Her to Sea, Mr. Murdoch"
  7. "Hard to Starboard"
  8. Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave
  9. The Sinking
  10. Death of Titanic
  11. A Promise Kept
  12. A Life So Changed
  13. An Ocean of Memories
  14. My Heart Will Go On
  15. Hymn to the Sea