City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

Silva Screen Records, which specializes in re-recordings of film music, usually (as here) performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, has had occasion to consider the music featured in films directed by Steven Spielberg before, and this compilation draws from a similarly titled 1997 collection in its Hollywood Directors series, as well as releases featuring the work of composer John Williams. Williams, of course, worked with Spielberg consistently starting with the director's first feature, The Sugarland Express (1974), and he is responsible for all but five of the 28 cues heard here. A bushel of Academy Award nominations and several statuettes have resulted, and the box office success of the films has helped such Williams themes as the ones from Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial enter the long-term memories of filmgoers across the decades. The orchestra handles these familiar works adequately, along with plenty of other music from Spielberg films, much of it somewhat similar to the really memorable stuff. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide