Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology

AMG Review of Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

This quadruple-CD set corrects a multitude of sonic sins that were evident in the original CD release of the Star Wars soundtrack and its sequels. It's also a veritable festival of John Williams' music from the George Lucas trilogy, a total-immersion experience in Williams' boldest 19th century-style body of music, and for those with that preference, it's a unique experience. The mastering is impeccable, the sound quality amazing, and the annotation very thorough, although one does wish at times that a more objective voice were heard from in the notes -- Williams' work here was superb, to be sure, but it was also highly derivative of a brace of late-19th century and early-20th century composers from the concert hall, and one would love to see this acknowledgement somewhere amid the celebration of the music. Since the release of this set, there have been even more ambitious compilations of Williams' music from these movies assembled, encompassing his scoring for the revised versions of the movies, but this box has a certain unity and purity to it, as the assembly of the music that he wrote for the movies as they were originally released. It's well worth tracking down and still enjoyable more than a decade later.