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This Trevor Jones, Randy Edelman score remains one of my favorite soundtracks, (and one of my favorite films), of the 1990's. I hadn't played the CD in a few years, but played it today and perhaps it's my 'older ears', but I thought that it sounded a bit 'draggy', slow in parts. I'm referring to the Varese version that came out several years after the initial soundtrack, conducted by Joel McNeely and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. I have some vague memory of giving away my original version and purchasing the McNeely version because (I think), it had and extra track or two. I think it's just my memory of the first release which I think sounded exciting and fast-paced, but is the 'expanded' release a bit listless? I can't compare them anymore as I just have the latter. // I also wonder if all the music written for the film has been released?
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Not being pedantic but just in case you want to see some other thoughts on this topic:
https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=106911&archive=0
My thoughts on this still hold - both presentations are worth owning though my preference is the OST. The redo has a better track list and IMHO upgrades the sound of the original Edelman cues, but it can't match the Jones highlights in performance or intensity.
As far as what's missing, as mentioned in that other thread the full "Promontory" cue is the biggest omission. The end credits cue, too, though I'm not sure if that was through-composed or a cut job of existing film tracks.
Thanks for the links to all those 'thoughts' that have been previously given on the subject. I suppose I'll just get the original soundtrack again. Yeah, the 'Promontory' cue was too splendid to have been left off.
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You can also take a listen to the live performance conducted by Trevor Jones in Spain.
Nice, thanks for posting this! I'm going to embed it here. For some reason it's cracking me up that he's chewing gum while conducting.
Oh my gosh yes, this recording is brilliant and his gum-chewing was very unusual and seemed kind of disrespectful but in a casual “This-score-is-awesome-and-I-don’t-give-a-f***” kind of way.
Also, jump ahead to the section where they play “Fort Battle” at 5:57. The snare drummer noticeably struggles monstrously with this cue and falls completely out of sync with the rest of the orchestra before seemingly giving up in anger. If I recall, one of the horns or woodwinds players looks back at him to see what is going on. Meanwhile the cue starts way too fast and then Jones compensates by slowing it down, which was probably also a factor. Coupled with the snare drummer seemingly not looking at Jones at all for guidance on the tempo (I think the complexity of the drumming pattern caused him to spend a lot of time looking at the sheet music).
In any event, one of the best examples of militaristic battle music played in 3/4 time. It worked perfectly for the organized chaos of uniformed soldiers in the 1800’s running formal firing lines against each other as a veneer of “politeness” over the brutality of the fighting.
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My thoughts on this still hold - both presentations are worth owning though my preference is the OST. The redo has a better track list and IMHO upgrades the sound of the original Edelman cues, but it can't match the Jones highlights in performance or intensity.
I agree so thoroughly that I simply quote the above.
When I bought the Blu-ray years ago to show the film to my wife I found its violence too savage and extreme, compared to what tolerance I could muster back in the '90s. However, the experience of that linked performance from YouTube makes me think of working up to give the movie itself another try. Man, such grandeur in that score!
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For me the OST wins hands down. I do enjoy the re-recording however. One of the few scores that I decided to keep as both an original and re-recorded version.
As a general rule of thumb, I usually prefer the OST if it's a score I found through the film. But if I find a score through this board (of which there have been a great many, so my sincere thanks to everybody here), but yes, if I find the score through this board and there is already a re-recording, I usually go for the re-recording. My thinking is that I'm not used to either version, so I may as well get used to the one that has better sound quality.
Now Playing: Last of the Mohicans, OST. 
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