CD Review: John Ottman – Superman Returns: Music from the Motion Picture

As a lifelong fan of film scores, I was anxious to hear what Superman Returns: Music from the Motion Picture would sound like. Composer John Ottman didn’t disappoint. He has created a brilliant score that will remind fans of John Williams’ legendary original Superman score (Williams’ “Main Title” is included), but Ottman also adds an epic arrangement of his own music that meets the high standard Williams set back in 1978. Having proven himself as a fine composer on Bryan Singer’s X2: XMen United, Ottman was already a musical force to be reckoned with. With Superman Returns: Music from the Motion Picture, he has taken his career to another level.

In the soundtrack liner notes Ottman openly admits to being a huge John Williams fan:

I reminded myself that this was an opportunity to write an original score that would be new yet faithful to Williams’ Superman theme. One of the tragedies of the sequels was that they featured virtually no new music. Instead, the original score was simply re-edited into scenes that had nothing to do with its original intent. If Williams scored the other movies, he would have implemented his major themes.

Ottman obviously made a conscious effort to research the musical history of the Superman franchise before beginning his gargantuan task. I think Ottman’s respect for the work of John Williams helped him immensely in his effort to create a memorable score. Some sequel composers go out of their way not to listen to the work of the original composer’s music on the original film. Therefore, they often produce something that is counter to the story being told, or alienates the established fan base.

Diehard fans will be pleased with Ottman’s presentation of Williams’ most famous compositions for the original Superman score. He has recorded a faithful rendition of “The Main Title”, which reintroduces us to the main march, and the “Can You Read My Mind” love theme. The integration of the title march into the score is brilliant work, appearing enough to signal victories by Superman, without playing so much as to become redundant. Ottman occasionally uses the “Main Title” theme (particularly at the beginning and the end of the film), but its true effectiveness is when he uses small fragments of it throughout Superman Returns. Ottman’s rearrangements of the “Main Title” are first rate, from the life-saving moments of “Rough Flight” to the triumphant finale, “Fly Away.”

Article Author: Rebecca Wright

Rebecca is a freelance writer, concentrating in the areas of film, television and music criticism. Her B.A. is in the Humanities with an emphasis in film and writing.She holds an M.A. in American and British literature with an emphasis in dystopian …

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