Having quite literally cut my teeth during the Star Trek, the original series' 1966-69 run, then fallen in love with Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and with the best Star Trek Captain ever--Jean-Luc Picard--as a twenty-something, having gone on to embrace Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and it's bold move to have the setting of the show deviate from all others in that it took place on a space station and having been pleased and a bit proud of the franchise's choice of a woman as a Star Trek captain in "Voyager," and finally, trying multiple times to embrace Scott Bakula as captain the Final Star Trek television series, which improbably had a four year-run between 2001-2005, I do feel competent to comment on the score of The Music of Star Trek Performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Music of Star Trek is comprised of sixteen tracks, covering all eleven feature films and five television series. The track list is organized chronologically, showcasing first the films and then moving through the television series. The selections are heavily weighted towards closing credits, with seven of eleven feature selections being the close, which makes sense as that is where the main theme and motifs of the film are generally revisited. This means we get to hear the classic theme many times throughout with slight variations as a bridge to the other themes. It is also interesting to fully comprehend the impact that Jerry Goldsmith had on the entire series. In addition to writing the new theme for Star Trek: The Motion Picture--the original film, Jerry Goldsmith composed the score for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Nemesis as well as for the television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager.
Though there are a large handful of composing talents here which include James Horner (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock) Leonard Rosenman (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home), Cliff Eidelman (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) Dennis McCarthy (Star Trek: Generations) and of course, the soundtrack work of this year's "Star Trek" film by Michael Giacchino, it is the work of Jerry Goldsmith which speaks to me most.
The City of Prague Philharmonic has done a commendable job demonstrating their ability to make this soundtrack eminently listenable with these stellar renditions of Star Trek's themes. You may want to think of The Music of Star Trek as both a "greatest hits" and cover album as the music bears a comfortably familiar vibe throughout.
You do not have to be a hard-core Star Trek fan to add this little gem to your collection. It can be appreciated for it's place in pop-culture and well as for it's musicianship, both on the part of the composers and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
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