I was surprised when I saw this title issued on CD. You have got to hear the remastering of this soundtrack to believe the quality and the power of the score. They really did an excellent job on this one. It sounds great.


INCREDIBLE SOUNDTRACK on CD   September 30, 2000
gobirds2 (New England)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is one of the most rousing and memorable scores of 1960s. Based on the novel by Nikolai Gogol the film and music follows the 16th-century struggle for control of the Ukraine by horseback riding Cossacks and an elite Polish army. This must have been a welcome assignment for Franz Waxman given his place of birth and background knowledge of local folk themes.

Born in Chorzow, Poland Franz Waxman moved to the United States in 1934 at 28 years of age. He at once found work in Hollywood and quickly gained recognition as one of the most highly endowed composers of American film music. He was very effective with suspenseful and psychological subject matter as he scored several of Alfred Hitchcock's films: 1940's "REBECCA," 1941's "SUSPICION," 1948's "THE PARADINE CASE" and 1954's "REAR WINDOW." He won Academy Awards for his music to 1950's "SUNSET BOULEVARD" and 1951's A PLACE IN THE SUN and was nominated for several other Oscars ("THE SILVER CHALICE" and "TARAS BULBA" amongst others).

This much desired soundtrack has been long out of print and this stereo CD has been a long time coming. It was worth the wait. It sounds incredible. The CD retains the very distinctive and beautiful cover artwork. I highly recommend it.


Great score, cool themes, bit too dated to hold up today   September 26, 2004
The No Evil Killer (Everywhere, Anywhere, Nowhere)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Listening to the Taras Bulba soundtrack it's clear that John Williams was a fan of Franz Waxman. Much of this score seems to be the kind of stuff that inspired him in later years. So much so that much of the feeling and emotion in Taras Bulba is not too far removed from the Harry Potter score.

My problem is that the orchestra is rather sparse. I've heard the Taras Bulba score done massively and it's much better than what's on this CD. Yes, the score is great and some of those themes are really cool but they are rather primitive sounding. Even though this release in an 'enhanced' CD (it contains a random clip from the film in pan and scan), try to find the concert CD of the score in the classical sections of your music store. It really is much better.


A worthy addition to your soundtrack collection   September 30, 2008
Paul Lawrence (Australia)
Read the book and it was OK. And only OK. Saw the movie. Loved it totally. Bought the soundtrack and it made me want to watch the film again. And I mean that in the best possible way!

Written and conducted by Franz Waxman, this soundtrack to the adventure film of 1962 has a number of highlights that accentuate the movies action sequences but importantly they work in isolation as well. The stirring overture is a case in point. Regardless of whether your familiar with the film or not your going to enjoy this track and ditto for its' other rousing tracks. Motifs are used and carried through both the up tempo sections as well as the softer music and the feel of the era this music was written in laced throughout the disc. Were the music not so stirring and accomplished this would probably be a problem but in this instance it actually adds to proceedings.

Added value is derived from the booklet which has a number of interesting photos from the film shoot and worthwhile liner notes as well as the fact that this `deluxe edition' has a multimedia component which while not earth shattering does have some interesting snippets of info.

Fans of film scores - especially of this era - should grab this if they get the chance. At the time I write this the only way of getting it is second hand and my copy came with a defect. It beggars belief that such a stirring soundtrack isn't available new. Hopefully someone will rectify this so more people get a chance to own this album.


Glad to have it...   May 9, 2007
J. Bevan (Mansfield, TX USA)
This is a souvenir of an LP I bought as a teenager shortly after the movie was released. It is a very exciting Franz Waxman score. There was a time when the LP of this music was so rare that it was worth hundreds of dollars on the used market.

This may not be the greatest soundtrack in the world. But it is a good one from a master of that medium. The opening will get your blood going !