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James Horner incorporates an exquisite blend of vocals (provided by the lovely soprano, Charlotte Church) into his music. It's simply stunning to listen too. During 'A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics', the music reaches such a high level of emotion, you are stunned and deeply moved. Themes from 'A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics' are continuously used throughout the other pieces and seamlessly blended together with other themes. Another strong theme emerges in 'The Car Chase', one of my personal favorites in this score. Below I have given my brief opinion on a few of the most memorable pieces, tough I thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

~A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics~ Unforgettable and deeply moving, my favorite piece, I loved Charlottle Church's vocals. Stunning.

~Creating "Governing Dynamics"~ Resuses themes from 'A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics'. Lovely.

~Cracking the Russian codes~ More beautiful vocals from Charlottle Church.

~Nash Descends into Parcher's World~ Dark and powerful piece.

~First Drop-Off, First Kiss~ Beautiful, gentle, and inspiring.

~The Car Chase~ Excellent themes here. Intense, keeps you on your toes.

~All Love Can Be~ An intoxicating and stunningly beautiful song by Charlotte Chruch. Lyrics by WillJennings, music by James Horner.

'A Beautiful Mind' is a must-see and defintely one of the best films of 2001 and one of my favorite films of all time. As an avid movie soundtrack collector, I must say that this is one of my personal favorites. The soundtrack is just as haunting, mesmerizing, and intoxicating as the film. A must-own.


A Beautiful Soundtrack!   December 12, 2001
 28 out of 30 found this review helpful

James Horner has done it again! But depending on what you think of him, that is either good or bad. For those who love Horner's soft, sensitive, and introspective scores, and don't mind the similarities between this and other Horner scores, this is a great soundtrack! But for those who despise the Horner "Self Rip-Offs", then this scoundtrack will probably incense you like none has before. Horner has taken three great scores, "Sneakers", "Searching for Bobby Fischer", and especially "Bicentennial Man", used highlights of them and added some new variations, and come up with "A Beautiful Mind". This will be fairly noticable to anybody familiar with those scores mentioned.

Now is this a soundtrack that you will want to buy? I would say that unless you are one of those who really cannot stand Horner scores that "re-use" a lot of material from other scores of his, then you will probably find this cd very beautiful and moving. I personally have anticipated this score ever since I heard Horner was going to compose thise movie. Just from the title, I knew that it would be another opportunity for Horner to do what he does best, compose heartfelt and introspective scores, that are as much felt as they are heard. Horner has mastered that genre, and pretty much monopolized it, as no other composer can even come close to doing.

"Bicentennial Man", was an amazingly deep and moving score, covering many emotions, mostly happy and a few sad. "A Beautiful Mind" is another such score, although this time around, Horner delves into another type of emotion, that of dark and confusing uncertainty. The movie deals with a genius, and the theme to represent this aspect is played to great extent at the beginning of the score, and is almost exactly the same as the "Machine Age" track from "Bicentennial Man". This theme is now brought to the forefront after it's small usage in the aforementiond score, as well as "Searching for Bobby Fischer", and is a main theme used to represent the intellectual side of the main character, Steve Nash. He is married, and has a happy life, and this is represented in the second theme, which is new, although still very Horner-like. It is a pleasant and slightly romantic theme. However, Nash is also schitzophrentic, and has a dark side. This side is well represented in the middle portion of the score, where the main themes slowly turn darker and more foreboding, and the introspective side of the score conveys the feeling of somebody who has gotten lost in despair and is searching for a way out. However, all this is done in such a way that is not a bad listen. In fact, a complete listening of the cd will flow very smoothly from one stage of Nash's life to another. Towards the latter third of the cd, the tracks come back to the more positive nature, and present hope for the future. The closing track does a good job of showcasing all these sides of Nash in a nutshell, including a brief period of the dark score, to remind us that while Nash's life has turned better again, he is still haunted by his dark side from time to time.

Something new Horner has brought to this soundtrack as well, is the use of renowned soprano Charlotte Church. She does all the vocals in the score, and is excellent. Her vocals really help set the mood as well, and present a picture of the soaring accomplishments of Nash, sort of saying "The sky's the limit" for his capacity. Church also adds a song near the end up the cd which is very melencholy and flows with the score very well. But her vocals are really the highlight of her contributions to this album.

So in closing, I say again that if you didn't like "Bicentennial Man", don't touch this one with a ten foot pole. However, if you like a very beautiful, yet introspective score, and don't mind "Hornerisms", then this will be a prized addition to your colection. I know it sure is to mine!

P.S. If you are a fan of Charlotte Church's music, but don't normally listen to soundtracks, this may still be one for you to check out, as her voice is put to great use here.


great book, good picture, good musical score   March 19, 2008
 23 out of 23 found this review helpful

They took some liberties with the story the drama was well done and apparently was satisfactory to the Nash's. At first I was infuriated because the scenes with the CIA agent seemed so real that you thought Howard was suggesting that some of Nash's illusions were real. But far into the story you learn that the best friend character and the CIA agent are imaginary.
Very good actimg by Russell Crowe. This is enjoyable even for those who don't have an interest in mathematics. I took my children (10 and 12) and they enjoyed it also with the help of some adult explanations. The music was excellent also.




One Of Horner's Best   December 29, 2001
 18 out of 20 found this review helpful

Horner puts together a very emotional and heartfelt score in "A Beautiful Mind". I am a big fan of Horner and feel that he is one of the most talented composers in Hollywood today. He has a distinct style to all of his scores that just says: James Horner. His use of orchestra and captivating themes helps you to respect his great talent and his love for making great movie music.
Horner's choice to use the haunting voice of Charlotte Church was a very clever one that uplifts and puts emotional tenderness into the whole score. The first track titled "A Kaleidoscope Of Mathematics" uses a constant shifting of keys while using major scales and Church's Voice to make a melocholy, but uplifting theme.

Horner uses this 'mathematic' theme for about three or four cues with Church's voice before the score turns dark. "A Beautiful Mind" has two themes. It has the very beginning theme that consists of Church's voice, and than the darker theme later in the score. This is where Horner has invented some of his most original work. Its use of orchestera and that 'darker theme' (which is used in the song that Church sings in track 15) is very beautiful and almost reminds me somewhat of Horner's darker parts of "Legends Of The Fall". The chords he uses in these parts are so emotional and heartfelt that it almost brings you too tears. The melocholy song Church sings is very beautiful, and the "End Credits" sums up the whole score into one song and does a beautiful job in doing so. All in all this is one of Horner's best works. I look forward to seeing what Horner will come out with next, for he has three very powerful scores coming out this year, Windtalkers, Iris, and A Beautiful Mind. All of them that I have heard could be up for some awards. Buy this album, Horner is a great composer, and this album will be a good one to add to any Horner fan, or just any one looking to buy some great listening music. I can't wait to see the movie.


Meticulously orchestrated, deeply felt   May 10, 2002
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

First off, I'd recommend seeing the movie before you get the soundtrack. It's not a necessity, but it helps you understand the music a bit better, and on some tracks (especially ones like Cracking the Russian Codes) are a lot more fun to listen to when you know what's going on in the movie.

I don't want to gush, but I'd have to say this is some of the most beautiful and deeply felt soundtrack/orchestral music I have heard in many years, and has taken its place among my favorite discs. Horner has a rare gift: Not only can he write heart-wrenchingly beautiful melodies, he can simultaneously say volumes with orchestration, and he weaves the two together with a skill that seems unreal for his relatively young age.

For those new to Horner, he works almost entirely in the orchestral realm, although he is not above using guitars and drumsets. However, his music doesn't sound "classical" -- his rhythms and melodies are decidedly modern. This disc is a little more mellow than some of his other works (the Perfect Storm soundtrack, for instance), and for good reason -- the film is quietly emotional, and Horner's score goes well with it.

The main theme is simple (I'm a pianist and I worked out a rough transcription -- just a few chords) but hauntingly beautiful and sorrowful. The Amazon reviewer claims that Horner doesn't repeat himself too much on this CD, but I must admit that, as beautiful as the melody is, it's used quite a bit. Be prepared. I didn't get sick of it, but you might.

Other nits: I also thought that the lyrics on the theme song were a bit too contrived -- it seems painfully obvious that they were written as an afterthought to the music, which would be a disaster if the music weren't from Horner and the singer wasn't Charlotte Church. She sings clearly, innocently, and her melodies blend with Horner's in wonderful ways.

Sound quality on this disc is wonderful. There are some neat enhanced-CD bonus features too -- the coolest of which are a short video interview with James Horner and a trailer for the film. Those, on top of the over 70 minutes of audio, make this one packed disc.

There's a huge range of emotion on this CD; there are sparkly exciting parts (mostly in the first few tracks) and more brooding and slow parts (mostly later on), but altogether, I can't think of a good excuse not to give this CD 5 stars. It's beautiful, and it's one of Horner's best.