Twilight's Last Gleaming

A doomsday thriller with political overtones that never got the recognition it deserved, Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977) offered a good score by Jerry Goldsmith that is very nicely presented on this CD, with the composer conducting the Graunke Symphony Orchestra. The music does share some elements in common with Goldsmith's score for Alien (which dates from around the same period) in its use of frantic, running scales and percussive effects on the strings, as well as ominous calls on the brass, while at other times it seems to echo elements of his music for Patton, with its use of a trumpet call; and at yet other moments, the music acquires an almost Copland-like elegiac tone. As with most of Goldsmith's work, the music is always fascinating, and the playing and recording are of a very high standard. ~ Bruce Eder