Track Listing

1. Star Wars Main Title/The Arrival at Naboo
2. Duel of the Fates
3. Anakin's Theme
4. Jar Jar's Introduction/The Swim to Otoh Gunga
5. Sixth Spacecraft/The Droid Battle
6. Trip to the Naboo Temple (The Audience With Boss Nass)
7. Arrival at Tatooine/The Flag Parade
8. He Is the Chosen One
9. Anakin Defeats Sebulba
10. Passage Through the Planet Core
11. Watto's Deal/Kids at Play
12. Panaka and the Queen's Protectors
13. Queen Amidala/The Naboo Palace
14. Droid Invasion (The Appearance of Darth Maul)
15. Qui-Gon's Noble End
16. High Council Meeting/Qui-Gon's Funeral
17. Augie's Great Municipal Band/End Credits

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #185142 in Music
• Released on: 1999-05-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Soundtrack, Import
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 74 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The most eagerly anticipated movie of 1999, if not the decade, The Phantom Menace was also a mouth-watering prospect for soundtrack fans. Star Wars, after all, has become arguably the best-known and most influential movie score ever written, so a new instalment from John Williams, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, was always going to be a cause for celebration. And if the movie proved ultimately unable to live up to audience's almost impossibly high expectations, the music more than compensated. This is Williams at his expansive best. Always a supremely confident inhabitant of the Star Wars universe, the composer once again marshals the techniques of leitmotif and thematic transformation to depict the exotic landscapes of George Lucas's imagination; and here, 22 years after the original, his scoring exudes the maturity of a highly accomplished master of his craft. Take the centrally important "Anakin's Theme", for example, in which the seeds are sown for transformation into "The Imperial March" (Darth Vader's theme), or the Miklós Rózsa-esque march of "The Flag Parade" (the comparison with Ben-Hur is only fitting in context), or the magnificent choral set-piece, "Duel Of The Fates", in which a choir chanting a Sanskrit text (!) is propelled headlong over a driving ostinato rhythm. Original themes are used sparingly, but when the Force theme floats ethereally into "Watto's Deal" or the Emperor's sinister theme introduces "The Appearance Of Darth Maul", their impact is all the more telling for its subtlety. Throughout, the picturesque orchestration conjures vivid images--whether or not you are thinking of the movie--helped greatly by a magnificent performance from the LSO, whose excitement and sense of enjoyment in this music is tangible (the brass playing is, as ever with this team, a joy to behold). The recording at Abbey Road Studio No. 1 is also one of the most realistic ever captured on disc: listen through good speakers and it's like sitting in the studio itself. This 74-minute album assembled by the composer is intended to offer a musically coherent presentation: doubtless a complete version of this score will surface to satisfy collectors, but for now there's scarcely a better way to experience the magical fusion of music and cinema. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews

Worth it for 'Duel of the Fates'
John Williams music is always good and his Star Wars related themes are particularly wonderful. This CD provides pretty much everything that you'd expect, so does not really require much of a review. For me, far and away the best scene in the film is the fight between Qui-Gon, Obi-wan, and Darth Maul which is accompanied by the stirring piece of music 'Duel of the Fates'. Being able to listen to this piece alone had made this CD worth buying. Other than this, it makes pretty effective background music if you want a change from pop music.

Wow!
Absolutely loved it!Im 15,female and this is my favourite album.I was always a Star Wars fan but this soundtrack surpasses the previous three.My favourites are "Anakin's Theme","Duel of Fates" and "He is the Chosen One".The music is familiar yet in other ways completely different.I loved the "Force" music in "Watto's Deal" and the Darth Vader theme in "The High Council Meeting".I never heard anything like this!

Absolutley Wonderful
Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace.
Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace was the first of the "New Movies" that George Lucas has done, and he has brought back to the helm John Williams, Naturally! John has done it again! The music on this Soundtrack is of utmost quality, but nothing to surpass the originality of the first three feature films; Episodes 4, 5, and 6. The story for episode one may have seemed a bit juvenile when comapred to the first of the Star Wars Saga, but the music is still top Notch. I like to draw particular attention to Track Number 2; entitled "Duel of the Fates". What a wonderful piece of Cinematic music! It begins with outright showing of the power of the intended piece, with a simple three measure unaccompanied Choir burst which then ceases, and then the following silence gives way to an almost unhearable melody that gets your fingers tapping. It then begins to grow and the choir is then brought back into the piece, and it swells to a level that makes your sound system beg for mercy if at any reasonable volume. The piece then continues on as a fantastic deluge of sound that ends abruptly, but promptly after nearly 5 minutes. This piece make the CD worth its price. The other pieces that highlight this Soundtrack are; Track 8 "He is the Chosen One", Track 10 "Passage through the Planet Core", and Track 14 "The Droid Invasion and The Appearance of Darth Maul". This music is typical and pure Williams all of the way, and it is sure to please even the most devoted Williams music Fan!