Home Alone

One of the really classic Christmas scores, John Williams' music for Chris Columbus Home Alone is an effective contribution to the film and a charming and very entertaining listening experience on CD. Composed in 1990, during one of Williams' best and strongest periods ever, short after the composer's score for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and just before his music for Hook and Far and Away, Home Alone is packed with the kind of lyricism, playfulness and warmth that made those scores so likeable and loved.

To create a strong Christmas sound, Williams uses a large array of percussive and rythmic instruments, such as bells, sleigh bells, chimes and triangle, as well as lots of brass and, in some cues, choir. Apart from traces of familiar Christmas carols, Williams also wrote his own carol for the film, "Somewhere in my Memory" and "Star of Betlehem". When performed by children's choir, these are rather sweet songs - perhaps too sweet. But they are allowed to shine in the instrumental versions. The orchestral version of "Star of Betlehem" is an amazing piece, with lots of orchestral bombast.

The slapstick elements of the film are accompanied by lighthearted, bouncy music with lots of woodwinds, sometimes bordering on Mickey Mousing, but always entertaining and charming. "Setting the Trap" adds a soft rock'n'roll drumbeat, with variations on familiar Christmas carols sneaking in and out of the music, while "Holiday Flight" and "Making the Plane" are pastiches, homages, rip-offs, or what have you, of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite.

The soundtrack CD also includes Christmas carols performed by The Drifters, Southside Johnny Lyon and Mel Torme. And for once, they go very well with the actual score. A highly recommended soundtrack to listen to during the Holidays.