Although John Barry doesn't write many scores these days, albums of his music still seem to appear regularly, be they either newly released or in this case, newly recorded. Of all the composers being re-recorded, Barry's seems to come out the best. His music isn't as technically challenging as something by Bernard Herrmann or Alex North. These means the conductor and orchestra have more time for refinements and so can produce supremely good re-recordings. Born Free isn't going to buck the trend and Frederic Talgorn and the RSNO acquit themselves admirably with Barry's otherwise unreleased (on CD at least) first Oscar winning score.
Almost all John Barry compilations feature the noble main theme, which is not presented in any kind of concert version here, but allowed to be woven into the tapestry of the score in general. It was originally set to lyrics and famously sung by Matt Munro, although Varese have chosen not to include a vocal performance and just present the orchestral score. The notes indicate that director James Hill had a very high opinion of the film and wanted a very stirring, epic score to go with it. While Barry's main theme is very broad, much of his underscore is more intimate and some of it remarkably playful. Unsurprisingly, this is most notable in selections such as Elsa at Play and Playtime which feature the kind of bright and cheerful music that doesn't grace many Barry scores. Barry even injects some jazzy rhythms, which blend well, but still come as something of a surprise. Anyone expecting the entire score to be gentle and slow like Out of Africa, will likely be surprised by the more varying moods this score has to offer. The more dramatic passages are generally low key, even exciting sounding cuts like Elephant Stampede and Elsa's Kill are more distantly threatening than the upfront immediacy one might expect from cues with such titles.
While it almost certainly worked flawlessly in the film, Born Free can't quite compare with his other Oscar winning efforts and certainly doesn't come close to the scope and drama of Dances With Wolves or The Lion in Winter. However, it is still a wonderful listen; there seems little to be faulted on the performance, either technically or on an interpretative level, the lush acoustics fit like a glove, the liner notes provide a nice background to the score and film and it is graced with a typically stylish Matthew Joseph Peak painting. Like Body Heat and Raise the Titanic, this is another score that Barry fans have always wanted and fortunately for them and us, Varese have done great job bringing it our way.