Customer Reviews

The Mission

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Certainly the music made this movie spectacular, gracing and moving one as the eyes were privy to the spectacular cinematography.

Morricone's compostion here is fluent with three distinct musical tributaries which play so well with the plotline: oboe, tribal, and religious.

How about the beauty of "Gabriel's Oboe?" Simply magnificent!
The earthiness of the tribal drums and windflute are simply captivating.

The religious chanting and other inspirational sounds are fitting and well done.

All this superbly performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra and choirs of London Voices and Barnett Schools Choir.

I have loved this CD for about as long as it's been available--about 15 years. Some tracks are so uplifting, and all are wonderful.

This soundtrack was given to me as a gift. I had never seen the movie previously but when i started playing it the music just flowed around me and i honestly started tearing! No music has ever touched me like this has. It is so dear to my heart that i actually used Gabriel's Oboe for my processional when i got married. I highly recommend this music to anyone. It will move you.

I really think that "The Mission" is one of the most important works by Ennio Morricone. Important in the sense that the Italian maestro presents us a work of strange beauty, especially with the London Voices chanting the Latin words in the opening cue 'On Earth As It Is In Heaven', a wonderful and powerful piece that fits perfectly in the marvelous landscapes surrounding the Iguazu Falls and the Indians who inhabitted it during the Spanish colonial settlements in the age of the discovery of the New World.
Beneath the chanting and the ethnic percussion, the theme for Padre Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) is heard. A lovely composition played on the flute on that opening track, and later played on oboe in the prettiest representation of the theme in the two versions of 'Gabriel's Oboe'.
The theme for "The Mission" is also truly spectacular and it's heard in the shots of the falls.
In spite of other attractive choral moments like 'Ave Maria Guarani', there is something that bothers me about this CD, and it's the overabundance of dark motives that foreshadow the final tragic moment of the film. Tracks such as 'Penance', 'Alone', 'Guarani', and 'The Sword' make me feel gloomy every time I listen to the album.
I wish there had been a good balance between the glorious and the dark moments in "The Mission", but I have to admit that Ennio Morricone created one interesting and experimental score.

Everyone in the world must own this CD. It has like some of THE BEST music that will ever exist on it. Ennio Morricone is an absolute genius and it¡¯s his score to this movie that inspired Hans Zimmer to be a film composer. Tracks like Falls, Vita Nostra and Remorse will make your life complete. It for reasons like this that music exists.

You must get this CD, it will take you to another world, it¡¯ll make you sad, it¡¯ll make you happy. It¡¯s joyous, it¡¯s morose. It¡¯s an immortal part of history. The Mission can me matched, but it will never be bettered.

I saw the movie last night for the first time on TV and this morning I saw it's being recomended to me.I was astonished!
Of course like the movie itself,the musical score was also haunting.And I am contemplating to buy this soundtrack as soon as possible.Besides,I always love Morricone's pieces.

I think it has to be between this and Last Temptation of Christ for the best soundtrack crown. This album is pretty much faultless in its entireity. 'On Earth' and 'Gabriel's Oboe' are familiar tomost, but they never loose their beauty. The production on the CD is superb, with the oboe sounding crisp and drums sounding suitably atmospheric. It blends classical and world musics absolutly seamlessly and musically is in an entirely different sphere to his work on westerns. I had not seen the film before i bought it, and would recommend you buy that also, as it is a wonderful story which brings you to tears with the helpof this soundtrack. Those who say it is repetitive are missing the point completely - does nobody understand reocurring motifs? The main theme pops up again and reflects the story with it's dramatic variations. One more point - the choir parts are some of the most beautiful music ever recorded.

I have come to the conclusion after many listenings to this soundtrack that Vangelis 1492 film score is much better and more varied in content,(not so boring)! The soundtrack is much more powerful when used in the films poetic narrative. I even wish I would not have bought this soundtrack and bought Vangelis Spiral album. This Soundtrack is too monotonous to really keep me interested,Morricone should have used different themes instead of the same one over an over an over,lol...

This is it. Morricone's best soundtrack, and to me one of the best of all soundtracks. How far have we come from the first Morricone's soundtracks (A fistful of dollars, the Good the Bad the Ugly,etc.). A soothing, relaxing and inspirational music that can provide food for every soul. I can hardly think of an experience in this life that can bring you closer to heaven, than listening to this CD in a relaxed mood. Or, for that matter, that can make oneself reconcile with earth, precisely when stress and the pressures of modern life are about to overcome any meningful effort to attribute a sense to existence..
If you can relate with these needs, buy this CD and just listen to "On Earth as it is in Heaven". The joy and peace that ensue, will thoroughly and completely justify the small investment. It is a pity that we cannot get the movie on CD yet.

A couple of times since I bought this album, during some of the darkest moments of my life, I have shut my door, opened my window, knelt on the cold hard floor, and gazed skyward as I listened to several tracks, notably On Earth as It Is in Heaven, Falls, Climb, Gabriel's Oboe, and Miserere.

This simple, private act of utter surrender has never failed to bring me back hope, and grace, and strength, and faith.