The better question, however, arose when some began asking what Newman's perfect score would be, a score with all the grandeur and thematic resonance of his great orchestral works while also utilizing the vast arrays of unorthodox instruments and rhythms of his American Beauty phase at the same time. The answer was Angels in America, a score that has often been referred to as Newman's best career achievement. In the lengthy music for this series, you hear every era of Newman's career rolled into one frightfully effective and enticing package. After a truly stunning cue for the opening titles, Newman occupies the first half of the score with the likes of his skin drums, ice metals, bodhran, processed chimes, dayre, kantele, esraj, high-string guitar, baritone electric, lute, EWI, prepared guitar, and manipulated violin, producing music fresh from his very personal scores of 2000 to 2002, but at a larger, sustained level of harmonic tone and active volume. The latter half of the score explodes with high caliber orchestral beauty and mayhem, although never maintaining the title theme so elegantly established in the second cue of the album. Nearly every moment of the score is saturated with Newman's style of creating harmony with 90% of the orchestra while throwing one or two instruments of each chord off-kilter to some degree. The pastoral sounds of his career are heard consistently at the end of the album, with eight to ten minutes of truly harmonious beauty on a redemptive, pastoral level of religious satisfaction. The opening titles offer woodwind solos that are a trademark of Newman's thematic writing, with light guitars, fluttering flutes, noble trumpets as counterpoint, and a collection of raindrop-style tapping of metallic percussion. The expected melodic notions of religious harmony are very well accompanied by the wondrous aspects of the less typical instruments. Thus, there is a magic throughout Angels in America that Newman fans had heard in many sporadic places during his previous scores. The consistency of the listening experience on album is strong even though the tone and instrumentation switches in nearly every cue. The only detriments to the album are the source songs sprinkled in three places.

There are a few cues in Angels in America that stand out as referencing the sound of other composers, and the interpretations of these other styles only serve to elevate Newman's work to another realm. First is the blatant use of Bernard Herrmann's "Scene D'Amour" cue from Vertigo at the conclusions of "Plasma Orgasmata" and "Garden of the Soul." Another style borrowed is the clearly malevolent and vicious orchestral representation of Elliot Goldenthal's dark, avant garde works in "Submit!" and "Black Angel." While the "Scene D'Amour" cues have, perhaps, a temp track written into their origins, the two violent cues of evil late in Angels in America are the highlight of the score while ironically being difficult to tolerate. If an orchestra was ever to sound so mean-spirited as to hasten the arrival of an evil, fallen angel, then these cues would lead the way, and their Goldenthal-like intensity of brass is fascinating to hear. For listeners not so keen on raising evil spirits with this music, Newman provides several lengthy cues of angelic beauty as well, with choral chanting or wordless vocals in most of the latter half of the score. These vocals culminate in a gorgeous operatic performance in the conclusive "Tropopause." Such serene moments, when studied in contrast to the horrific cues of evil and the several interludes of deep contemplation (with the experimental instruments), make Angels in America a score that touches upon every strength and weakness of Newman's career and rolls them all into one positively magnificent package. No two cues are exactly alike in this effort, partly because listeners finally have the opportunity to hear Newman place his experimental instruments alongside the traditional orchestra and choir as an ideal ensemble. The woodwinds are the heart and soul of the work, crisply mixed into the final recording. The year 2003, interestingly, proved to be a strong one for religious-related scores, and Newman added his own highly spiritual and uplifting entry to the equation. Whether you are a fan of the composer's orchestral themes or his quirky rhythms created with unusual instruments, Angels in America will satisfy your curiosity and successfully demand several repeat listens. Even if you don't entirely enjoy the score, it is one to appreciate and study for its extremely wide range of strong musical constructs and execution.  *****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download