While not entirely inaccurate, to describe the score for The Shipping News as simply Celtic would be doing it a disservice. There is a tired stereotype in Hollywood about what Celtic music should sound like, and James Horner had been the biggest perpetuator of this myth throughout the 1990's. Horner's Americanized version of Celtic tradition caused nearly everyone at the time to think of Titanic (or Enya, for that matter) when the genre was mentioned. Young's interpretation of the Celtic descent in the locale of The Shipping News is much more in tune with the traditional instrumentation that the genre was meant to use, and his final product is thus rich in actual Celtic elements that you don't hear too often in unison for mainstream film scores. With Uillean pipes, a penny whistle, fiddle, harps, psalteries, and other instruments authentic to the Celtic tradition, Young doesn't water his music down with American accompaniment of voice or synthesizer. Contrary to initial rumors that spread around the Internet during the first weeks of this film's opening, there are no vocals in the score for The Shipping News. Young compliments the ethnic soloists with the 80-piece Philharmonic Orchestra in London and a healthy percussion section. The highlights of the score combine all of these elements (the soloists, the orchestral ensemble, and the array of specialty drums) for the most obvious representations of the robust and rugged setting of coastal Newfoundland, Canada. The opening and closing cues, along with the "Death Storm" cue near the end of the album, offer enjoyably strong rhythms and the rousing Celtic pronunciations of Young's melodramatic title theme that most undoubtedly gained the score the attention it needed for awards consideration. While the performances of the theme can continue almost unaltered for several consecutive performances (only adding depth to each incarnation), the theme is beautiful enough to warrant such attention, perhaps coincidentally borrowing a procedural page from Portman's string-dominated music for this kind of dramatic topic. The ten or so minutes of full ensemble performances of this idea, lead by a blustery penny whistle on top and light percussion underneath, are a highlight of Young's entire career, utilizing the kind smooth harmony that many listeners don't often associate with the composer.

While the highlights of The Shipping News qualify as nothing less than four-star material (if not greater, for unapologetic romance collectors), the remainder of the work is introverted, chilly, and perhaps less substantiated. The lengthier cues of pipes will be grating for some ears, though the duets for harp and guitar are pleasant in every case. A lack of warmth is the enemy of these cues, failing to adapt the tone of the title theme into engaging conversational material. Although the instrumentation may not be the same, the demeanor of The Shipping News (in its best parts) is remarkably similar in tone to Horner's The Spitfire Grill. The scores differ, however, in their complexity of identity. Young's theme for The Shipping News is of a simple construct, and rather than building upon the complexity of the story's characters through intricate alterations of that theme, he allows that function to be served by the plentiful variety of instrumentation. An accomplished balance of the mix of individual performers is perhaps the score's greatest asset, allowing the Celtic elements to flourish in an equal relationship with the ensemble. As a whole, the listening experience is overwhelmed by three or four cues, with much of the material in the mid-section of the work passing without much notice. Several extended fiddle cues offer less character than most people could want and might jeopardize the success of The Shipping News for some listeners on album. A sloppy handling of the release of that product was easily the most unsatisfying part of the equation. This score was initially touted as the glorious debut album of the fledgling Miramax Records label, an offshoot of the studio that would use the marketing tools of the RED Ink Company to sell the scores to its films. It would not have been surprising if the album was immediately in red ink simply due to its disastrous method of release, though. Originally set for a street date in mid-January of 2002, the score was still unavailable a month later in much of the United States and all of the online outlets, allowing the hype surrounding the film to fade before taking advantage of the studio's publicity machine. Pre-release copies surfaced outside of America, but after Miramax Records dumping the project, the CD was pressed by Milan Records in February of that year. The unorganized mess caused by Miramax's handling of the album was an unfortunate detraction from Young's moment in the spotlight. Still, if anyone needs proof of the composer's wide range of talents, look no further.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download