The sound of the ensemble in Sleepy Hollow is defined by extremely aggressive low brass, ample contrabassoons and other deep woodwinds, and a pipe organ. It was remarkably similar to the approach of John Debney's concurrent End of Days, the similarities extended by a coincidental overlap of the opening four notes of the primary themes. Both works' employment of raw orchestral might is joined by a merging of boy soprano tones and a menacingly resounding male chorus. Thematically, Sleepy Hollow is a bit of an oddity in that it's mostly a monothematic score. There is supplemental motific development for the Headless Horseman that matures in "The Windmill," but Elfman otherwise choses to apply his main theme to nearly every other aspect of the tale, from character to locale, mystery to romance. The composer follows his standard structure of introducing the main theme in an overture format and building it to a massive crescendo for the title sequence. This theme, like Debney's, has slightly religious undertones, but here they relate more closely to the mystery of witchcraft rather than the traditional establishment. Elfman is extremely loyal to this theme throughout the work, adapting it best for scenes of Ichabod Crane's youth and his awkward character interactions. The versatility of the main theme extends from the explosions of horror foreshadowed in the two opening cues, establishing the work's lyrical side. The primary phrases of the melody and, in partial shades, its lush interlude, are realized in the climactic confrontations to the romantic tones that attempt to inject some warmth into otherwise ice-cold interactions between Ichabod and Katrina Van Tassel. The use of layered boy soprano voices in "Young Ichabod," "Sweet Dreams," and "More Dreams" is intriguingly connected to the romance in "The Gift," "Tender Moment," and "Love Lost" and offers the score a much-needed sense of rounded, three-dimensional development that the action and horror cues alone cannot sustain. One of the more curious aspects of Sleepy Hollow is the romantic string interlude, first heard directly in the middle of the "Main Titles" and after the primary Horseman motif is explored; despite some general tonal hints in places, this theme is not really adapted fully for either of the situations involving Crane's youth or his love interest in Katrina, and only in the suite of the themes during the end credits does an abbreviated form of this motif satisfactorily arise once again.

Still, the impressive extent to which Elfman restates and manipulates the main theme is the glue that holds Sleepy Hollow together. This is an important point, for despite the score's immense technical strengths, it lacks a distinctive direction and, outside of its knack for brute force, a transcendent personality. From Batman to A Simple Plan previously, from the most grandiose to the sparsest, Elfman scores had usually conveyed a clear narrative. One of the obvious exceptions was The Frighteners, and the most significant weakness of Sleepy Hollow is the score's tendency, like the earlier work, to stir up a mess of noise that never actually goes anywhere. The difference here, however, is that Sleepy Hollow is so well colored in its choral tones, orchestrations, and mixing that some of that lack of personality, especially in the latter half, can be forgiven. Related to this one weakness of the score is the occasional inadequacy of its fantasy appeal. Though thematically functional and energetically verbose, Sleepy Hollow loses some of the "wonder" factor in its brutal second half. Much of the bewildering enchantment that sprouted in the first half of the score is due to Elfman's elegant mixing of the various shades of the voices together, culminating in such appealingly haunting moments as "Into the Woods," which uses an especially wet mix of the sopranos to set a perfect atmosphere. For Elfman veterans, some of the lack of identity in the latter half of Sleepy Hollow will be compensated for by a style of instrumentation that reminds of Black Beauty in its flowing viola solos and Batman Returns in its creepy, low woodwinds. There are occasional, curious references to previous Elfman/Burton scores' themes as well, including a hint of Penguin material from Batman Returns in the middle of "The Gift," phrases in the main theme that are clear carry-overs from the main identity of Black Beauty and, strangely, allusions to "Making Christmas" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, especially at the start of "End Credits." The romping action material in the score is complete with harsh, pulsating brass, floating and whiny strings, ripping snare, and the always-gothic pipe organ. Some of the exciting rhythms will exhaust you with their length. By "The Chase" and "The Final Confrontation," however, Elfman resorts to flashy orchestral strikes without the thoughtful tone of the score's opening introductions. The creatively light finale and, to an extent, the pounding end credits, try to recapture that sense of magic.

Overall, even though Sleepy Hollow was not the monumental return to raw, early fantasy form for Elfman that many had hoped to hear, it offers a violent contrast to the minimalistic scores penned by the composer throughout the late 1990's and well beyond. Its rich texture and resounding sound quality make it arguably the best quality horror score in Elfman's career. The generous 68-minute album from Hollywood Records in 1999 is all that most collectors will require from the work, presenting many of the composer's best film variants of several cues. An extra ten minutes of material was added at the end of that existing presentation on CD #8 in the enormous, expensive, and maligned 2011 set, "The Danny Elfman and Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box." Only four totally new cues are added at the conclusion of the previously available commercial ordering of tracks, "Philipse's Death" easily the intellectual highlight despite being frightfully unpleasant. Also finally made available on the set was the extended film version of "Main Titles," recorded in a different session and adding another minute to account for late changes to the film's final cut. The set's USB stick-only contents include a drab alternate version of "More Dreams" and an early demo of the themes for the score; Elfman mentioned at the time that there wasn't much of substance to add. No doubt, do not spend $500 on this limited, 2000-copy product for the sake of this score alone, despite its many strengths. Its music from Sleepy Hollow was rendered totally moot by a limited and not-quite-as-expensive 2021 4-CD set assembled for the score by Intrada Records. This massive presentation provides the initial 1999 album on its first disc and follows with a faithful recreation of the film's final soundtrack on the second disc and part of the third. On the remainder of the product, Intrada offers 97 minutes of alternate takes, showing just how hectic the late changes to the film were. The most interesting new inclusions come on the fourth disc, where some of Elfman's earlier inclinations showed a bit more romantic influence on the score, a few cues' original versions offering a totally different tone. While four hours and twenty minutes of material from Sleepy Hollow will certainly be overkill for most listeners, the Intrada treatment is as thorough as any Elfman enthusiast could imagine. More casual fans will be served just as well by the 1999 product, which carries a tighter narrative arc than the score in its fuller form. Despite its immense depth of rendering, the work's less than spectacular personality and overbearing darkness keep it from being the kind of score worth cutting off someone's head in order to obtain.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download