The Last Airbender by Paula Hochhalter (CD, Jun-2010, Lakeshore Records)

Album Features
UPC:	780163415223
Artist:	Paula Hochhalter
Format:	CD
Release Year:	2010
Record Label:	Lakeshore Records
Genre:	Classical

Details
Playing Time:	67 min.
Contributing Artists:	Kevin Connolly, Richard Todd, Jim Walker, Jay Rosen, Dennis Karmazyn, Michael Fisher, Michael Nowak, Allen Savedoff, Andrew Shulman, Miwako Watanabe, Kenneth Munday, Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, Roland Kato, Roberto Cani, Marcia Dickstein, Keith Greene, Gayle Levant, Sara Parkins, George Thatcher, Jacqueline Brand, Endre Granat, David Speltz, Roger Wilkie, Brian Dembow, Donald Foster, Sarah Thornblade, Antony Cooke, Armen Ksajikian, Alan Estes, Aimee Kreston, Robert Berg, Robert Brophy, Rose Corrigan, Andrew Duckles, Alma Fernandez, James Thatcher, Matthew Funes, Darrin McCann, Rafael Rishik, Tamara Hatwan, Timothy Landauer, Trevor Handy, Dave Walther, Denyse Buffum, Darius Campo, Haim Shtrum, Bruce Dukov, William Frank Reichenbach, Michael O'Donovan, William Booth, Jon Lewis [Trumpet], Leslie Reed, Jennie Hansen, Serena McKinney, Katia Popov, Marlow Fisher, Alan Grunfeld, Natalie Leggett, Shawn Mann, Tereza Stanislav, Victoria Miskolczy, Andrew Thomas Malloy, Bob Zimmitti, Daniel Kelley, Heather Clark, Irina Voloshina, Kenneth Yerke, Dimitrie Leivici, Peter Limonick, Marc Sazer, Barbara Northcutt, Steven Becknell, Doug Tornquist, Steve Erdody, Paul Cohen [Cello], Dave Everson, Searmi Park, Neil Samples, Stuart Clark, Thomas Diener, Christine Ermacoff, Ralph Williams [Clarinet], Geraldine Rotella, Cecelia Tsan, Julia Ann Gigante, Lisa M. Sutton, Luke Maurer, Nina Eutuhov, George Kim Scholes, Jeanne Skrocki, Armen Anassan, Thomas G. Boyd, Brian D. O'Connor, Cassandra Richburg, Gina Coletti, Steven Gordon, Philip Levy, Malcolm McNabb, James M. Self, Timothy G. Morrison, Josefina Vergarda, David Duke [Horn]
Distributor:	Relativity Entertainment
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Personnel: Stuart Michael Thomas (programming).Recording information: Streisand Scoring Stage, Sony Pictures Studios.Director M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender is based on the cartoon TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender, with the first word of the title presumably lopped off to avoid confusion with the 2009 blockbuster of that name. Shyamalan is known for his unsettling mystery films, which would seem to make this children's fantasy something of a change of pace for him. But James Newton Howard's extensive orchestral score suggests that it may not be as far in tone from the usual Shyamalan thriller than might be expected. Howard has been given full rein, employing a 119-member ensemble spread across a Hollywood scoring stage to play his full-bodied music. There's nothing particularly innovative about it, but the early cues (which, on the soundtrack album are unusually long, starting with the 11-minute "Airbender Suite") have a slow, ominous feel that wouldn't have been inappropriate to one of Shyamalan's creepy earlier movies. Martial action music, with lots of pummeling percussion, follows, and "The Blue Spirit" owes something to John Williams' theme for Darth Vader from Star Wars. Things come to a head with "The Spirit World," which seems to mark the dramatic climax of the picture, and the later music is calmer and sweeter, notably "We Are Now the Gods." Howard revs up a bit for the final track, "Flow Like Water," but the music never enters a really triumphant mood. The Last Airbender may have employed Star Wars creator George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic special effects company, but Howard takes a more downcast tone with the music than Williams did with Star Wars, no doubt in keeping with Shyamalan's darker vision. ~ William Ruhlmann