Athanasius Kircher was a Jesuit universal genius who, among many other things, wrote the book Musurgia Universalis, which influenced the music of Bach and Beethoven. Particularly interesting to me is the Arca Musurgica described in the book, a kind of automatic, programmable organ that allowed anyone to compose music. It would certainly be intriguing to recreate this on a modern computer.
I am a lover of grand, emotional orchestral music. The soundtrack for “The Chronicles Of Narnia” by Harry Gregson-Williams combines this with ethnic instruments and modern drums, providing even more impact and variety. My favorite track is probably #2, “Evacuating London.” After a long time, this was the first piece of music which I liked so much that I wanted to play it myself on the piano. The composer came up with some very simple and beautiful themes, which lend themselves easily to adaptation. Other tracks I especially like are #7, “From Western Woods To Beaversdam,” #8, “Father Christmas,” and #9, “To Aslan’s Camp,” which is not to say that there aren’t any other well-done pieces on the CD.
Besides the film soundtrack, there are four additional songs by more and less known artists. Track #15, “Wunderkind,” is by Alanis Morissette. I still need to figure out some of her very poetic language … The title is peculiar, since it is a German word meaning “miracle child.” Alas, Alanis pronounces it wrong, just like the English word “kind” meaning “category” or “gentle.” However, she should have been given the clue that “wunderkind” has the same “kind” in it as “kindergarten” (which English also borrows from German), with the “i” pronounced like in “in.” The strangest track is probably #16, “Winter Light,” by Tim Finn. But all in all, it is very good CD – highly recommended!