Jerry Goldsmith - Basic Instinct: The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)

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Jerry Goldsmith - Basic Instinct: The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)

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……Make no mistake about it, Jerry Goldsmith's ability to brilliantly capture the essence of an orgasm with the National Philharmonic Orchestra earned him his first Academy Award nomination in many years. The steamiest of Goldsmith scores ever to bless the big screen, the music for the 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct turned many heads in its time of release, partly because of the film's controversial and provocative subject matter, and partly because Goldsmith mirrored the same controversy and provocation in his score so well. Basic Instinct stands alongside Body Heat as one of most sensual and alluring works of art in the history of film music. The brilliance of Basic Instinct is its ability, however, to be both sensual and terrifying at the same time.
……The success of this score is its absolute accuracy in portraying the mystifying and somewhat scary atmosphere of the film. It beckons you to come closer while trying to warn you that disaster is just around the corner. The string section carries the burden of the work, whimsically weaving through every cue of the score. Representing the constantly changing moods of the characters on screen, Goldsmith shifts between these tempting strings and the woodwinds, which, in the minor key, are the audience's reminder of the ill fortune ready to strike. A hammering and pulsating piano in the extremely low ranges adds a distinction to this score that serves to illuminate the danger and suspense that the film, as an erotic thriller, necessitates. As with Goldsmith's previous collaboration with director Paul Verhoven, Total Recall, the score for Basic Instinct has two or three strikingly bold and powerful action cues. The brass section is called upon for harsh blasts and an occasional secondary theme, culminating in the desperate and evocative opening to the cue "Unending Story."
……Sinister, sensual, dark, foreboding, and passionate, Goldsmith further incorporates his electronics into the orchestrally driven score, accentuating the bubbly, fluid, and falsely hopeful aspect of a hazy and confusing experience. The electronics play games with your stereo, sparring across your speakers from left to right in ways that Goldsmith loved to toy with in the early 1990's. He perplexes us with a concluding track that is desperate and unfinished –leaving the film's grand finale in a perfectly confused and untrustworthy manner. The album is just as enticing for the listener; the graphic sex scenes in the film are scored with remarkable accuracy, with a full group of players in the orchestra who build a steady and rapturous tempo for these scenes. The climax of each cue for these scenes is so well performed that the group orgasm that the orchestra achieves is most remarkable, if not a tad amusing for traditional fans of Goldsmith's work. The score on album, with crystal clear sound quality across the board, is an emotional roller coaster with all the twists and turns of the film, and is highly recommended.

–from filmtracks

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Jerry Goldsmith - Basic Instinct: The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)

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Jerry Goldsmith - Basic Instinct: The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)

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Jerry Goldsmith - Basic Instinct: The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1992)

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