CD rip of the Varese Sarabande "deluxe edition" release of Jerry Goldsmith's score for 1997's
L.A. Confidential. This release includes the 28 actual scene/sequence cues used in the film in addition to the 11 tracks that constituted the original soundtrack album.
I remember that in his review of the original soundtrack album,
The Absolute Sound's Harry Pearson dissed the work as a rehash of Goldsmith's score for 1974's
Chinatown, implying that the use of a mood-conveying solo trumpet in certain
L.A. Confidential scenes was the composer merely copycatting himself. But, as Tim Grieving points out in the deluxe edition's program notes, the
Chinatown trumpeter was directed to communicate "bad sex," while in
L.A. Confidential the trumpet conveys loneliness.
To these ears, a listening comparison to
Chinatown (also released on Varese Sarabande) validates Grieving's assessment. And the overall thrust of
L.A. Confidential's stark, predominantly pulse-pounding score strikes me as a case of HP getting it wrong.
Grieving's notes also state that the electronic instruments used in
L.A. Confidential were not recorded separately from the acoustic instrument ensemble--as apparently is the case in many film score recordings--but were included as part of the ensemble in the recording sessions. As a consequence, there's a distinctive integrated feel to the orchestral presentation.
A lot of gut-thumping percussive energy in this release. So if your woofers need a workout...