[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

I’m not the world’s biggest Horner fan, but I do enjoy many of his scores – STAR TREK II and III among them. As BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS is supposed to be a precursor to those, I wanted to give it a try. And a precursor it is, for sure, with many of the trademarks of harmonization, instrumentation and orchestral color that Horner would develop further in his TREK scores and others. There are also quite a few melodic motifs and phrases that would be reused and expanded upon later. And there are plenty of nods to STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and STAR WARS, too.

The recording has a reputation of sub-par performances, so I was a little apprehensive about that – you get a bit blasé from listening to all those scores being performed by the world’s best studio musicians or the London Symphony Orchestra. And yes, there is trouble with the intonation here and there, especially in the brass, and some flubbed entrances. But it’s far from as bad as I’d feared. I understand they managed to “hide” some of it in the mastering of this 2023 Intrada release – which has great sound quality, too.

All in all, a surprisingly energetic and entertaining listen. And pretty mature-sounding for a 26-year-old.