Mission: Impossible III (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
As anybody with functioning ears can attest, Lalo Schifrin's theme for the originalMission: ImpossibleTV series remains among the highlights of 1960s scoring: Schifrin proved you could write action themes that oozed cool. His taut, inventive approach has been replaced in recent years by a more bloated orchestral bent--though if you're going to have that, you might as well pick someone with Michael Giacchino's sense of suspenseful dynamics. Overall, Giacchino proves more adept than Hans Zimmer did on the franchise's second installment in 2000, even though symptoms oftoo-much-itiscreep in (the Hollywood Studio Symphony includes 39 violinists, 14 cellists, and 9 percussionists!). Schifrin's presence looms heavily over this CD, and not only because it starts with the original theme and ends with the bonus track "Schifrin and Variations" (which does not appear in the film). Giacchino quotes his predecessor almost constantly throughout: references to the main theme zip in and out of "Factory Rescue," "Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall," "Masking Agent," and "See You in the Sewer," for instance. But the younger man holds his own quite well against such a giant shadow, and confirms his credentials as a thrill-a-minute composer. Indeed, this is one of the finest action scores to come out in the past few years.--Elisabeth Vincentelli