Cutthroat Island (soundtrack)

The score for the pirate film Cutthroat Island was composed by John Debney.

The music was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, with choral contributions by the London Voices and was conducted by David Snell.

Although the actual film was a commercial disaster, the score has been praised for its style, reminiscent of the Golden Age Hollywood swashbuckling scores by Erich Wolfgang Korngold^{[1] [2][3] [4][5]} and the symphonic scores by French composer Frédéric Talgorn. It has been noted as one of Debney's greatest compositions, alongside The Passion of the Christ. The score uses traditional orchestration backed with choir, a practice Debney considered necessary to avoid the music's sounding "too old fashioned" ^[6]

Particularly, conservative critics have considered this score as one of the best in the genre, unlike the music from Pirates of the Caribbean, which relied heavily in synthesizers and modern action score conventions ^[1]

1995 releases

Two CD's were released with the score in 1995, one of them by Silva studios ^[7] and another by Nu.Millenia Records ^[8] Both releases have the same tracks.

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Main Title : Morgan's Ride"	4:38
2.	"Carriage Chase"	7:20
3.	"The Language of Romance"	2:39
4.	"Setting Sail"	1:03
5.	"To the Bottom of the Sea"	2:43
6.	"Morgan Takes the Ship"	4:30
7.	"The Funeral"	1:30
8.	"The Rescue"	3:41
9.	"Discovery of the Treasure"	2:19
10.	"The Big Jump"	2:38
11.	"The Storm Begins"	2:33
12.	"Morgan Captured/Sword Fight"	5:23
13.	"Shaw Steals the Map"	3:30
14.	"Escape from Mordechai's"	2:09
15.	"Charting the Course"	2:19
16.	"First Kiss"	1:54
17.	"The Battle"	6:29
18.	"Dawg's Demise/The Triumph"	3:31
19.	"It's Only Gold/End Credits"	9:42

2005 Expanded Edition

Later, in 2007, Prometheus released a two disc Special Extended Edition, which added 40 cues that were left out of the previous soundtracks or weren't used in the film.^[3]

Disc One

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Main Title : Morgan's Ride"	4:38
2.	"The Rescue/Morgan Saves Harry"	3:41
3.	"Purcell Snatcher" (composed by Brad Dechter)	2:58
4.	"Shaw is Caught"	1:15
5.	"The Funeral"	1:29
6.	"Morgan in Command"	2:51
7.	"The Language of Romance"	2:40
8.	"A Lady Scorned"	1:38
9.	"Carriage Chase"	7:21
10.	"Ainclee Plots/To Spittelfield"	3:46
11.	"Uncle Mordechai"	2:02
12.	"Morgan Captured/Sword Fight"	5:23
13.	"Escape from Mordechai's"	2:09
14.	"Setting Sail"	1:03
15.	"Charting the Course"	2:19
16.	"First Kiss/Love Scene/Dawg's Plan"	3:12
17.	"Shaw Discovers the Location"	2:04
18.	"Betrayal"	2:46
19.	"The Storm Begins"	2:33
20.	"To the Bottom of the Sea"	2:43
21.	"The Island"	3:41
22.	"Shaw Steals the Map"	3:30
23.	"Discovery of the Cave"	4:39
24.	"Discovery of the Treasure"	2:19

Disc Two

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Wedding Waltz" (Composer unknown, orchestrated by Debney)	2:43
2.	"Caught"	1:37
3.	"The Rope"	2:17
4.	"Morgan and Shaw Jump the Cliff/The Big Jump"	2:38
5.	"Shaw Captured"	2:32
6.	"Morgan Takes the Ship"	4:30
7.	"The Hangman's Noose"	3:56
8.	"The Battle/To Dawg's Ship/Morgan Battles Dawg/Dawg's Demise/The Triumph"	17:52
9.	"It's Only Gold/End Credits"	9:33
10.	"Main Title/Morgan's Ride (Without Choir)"	4:48
11.	"Carriage Chase (Alternate Version)"	7:21
12.	"First Kiss (Album Edit)"	1:54
13.	"Dawg's Demise/The Triumph (Without Choir)"	3:31
14.	"Morgan's Ride & The Rescue (Original Synth Demo)"	7:25

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Cutthroat Island soundtrack review at Filmtracks.com.
2. ^ http://www.scorereviews.com/reviews/review.aspx?id=120
3. ^ ^{a b} http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=3734
4. ^ http://www.moviemusicuk.us/cutthrcd.htm
5. ^ http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/review.asp?letter=c&offset=200&ID=5083
6. ^ Notes by John Debney from the 1995 Silva album
7. ^ http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=768
8. ^ http://www.soundtrack.net/albums/database/?id=104