Intrada's newest archival soundtrack release is an exciting one for fans of the late, great James Horner: the label has remastered and expanded his heroic and timeless work for the 1988 fantasy epic Willow.

Sort of a Lord of the Rings for beginners (parts were even shot in New Zealand), Willow takes place in a lush fantasy world ruled by the merciless sorceress Bavmorda. She seeks to stop a prophecy that promises her defeat at the hands of Elora Danaan, the infant Princess of Tir Asleen. The baby ends up in the care of Willow Ufgood, a humble farmer with dreams of sorcery; he embarks on a quest to reunite Elora with her people, encountering magical creatures and colorful allies along the way like the bumbling would-be mercenary Madmartigan.

If nothing else, the pedigree of Willow was hard to dispute: the story was conceived by George Lucas even before putting pen to paper on Star Wars. With the original trilogy long complete (and the Indiana Jones saga a year away from initially ending), Willow was seen as the next big fantasy from the studio. In the director's chair was actor/filmmaker Ron Howard, fresh from the box-office smash Cocoon; Warwick Davis, an actor with dwarfism who portrayed Wicket the Ewok in the Star Wars saga, got to star as the title character while Madmartigan was portrayed by Val Kilmer, hot off Top Gun. (Their ally Sorsha, the rebellious daughter of Bavmorda, was played by Joanne Whalley, who later married Kilmer after the film was completed.) While only a modest box office hit, Willow retains a cult following thanks to its lovable performances and dazzling special effects, including some early advances with digital technology that would later inform some of the biggest effects moments of the '90s. Willow remains popular enough for Davis and Whalley to reprise their roles in a sequel series coming to Disney+ in November.

For the score, Howard reunited with James Horner, who'd done the music to Cocoon and also made huge strides in sci-fi action on two sequels to Star Trek (Intrada incidentally just reissued his score to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) as well as Aliens and An American Tail. Like those latter two scores, Willow was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, allowing for a bold performance of hummable themes inspired by great classical works from Mozart, Grieg, Prokofiev and Bartok. (Legendary engineer Shawn Murphy aided the sessions, allowing for an expansive sonic palette.)

Initially released as a formidable hour-long album in 1988, Willow is now featured as a nearly two-hour presentation on two discs, retaining the original, epic-length cues of that album (in resequenced and remastered form from Murphy's original scoring mixes) and adding another 10 for good measure - a real Daikini-sized set! Frank K. DeWald writes informative liner notes, featured in Kay Marshall's package design (which retains John Alvin's original poster artwork for one of the booklet's covers). As with all of Intrada's Special Collection titles, it's available "while quantities and interest remain"; unlike some of them, it may disappear faster than you'd think. So act now (and also keep an eye out for Intrada's soon-to-wrap Kickstarter campaign to fund new recordings of Bernard Herrmann's On Dangerous Ground and The Man Who Knew Too Much by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra.)

James Horner / The London Symphony Orchestra, Willow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Intrada ISC 476, 2022 - original film released 1988)

Disc 1

1. Elora Danan
2. The Nelwyns
3. The Nelwyns No. 2
4. Death Dogs
5. Willow's Journey Begins
6. Bavmorda's Castle
7. Airk's Army
8. The Enchanted Forest
9. Escape from the Tavern
10. The Island
11. Willow Captured
12. Arrival At Snow Camp
13. The Sled Ride

Disc 2

1. Willow's Theme
2. Canyon of Mazes
3. Tir Asleen
4. Bavmorda's Spell is Cast
5. Willow the Sorcerer

Disc 1, Tracks 1, 5 and 9 and all tracks on Disc 2 previously released as Virgin Movie Music 90939, 1988