The War: A Ken Burns Film

1	American Anthem previously unreleased 5:07
2	Walton: The Death of Falstaff 3:37
3	The Wang Wang Blues 2:52
4	Movin Back previously unreleased 2:46
5	How Long Blues 2:58
6	In the Nick of Time 6:13
7	It's Been a Long, Long Time 2:59
8	America My Home previously unreleased 2:17
9	If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight) 2:48
10	Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur Excerpt 4:27
11	Until I'm in Your Arms Again Bonus Track 2:41
12	Pärt: Variations for the Healing of Arinushka 5:10
13	Basie Boogie 2:23
14	Solitude 3:14
15	Copland: Concerto for Clarinet, Strings, Harp, And Piano Excerpt 7:44
16	If You Can't Smile and Say Yes 2:34
17	American Anthem Bonus Track 1:44

Barnes & Noble

Focusing on the lives of people in four small towns during World War II, Ken Burns's seven-hour epic The War brings the reality of war home on a personal, intensely human level in way no other filmmaker has done since the multiple-Oscar-winning 1946 classic, The Best Years of Our Lives. This is not war romanticized; it's war up close, brutal, bloody, and horrific, and the memories of how it was remain searing and vivid to the veterans and their loved ones. The music Burns has chosen for The War thus reflects both the hopes and the melancholy of those years, sometimes all in the course of one song, as on Norah Jones's somber piano-and-vocal reading of the film's theme song "American Anthem." Comparable in effect to the poignant "Ashokan Farewell" theme of Burns's Civil War project, it is repeated at the end of the soundtrack as a haunting instrumental for piano and cello by Bill Charlap and Amanda Forsyth, respectively, who render it with touching sensitivity to the nuanced tenor of Jones's vocal and to the series' overall mood. The War soundtrack album is a concise, 17-song sampler of the music heard over the course of seven hours of film, including original performances by contemporary artists such as Jones, Forsyth, and Charlap, classical violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, and Wynton Marsalis, who contributed some original compositions, including the introspective piano-and-cello instrumental "America My Home" (featuring Forsyth and Charlap in another star turn). These recordings complement the indelible hits from the war years, which here include Kay Starr's buoyant "If I Could Be with You," the King Cole Trio's smooth workout on a V-disc recording of "If You Can't Smile and Say Yes," and tracks from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. Bolstering the effect of all this timeless pop are classical performances by Yo-Yo Ma and by Leonard Slatkin conducting the London Philharmonic in William Walton's brooding "The Death of Falstaff." [Also available: the four-CD box set of all War-related discs, including the soundtrack.] David McGee

All Music Guide

The War, directed by Ken Burns, was a seven-part documentary series broadcast on PBS television in 2007, focusing on the experiences of American soldiers in World War II. Much popular music of the period was heard on the soundtrack, as was some music specifically composed and recorded for use in the film. The War: A Ken Burns Film: The Soundtrack has 17 selections from the work. It mixes compositions/performances by Wynton Marsalis; vintage recordings from the time by Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Kay Starr; and some other material, including one track, "American Anthem," recorded by Norah Jones on piano and vocal specifically for the series (and previously unreleased prior to its appearance here). The vintage jazz-pop tracks are the ones that both give the strongest flavor for the World War II era and are the strongest musically, though the far more subdued and reflective classical pieces and works composed specially for the series are more in keeping with the sober mood of the war itself. This CD was also used as the first disc in a four-CD box set with a similar title The War: A Ken Burns Film: Deluxe Edition, All Music Guide