After the prologue of Baz Luhrmann's controversial, modern retelling of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet," the audience is blasted away by a hoard of harmonious voices chanting a loud, haunting song to the beat of an angry drum. This song, in which a narrator begins "Two households, both alike in dignity...", is called "O Verona," the song which Baz Luhrmann himself calls "an almighty orchestral chord." Its sister song, "O Verona (Reprise)" is uninterrupted by the narrator, and the listener is able to appreciate its musical quality in a fuller fashion. Personally, I couldn't decide whether to recommend "O Verona" or "O Verona (Reprise)" to you. They are both extraordinary recordings on what is, I believe, one of the greatest musical scores to a motion picture ever produced.

This song, also from Baz Luhrmann's "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", follows heart-broken Romeo on his hurried journey to find his "dead" wife, Juliet. On his way back into Verona, he is followed by police helicopters with machine guns among other things, and breaks down at the steps of St. Peter's Church, holding a priest at gunpoint while screaming at the police "Tempt not a desperate man!" With exhilirating beats and choral pieces from "O Verona" stuck here and there, "Escape from Mantua" is one of my favorite movie score pieces. Truly a wonderful creation.