I had almost given up hope that Mark Mancina could write a soundtrack following the disaster that was Speed, however, with Twister comes a sort of atonement for his past mistakes. Divided into sections of music that really flow from one to the next, the score basically covers most of the movie's music. Using everything from an orchestra, synthesized music, chorus, and electric guitar music in its long contents, the score is a cornucopia of genres.
The score captures the essence of the chase and terror of the film very well. When watching the film I was never sure if the low rumbling sounds were part of the music or the sound effects, well, they're part of the music. In incorporating this into the soundtrack, the music gave kind of a personality to the tornadoes and the music keeps that feeling there on the soundtrack as well.
The opening track, Wheatfield is preceded by a brief but noticeable pre-take conversation between the conductor and the orchestra. You can hear the orchestra tuning up for the start in the background. Whether this was intentional or not, I don't know but it's very brief so it doesn't serve as a major distraction. The William Tell Overture/Oklahoma Medley is the odd piece heard during the first chase in the movie. It thankfully doesn't have all of the music used in that section, but this is enough to earn it a strange reaction. I think it should have been saved for the very end of the soundtrack, or at least as a bonus track. The End Titles/Respect the Wind is one of my favorites. I am a fan of guitar music such as this and hearing this piece from the Van Halen brothers is just so cool. Preceded by an orchestral piece to end the film, the guitar segment was probably not heard by most people in the theatres since it occurs after a few minutes. But believe me, it is a pretty good track. Overall an improvement for Mark Mancina. I think I'll give him another chance.
Total time: 51:08