Silva Screen Music is a class outfit, they release really good music and great collections from some of the top composers and movies of today. In the past we looked at their collections of music from Hans Zimmer and James Horner, as well as a well put together a great best of album from the Transformers trilogy. Today we take a peak at their big end of the year release, ‘Film Music 2011’.

This collection, performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic and London Music Works, is a highlight reel from the most high profile film scores of the year. The music chosen for this set  isn’t necessarily the very best music of the year, but it is certainly a snap shot of what 2011 was for film and film music. We are in award season, so we will have plenty of lists and collections of the “best” music, but in this album you will find tracks that rank among many fan’s “favorites” of the year.

Interestingly enough, many of the movies represented on this album are scores I have previously reviewed, but only twice are one of my favorite tracks actually on this album. At first this caused me to roll my eyes and dread the listening experience. Not because I disliked the tracks, but because I felt they were passing over the better tracks for more obvious and less interesting choices.

This week’s Film Score Friday is going to stretch the concept a bit. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn actually has an original soundtrack, not a full score release as of yet, but I did want to branch out a little bit. Plus there is a single track of original score on the album, hooray for loop holes!

The album is a collection of pop songs that either appeared in the film or were inspired by it. Soundtracks like this are a very interesting proposition, it is very possible to arrange a fantastic set of songs that both evoke the film and make for a great listening experience. In fact my first introduction to the world of film scores was through soundtracks like this one.

Now I am far from Twilight’s target audience, but I have seen all the films so I know what to expect going into this album. These are going to be a collection of songs that are harmless, sappy and most of them will probably sound the same, right?

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to me writing this, I actually started to really like some of these songs. Mayhaps I have grown soft in my young age, but some of these songs are actually damn catchy. Also, and much more importantly, the songs actually work really well in the context of the film.