Not the big climactic blasts or soaring themes, not the overtly complex or most dramatic passages.
The Juilliard players handled brash carny calls, soaring themes and chattering rhythms with a security and panache that matched those of any professional orchestra.
"Cloud Atlas" is a movie about migratory souls and wayward civilizations, loaded with soaring themes and flights of feeling, as vaporous and comprehensive as its title.
The quartet acts as a pathfinder or pilgrim, picking up the pace when the orchestral pace slackens, to inject soaring themes derived from folksong.
In the Beethoven the iconoclastic violinist Thomas Zehetmair enlivened the solo line with an approach that acknowledged the expansive lyricism of Beethoven's soaring themes but also used gritty, textured attacks and incisive phrasing to amplify the music's earthier qualities.
But all this silliness is underscored by soaring themes – true love, ultimate suffering and the all conquering power of friendship – not to mention a score by Mark Knopfler that punctuates the climaxes with perfect comic timing.
" 'Cloud Atlas' is a movie about migratory souls and wayward civilizations, loaded with soaring themes and flights of feeling, as vaporous and comprehensive as its title," A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times, adding that perhaps the film's achievement "should be quantified rather than judged in more conventional, qualitative ways.
Unhappy to hear the Republicans' favourite president mentioned, a man standing near me shouts, "We don't care!" "We're all one now!" a woman nearby shouts disapprovingly back at him.Finally, it is Mr Obama's turn to give his pre-inaugural address, a mish-mash of soaring themes inspired by his campaign speeches.
The song, Horner believed, wove together the soaring themes of the film's romantic and action scenes with the intimacy of Dion's powerful voice.
