My review:

   John Williams combined and exceeded "Carmina Burana" (amplified) and
   "The Pines of Rome" (amplified more) for a kitchen-sink "Aida"
   triumphal march ending the movie.

   The millennium ending shortly now has its most vulgar and noisy,
   loudest and bone-shakin' music that ever enveloped a grateful audience.

Kosman's [with a good punchline, even if I disagree with the rest]:

Inspired `Phantom Menace' Soundtrack Recalls Movie Moments

   Joshua Kosman, Chronicle Music Critic
   Wednesday, May 19, 1999

   Amid the rush of ancillary products accompanying the release of the
   new "Star Wars" movie, the soundtrack CD may well give the best value
   for the money.

   There's barely a dull moment in this latest score by John Williams,
   the multiple Oscar- and Grammy- winning composer who created the
   music for the earlier trilogy (as well as for most of Hollywood's
   other blockbusters of recent vintage).  From the opening "Star Wars"
   theme -- still amazingly catchy after all these years -- to the jazzy
   band music that accompanies the final scene, Williams' soundtrack is
   an exciting blend of familiar components combined in slightly new
   ways.

   The newest thing this time around is the presence of a chorus
   (London Voices with the New London Children's Choir), which belts
   out impassioned harmonies in a space-age version of "Carmina Burana."
   The words are either indecipherable or in a language known only on
   Naboo, but the sense of heightened drama comes through pretty clearly.

   That's true for most of the music, in fact, performed by the London
   Symphony Orchestra under Williams' direction.  I admit I'm a little
   unclear on the concept of putting a soundtrack CD on the home stereo,
   but much of the music is so evocative and clearly defined that it
   immediately brings the corresponding movie scenes to mind.

   Pod racing sounds like pod racing; battle scenes and underwater travel
   and ceremonial parades are all matched with music of striking aptness.
   You can hear the droids invade your living room, if that's your idea
   of a good time.

   Naturally, there are some discontinuities from the earlier "Star
   Wars" music, necessitated by the jump to a new time period and a new
   bunch of characters.  Without Han Solo and Princess Leia, there's no
   call for their distinctive love theme, which was known in a previous
   life as Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.

   But Williams covers those gaps with some engaging new inventions,
   including appealing and equally recognizable themes for Queen Amidala
   and the young Anakin Skywalker.

   The score's most delightful stretch is the bouncy, undulating stroll
   associated with Jar Jar Binks, the bouncy, undulating Gungan with
   attitude and heart.  It's a sinuous, loose-limbed strut, a perfect
   match for the computer-animated character and every bit as alluring
   as it was when Prokofiev first wrote it.

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