5/5 A beautiful, haunting score
  by E. OMalley (Las Vegas, NV USA)
I must say first that I am stunned by the negative reviews for this score and the calls to bring Carter Burwell back (and to the reviewer hawking her own music while negatively reviewing this one...is this to give you more cred or what? It made me dismiss your review out-of-hand). Burwell did a nice score for Twilight and it was fine for that movie (although rather repetitive and insubstantial), but Alexandre Desplat brings the score for New Moon to a whole new level. This is a gorgeous score that gripped me from the opening title of the movie to the very end. I agree with those who state it is haunting - it is. It beautifully accents the sadness of love lost in this movie. When I first listened to the soundtrack and heard Desplat's "The Meadow (New Moon)" I was thrilled he was scoring this movie. BTW, in keeping with the soundtrack's goal to have all the songs unique to that album, "The Meadow" is not repeated on this one but the beautiful theme certainly is.

New Moon is a very different movie experience than Twilight, and Desplat elected not to listen to Burwell's score and just treat this score as its own entity. Do I wish he had listened to Burwell's work to use a theme or two? Not really. While I am curious how he would've improved "Bella's Lullaby" (which is pretty, but NOT an incredible piece of music) I don't think it is a detraction from this score that he didn't carry on with the themes. Yes, these movies are part of a series, but as they have different directors for each one with different visions I don't find it a problem that they have different composers with different visions either. Chris Weitz went with a dramatic, epic romance feel to the film and Desplat followed through with that in the music.

This score is incredibly lovely and has enough variation that it stays interesting. The "Edward Leaves" track is especially notable, as is "Romeo and Juliet," "To Volterra" and the full romantic themes of "New Moon" and "Full Moon." You always know when the Volturi are on screen, as their waltz theme plays through their scenes. I have yet to understand why people complain about the "Edward Leaves" track overpowering the scene in the movie, though. It starts out very delicately and slowly builds until you get the full orchestra as Bella tries to follow Edward into the trees. Powerful? Yes. Overpowering? Definitely not!

I'm actually nervous about the composer on Eclipse (as I'm very nervous about David Slade's vision of the film), so I am anxious to hear who is chosen - I am sure it will be someone unique to that vision as well. I do hope, however, that Weitz and Desplat end up bringing Breaking Dawn to the big screen because this is one of the most beautiful, faithful adaptations of a book I have ever seen and this score definitely enhanced that experience for me - I think they would do a fantastic job adapting Breaking Dawn. I listen to this CD everyday and highly recommend it.


3/5 Okay but nothing special
  by Buffy Angelus (Perth, Western Australia)
When I heard the instrumental piece The Meadow on the New Moon Soundtrack I was impressed and looked forward to hearing the rest of the original score. However, after listening to the other tracks, I was disappointed as they didn't seem to fit with the Twilight theme at all. Carter Burwell's original score for the first movie was incredibly different and distinctive, you could picture the exact part of the movie that each track related to when listening to them, whereas the New Moon score seems like it should be for another movie it just doesn't seem to fit in at all. It's not to say that the music is terrible, it's not, it's just no where near as enjoyable to listen to or as memorable as the first time around.

5/5 A rich, traditional score that tells a story
  by Tragically Addicted to Twilight
The New Moon score is much more complex, more traditionally classical than Twilight's score. Alexandre Desplat really tells the story of New Moon and brings the emotions of Bella, Edward, and Jacob to life through his music. "Volturi Waltz" is disturbing, as it should be. "Bella Dreams" and "Victoria" are particularly moving. "Full Moon" in particular really brings the anticipation, anguish, hope, and love of the story together. The other reviews were correct to call this score haunting.

1/5 Please use Carter for Eclipse!!!!!!!!!
  by Sara (Los Angeles, CA)
Not using Carter Burwell for New Moon was a huge mistake. I walked out of the theater feeling empty. The score was so bland that I did not even realize there was a score until I got home and figured out why I was so disappointed. Carter Burwell's score was so perfect and these are the songs twilight fans have been humming and loving for the last year. How they can just completely change the whole feel of the movie is sadly disappointing. There was no beauty or artfulness to New Moon, and much of that, I am sure, had to do with the music. Most of the things I loved about Twilight did not exist in new moon. I know this is not a movie review, but come on, the score MADE the movie for many people. It made you FEEL the love and fascination the characters had for each other. Although Edward was missing for most of this movie, I think Carter Burwell could have given us some phenomenal sounds to mourn over him with.... and to befriend Jacob with.
If New Moon was the first movie of the series I saw, I would NOT be hooked....... too bad.

2/5 Vegetarian Score - As Edward would say, it serves its purpose, but never really satisfies
  by Lindsay Borowiak
I am baffled by the choice to completely change the theme of the score for New Moon. It takes away from the continuity of the entire series, and has taken away a huge part of the feeling of the original movie, which was Carter Burwell's eerie, romantic score. I will liken it to when Edward leaves Bella in New Moon - Jacob is nice, but he can't take the place of Edward, and he can't fill up the hole that has been left behind. That's how I feel about this score. I feel it was a horrible mistake, and definitely more along the lines of Harry Potter than Twilight, as some have stated. The Twilight series is already hugely popular around the world, there was no need for this kind of change.