Unless you've been marooned on a South Sea island for the past three years, you know what The Matrix is. If you came in late, we're up to the third installment, Matrix Revolutions. Newsweek called 2003, The Year of The Matrix. If you're thinking such a trilogy must have an impressive score, say something on the order of John Williams' Star Wars or Howard Shore's Lord OF The Rings, you're right on. So is Don Davis' and Juno Reactor's work on the Matrix trilogy as a whole, and Davis' work on Revolutions in particular. Clearly Reactor's influence is felt strongly when they collaborate, as on "Tetsujin." Just what makes Revolutions a Don Davis feature, as The Matrix was for Reactor?

The wonderful answer is the plot! Everything about this score, from the fight sequence underscoring to the heroic themes hinges on the plot. "Spirit Of The Universe" declares it's humanity with the breath of the flute, the heart of the horn and the grace of the bow. Universal truth is translated into primitive language, albeit sung in a very western (that Wagner stuff again) style. An epochal, apocalyptic and ultimately heroic subject, rendered as a musical statement by a really, really big orchestra. For humanity to triumph, a room full of real musicians had to be on hand. The contest with machines resolved, the techno-orchestra is suppressed, and violins rule the day. Serious music fans 'round the globe are rejoicing in the street.

The best part is that Davis is incredibly good at this. The score for Matrix Revolutions is broken up into sixteen distinct tracks, each of which can stand alone as an effective work. The most poetic, "Trinity Definitey" is the culmination of the love theme. The major love theme of any programmatic work is the heart with which it beats, remember Dr. Zhivago and Lara? "Trinity" gets as fine a treatment. The beautiful English horn solo is one of the subtlest on the CD. Throughout, Davis uses the themes of the opening titles, and principle characters, to develop a well-wrought concept. Rhythmic extensions, reharmonization and thematic juxtaposition make the material from the earlier films live again in a more human form.

It's cool though. Some folks don't like to grab every literary allusion and obscure musical reference in a movie. Musicians are the worst. If you don't want to analyze every elite musical reference, if you don't care that the theme from "Trinity Infinity" proved to be the precursor to the main love theme two movies later, if it all seems like a run-on sentence, then. . . check out the rockin' syncopation on "Saw Bitch Workhorse." Music should grab you first. It should grab you second, and you should figure out why later. Matrix Revolutions grabs hard and hangs on. It's one of those CDs you can listen to over and over again, with staying power.

By Dave Morgan