Review: Usually, soundtracks that are composed of tracks by different artists and moreover primarily have sung pieces in it can't excite me all too much. However, "A Moment to Remember" proves to be an exception to the rule. This is because the selection of songs can create a unity in its own, provoking the same heartwarming-romantic emotions the whole way through, and furthermore the CD has what it takes for you to want to hear it over and over again.
Romantic!? Yeah, you read that right, the soundtrack can arouse feelings of yearning and oftentimes makes you think that you're just sitting in a Café on a warm summer's day, while it slowly starts to rain, and yet you can still see rays of sunshine coming through the cloudy sky.
"That's kitsch at its cheapest!", I hear some say and under normal circumstances I would be the first one to tear the soundtrack apart in this review, but "A Moment to Remember" always succeeds in hitting the right notes and by that it proves to be kitsch that can be fun...

Peaceful and dreamy guitar sounds on the first track introduce us to what we have to expect of the CD, until eventually the "Prelude"-excerpt from Chopin fades into "El dia que me quieras" in a great way. The quite Tango-Piece of 1935 hasn't lost anything from its charm and is performed by Lee Ji Young with a fittingly hoarse voice.
On the third track the acoustic-guitar is still in the centre of music, nonetheless "Tomorrow is Rain" is also a typical ballad, that nevertheless is nice to listen to. Apart from the guitar, JongDan's singing is also accompanied by a piano and later on strings join the ensemble, too. So to speak everything that's characteristic for a ballad, still it's not intrusively heartbreaking and with time proves to be one of the CD's highlights as it inevitably becomes a earworm. So it's no surprise that the track turns up again later on in a hummed and finally in a classical version also.

"A Moment to Remember" is the main theme of the soundtrack and an appropriate one at that. At first, we get to hear it in a hummed version, but in track 15 it is then sung by Min Sol. However, Sol's voice imbues the song with a little bit too much tragedy and overdone lovesickness, which makes the hummed version definitely more appealing, especially since the piano and strings are more dominant in track 5.
"Reminiscence" is one of those tracks that always end up being skipped, meaning that it is by far the worst piece of the soundtrack. The artificial 80's style drums is only the beginning, because this track without a doubt takes us on a trip to a world of 80's cheesy ballads that should have stayed buried in oblivion. Melodies that no human being on this planet nowadays is able to listen to.
Track 6 can be quite fascinating with its e-guitar melody, especially when the sound gets more distorted. Easy to the ears, yet not worth mentioning. This tag can also be attached to the sung love ballad "Fairy Tale".

The actual highlights of the CD are clearly the spanish tracks and their stirring rhythm and dreamy melodies. "La Paloma" may seem familiar to some and takes you into a spanish old town, build on a mountainside with narrow and winding roads. Luis Miguel's "El Reloj" lets you further enjoy your trip so that it might seem a good idea to get a cappuccino in the local Café.
Concerning the style the music maintains the already introduced type of melodies. "Nessun Dorma" should even sound familiar to those who are no Opera- or Italy-fans, although I have to admit that I still dislike the refrain.
We now leave the european Café (even though a part of us can never really say farewell) and we get presented with another ballad in track 18, which has more power this time, though. Yet, it sticks to the rules of a schmaltzy song.
"Winter Afternoon" begins with an acoustic guitar in a very peaceful and nice way, but then the beat gets a move on and the now dominant e-guitar and the drums imbue it with some 80's flair. I can't help it, but this track somehow reminded me of "Prince"...

The OST to "A Moment to Remember" stands out because of its various spanish and italian pieces. Interestingly enough, that's exactly the reason why I first thought that I wouldn't be able to get along with the soundtrack, since I never was a fan of this style of music. However, if you give the OST a chance, the warm and dreamy atmosphere can be really captivating and make you have feelings of longing and peace. More than anything else I was impressed by the dominant acoustic guitar melodies. In most ballads good melodies get mixed together with cheesy singing, but somehow that's ok. You really can listen to this CD over and over again, because it arouses happy and sad feelings at the same time and doing so goes right to your heart - just like the movie itself.