The "Main Title (Prelude)" is a classic orchestral western style with that slight cowboy sway to it. It starts out soaring, ends soothing and is wholesome all the way through. The ending, with banjo and what might be celeste, is perfect.

"Starrett's Plans" is basically a reiteration of it but with harmonica as a prominent instrument.

For "The Tree Stump", the scene in which Shane really bonds with the farming family he's staying with, Young creates a rhythmically propulsive and energetic cue with strings and horns blasting straight ahead, with occasional "classical" music embellishments.

Sounds of carefree innocence and buoyant, happy feelings run through "Pastoral", which also offers a new, slower interpretation of the main theme.

The main theme gets stated by some kind of trumpet to begin with"Off to Town/Grafton's Store". The first hint of real menace gets introduced in the midst of an otherwise comforting string passage as Young brings in darker orchestral colors and dramatic stings.

The wide open spaces and big sky can be heard clearly in "Wyoming Sketches", which revisits most of the themes heard so far.

Perhaps the classic moment from Shane is the fight scene in town. That and the tree stump scene and of course the very end are the parts most people remember or know about if they haven't seen the movie. Young has the orchestra in serious and dangerous mode with the wind instruments in the foreground for "End of Fight/Victory and Trouble". You hear more trouble than victory.

The lilting western theme from the main title comes back in a gentle version for strings and harmonica in "Tender Moments/Wilson/Ride and Memories" but is followed by dangerous tension music and a violent action cue before reprising the peaceful atmosphere it started with.

"The Fourth of July/A Tough Torrey" starts with jaunty celebratory music before switching abruptly into pure menace, communicated mostly by the wind instruments. It's incredible how little percussion Young uses in this score.

The uneasy mood continues in "Trouble Ahead/Torrey's Death/Taking Torrey Home" with just enough references to some of the score's lighter moments to make the heaviness more ominous. "Dixie" is also quote for Torrey's Confederate Army history.

Sadness and suspense permeate "Cemetery Hill" though hope and goodness transcend them with lofty orchestral swells of the main theme by the end.

Strings calmly present the main theme to begin "Peace Party" but are soon interrupted by a frantic and chaotic part for horns. We return to the more placid beginning soon but the rest of the cue is pensive and suggestive of trouble to come.

"Sad Is the Parting" strikes an elegiac note with the main theme played heartbreakingly on solo violin.

The big climax, "The Ride to Town", has the heroic theme given maximum oomph but then becomes extrremely quiet, something silent and deadly waiting to strike.

Cloudy sonorities begin "Apotheosis and End Title" but soon we're back in a reflective reprise of the main theme, slower this time, perhaps a little more mature, like the child character in the story.

Added as bonus tracks to this CD are a solo harmonica track, "Beautiful Dreamer/Marching Through Georgia", which is source music, as well as film versions with music and effects of the cues "The Ride to Town" and "Apotheosis and End Title".