Great film - one flaw

Other than the muffled soundtrack itself, there is the glaring lack of a strong, binding "Pioneer"/"Frontier" musical theme. Its absence is a huge emptiness in a huge film not at all assisted by a "score" credited to no less than four composers. That is perhaps a sign that the director/producers didn't want to shell out money to pay a solid, talented film musician for this otherwise epic film. Alfred Newman and a number of other skilled talents were available at the time, but apparently were not called upon. The musical soundtrack is weak and unimpressive. A film of this gravitas deserves a matching musical score. I am not a complete film purist and I would not mind having a skilled, proven soundtrack composer contribute a musical, thematic score that would at last elevate this film to the highest run on the genre ladder.