Stephen Frears’ latest comedy, Tamara Drewe, appeared at Cannes this year before heading on to other festivals and international markets.  It will begin appearing in the US in October.  The film is taken from a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds and stars Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Clash of the Titans, and Prince of Persia) in the title role.  Alexander Desplat’s little score is likely quite unobtrusive in the film and somewhat slight on its own, though not without its charm.

 

With his “Opening Title,” Desplat seems to be taking a page from Catch Me If You Can crossed with a little Thomas Newman.  Pitched percussion begin the bubbling arpeggios until a throaty flute played against vibraphone sneaks in and then we are off to the sort of bubbling undercurrent and melodic lines fans have come to expect in Desplat’s scores.  The colors here are a bit dark, more film noirish at first as the music sets its tone here gradually moving into lighter touches as the score progresses.  The arpeggios move effortlessly from xylophones and marimbas to strings and back with wonderful color changes while the celesta peaks in as well all leaving the many stylistic fingerprints of other more familiar Desplat scores.  The fluttery flute sound lifts the simple underscoring above the norm even when the music veers into a semi-comedic sense.  Though the musical material is fascinating, and features a fairly strong main theme, the score is mostly repetitive as it appears here with similar music repeating under the guise of a different title with very slight variation.  Still, Desplat’s music somehow manages to hold ones interest throughout.  “Packing and Closing” even has a fascinating section of solo violin writing that is quite moving. 

 

Tamara Drewe is another of the many charming little scores Desplat seems so adept at turning out.  The unusual musical combinations that move to smaller ensembles and back to string orchestral support at times lend the music an almost Thomas Newman-esque feel to the structure, but Desplat’s familiar style (reminiscent of Julie and Julia) is on display throughout.  Unfortunately, the disc is mostly filled out at the end with three Benjamin Todd/Norman Cooper songs that help pad the score’s 37 minute playing time.

February was a bit of a busy month as labels begin to pick up after the holiday lull.  It is also a chance to catch up on a few releases overlooked by myself over the past few months.  The five highlights this month are mostly film scores with one standout classical release.

I'll start with the classical release since it is truly worthy of mention again here.  Leonard Slatkin's new recording of Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 is perhaps one of the finest interpretations put down on disc.  The Detroit Symphony is really at the top of their game and this bodes well for a bunch of releases supposedly on their way from Slatkin and the DSO on Naxos.  In many ways superior to his earlier recording in St. Louis--which is also one of those essential recordings--the detail of the recording here allows listeners to hear the amazing balance of the orchestra throughout what was evidently a live recording.  This is the most accessible of the Rachmaniov symphonies and worthy of anyone's music library.

Next are three 2009 scores that have much to recommend them.  First up is Barsotti's score for Die Papstin (Pope Joan) a German film that will probably need to be caught on video here in the states.  Barsotti's score tends toward more Baroque and Romantic underscore with some chant (the story occurs in the Middle Ages).  The thematic writing is really engaging and there is a lot of fine music in the 68+ minutes of material found on this Konigskinder import.  Most interesting is how the chant material finds its way into the orchestral textures.

I finally had a chance to hear Gabriel Yared's score for Amelia and it was a wonderful surprise with a strong main theme that is among the composer's finest.  This is a richly romantic score in many ways with a couple of action tracks.  It's the Amelia's theme though that makes this cd a charm from beginning to end and will have many listening to this for some time to come.

The same can be said for Alexandre Desplat's Cheri which contains one of his best thematic waltzes.  If you are fond of Ravel and early 20th century French music you will likely fall in love with this gorgeous score.  With all the music I review and listen to daily and weekly, I had to finally put this one away.  It has been a long time since I've listened to a single score as many times in a row as I did for this one.  This is highly worth your time.

Finally, Film Score Monthly rewarded John Williams fans with the first ever release of the composer's score for Black Sunday.  This was the last "new" Williams score pre-Star Wars fame and there are plenty of times in this score where one can hear indications of the final battle sequence from Star Wars.  But the surprise for many will be how this score hovers right on the edge of genius and standard dramatic scoring of the 1970s.  One wonders what a commercial LP might have done to fill out themes more (as the composer had a tendency of doing with his previous disaster scores).  As a 10,000 "limited" edition release most everyone who wants to hear and own this CD will get the chance to do so.  That's quite a gift with the way some labels seem to be keeping their inventory low by only printing 1000-2000 copies. 

This week music fans get a chance to decide how thin their wallets will get when Varese announces their latest club limited editions Monday followed on Tuesday by another set of Intrada limited releases.  Also out from Chandos is a new Bernard Herrmann release that will likely continue the great sonic spectaculars of classic film music from that label.  But you can't go wrong with any of these 5 releases recommended for this month!