The Virtuoso Music of a Village Gone to Ruin
M. Night Shyamalan's fourth film in five years is a shadowy tale of an isolated village and its intriguing pact with "those not spoken of." If this isn't enough to pique your curiosity, there's also the unmentionable "bad color," the "forbidden line" and the "shed that is not to be used." Curious now? The well-paced movie is set in 1897, prompting composer James Newton Howard to write a score featuring solo violin. The sound of a virtuoso violin weeps long-ago classical tones, and Hilary Hahn's performance of these sensuously spine-tingling notes lifts The Village soundtrack CD (Hollywood Records)
far above standard fare for motion pictures. Howard's score is expectedly familial, relating well with his previous work for Shyamalan. The music is mysteriously dark, unmistakably haunting, yet ably finds beauty on more than one occasion. Whether or not you've seen the film, here's an album that is remarkable in its own right; those who crave intimate music of a transcendental nature will most likely fret over the 42 minute run time, but we think it's best not want more of something that's near perfect... who knows what may happen? We might start to imagine this score as an undocumented 19th century journey of The Red Violin to a remote village in the dense forests of Pennsylvania. Yikes, we just mentioned the "bad color." See what happens?published on 7/30/2004 For more, click to The Village soundtrack details
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