A Writer, A Pianist?
It's a bit of a stretch to think a novelist might very well be performing a rhythmic soundtrack to her work as she taps away at the typewriter; perhaps it's more difficult to describe in words how Dario Marianelli's new score begins. In what may be gimmick if this we're a soundtrack to a
Hunter S. Thompson biopic, the click 'n clack opening of the Atonement soundtrack CD (Decca Records) is at first unexpected. We're given little time to check our corny meter as the clackity click quickly eases into the musical fabric that becomes Briony's theme, a piece of music engineered to sell us a serious notion about the young writer's role in the story. We hear several themes at the onset
of the CD, recurring again and again in a variety of guises through adept orchestration by the composer and fellow conductor Benjamin Wallfisch.
As the wild imaginations of a young mind delivers tragic sorrow upon true love, the music score grows both intense and sorrowful, at times sounding like a swelling symphony of despair, at others reflecting cold loneliness. Fans of the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack score from a couple of years ago will hear things most welcome in Jean-Yves Thibaudet's solo performance, supported by a cognitive showing of the English Chamber Orchestra (a favorite of composer John Barry). For those of us with imaginations, we could say the score most closely resembles the trauma of a flower that choses to blossom too early, facing little chance against a late winter chill. In the end, though, our ears are most pleased with Thibaudet's pianissimo pursuit of Debussy's famous piece of silvery nighttime sky.
PK (12/28/2007)see all reviews, or add a review
|
