by Demetris Christodoulides on 7/11/2005
favorite track: 24
 
If someone ever asks me to point out a single piece of work that concentrates, includes and presents all the elements that prove why I love film music, it will surely be a Georges Delerue score. Where to start? Ranging from dramatically sweeping string lines that seem to be the standard for more of his works (if not all); chaste baroque-influenced pieces with harpsichord and wind instruments (flutes mostly); classical-oriented pieces with flawless and dense orchestration; sad, slow adagios with much emphasis on the viola section of the orchestra (creating a very warm sound); intense and heavy pieces of "action music" but not in the usual way - rather a way more elegant and "Delerue"; finally, a magnificent last part to a brilliant score with heavily dramatic cues, based on a REALLY memorable, huge-sounding, big and sweeping main theme presented during the beginning of the album (and left to rest for a long time) with larger-than-life string lines that diffuse so much pathos and emotion it's almost unbearable!

This, as is pretty much is the case with virtually every Delerue score, is a work that has everything for everyone. Surely Delerue is a composer you would never know how much you've missed until you discover him. I am sure those who have this work know and agree with me when I am saying that anything less than a 5 out of 5 is never appropriate.