...or so I'm ready to argue as a 30 year devotee of this sorely under appreciated genre. So, in an effort to do my part, each week I'll be making recommendations of soundtracks current and vintage, make a fuss over long awaited soundtrack scores finally getting a well deserved release, and in general, make some noise about this often overlooked category. Beyond my long experience as a listener and as a pianist and songwriter, both of which I've put to use in writing a quarterly soundtrack column for the Chicago Tribune, I can only offer my recommendations. You'll discern my taste soon enough and upfront I'd like to make it clear that I'll focus most heavily on SCORE soundtracks. In the end, all criticism is subjective but if I can point a listener toward a little heard soundtrack or strongly advise you to either ORDER IMMEDIATELY or SKIP ALTOGETHER, all the better.
Long time readers of the column know how much I love the movie scores of Alexandre Desplat. I'm far from alone -- the gifted composer whose exquisite, delicately rendered scores can best be summed up in the word "shimmering" -- and Desplat has for obvious reasons been a hot topic of conversation among soundtrack collectors. In 2006, however, it seems that the rest of the world caught on and lo and behold, the French composer found himself with a Golden Globe nomination for his work on The Painted Veil and an Oscar nod for The Queen. Desplat took the Globe (he's pictured with his trophy at left) and in my opinion should have had the Oscar to boot.
But I am happy enough that attention is now coming for this gifted musician. And I think his score for The Painted Veil is right up there with my personal Desplat best: Girl with a Pearl Earring. The film, a love triangle, based on the Somerset Maugham novel is mainly set in China in the 1920s (an earlier version featured Garbo and her sultry beauty). Naomi Watts plays the wife of Edward Norton who dabbles in an illicit affair with Liev Schreiber and eventually, through the sacrifice of her husband during a cholera outbreak, comes to realize the True Meaning of Love. Very old fashioned, well executed storytelling in the manner of Merchant-Ivory. Desplat builds his score, backed by a delicately stringed orchestra, around a tinkly piano (played by gift pianist Lang Lang). Desplat creates the feeling of the Far East with typical Oriental percussion and the overall tone of the score is very close to the scores that Richard Robbins created for those aforementioned Merchant-Ivory films (especially Howard's End and Maurice) -- perfect for the story and vintage setting of the film. Percussive, gentle strings push Desplat's melodies forward while the tinkly piano cascades into musical waterfalls.
This is a lush -- though not overblown -- soundtrack that is a beautiful stand alone listening experience. Unlike other Desplat scores, I don't find a standout track but do not mean that as a criticism. Instead, I suggest that the ENTIRE score is a standout. A superlative effort that, yes, here's that word again -- SHIMMERS.