This year 5 nominees are up for Best Original Score:

James Horner for the 3D extravaganza, Avatar.
Alexandre Desplat for the stop-motion animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox
Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders for the war drama, The Hurt Locker.
Hans Zimmer for the action packed film, Sherlock Holmes.
And Michael Giacchino for the latest Pixar-animated film, Up.

It’s great to see two animated films being represented in the Original Score category.  Some of the great film scores come from animated films, and at times it seems they hardly represented.  Although, Giacchino’s work for the Pixar-animated film Ratatouille was nominated two years ago.

Avatar was last year’s most anticipated film of the year.  And another James Horner score to accompany a Cameron epic had everyone a buzz about what the score would sound like.  And what was the score like? Well, the usual Horner motifs.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Parts of the score were beautiful and majestic, however I felt it didn’t match to the wonderful visuals of Cameron’s world.  Leaving the theater (almost 3 hours later) I couldn’t really remember the film music, which for such a huge film, I thought was a rather huge disappointment.

Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox was a delight.  Anderson did such a great job of making this film enjoyable for all audiences.  The music is such a joy.  It felt like the rodents from the film were providing the accompanying music.  It was a clever choice on Desplat and Anderson to keep the orchestra intimate and minimal.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Anderson wanted a sort of a Peter and the Wolf feel for the film’s music. Giving each character a them and instruments associated with that character.  My favorite piece was the Ennio Morricone influenced theme for the rat in the secret cider cellar.  And the lovely march for the game Whack-Bat.

Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders’ score for The Hurt Locker among the nominees was a big surprise for me.  The is not the normal traditional score and it was designed to put you on the edge of your seat, which worked for me.  This was a great film. Very suspenseful, yet for being a war drama, there is a simplicity to it which I appreciated.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

An actual score creeps out at the end but for the majority of the film the score is more of a sound design than actual music.

Sherlock Holmes was actually one of the few films I missed last year.  I’m so bummed I didn’t get a chance to see this film, because after hearing Zimmer’s score, I bet the film was one fun ride.  Although, much of this score has that typical Zimmer sound and feel to it, I thought parts of this score was really clever.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

I love the percussion elements throughout the score.  Lot’s of fun.

And finally there is the Pixar gem, Up.  I embraced this film and the music within the first 15 minutes of the film.  How can a film pack in so much emotion in one segment?  Well Giacchino’s simple nostalgic score helped.  Although the themes were simple, Giacchino’s orchestrations made them more complex and brought the character to life.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

I love film scores that tell a story and evolve and you listen to them.  Therefore my pick for this year’s award has to go the Giacchino’s lovely work for Up. His scores are simple, yet carry a lot of emotion and add more depth to the film.  Way to go Michael Giacchino for making us listen.  I sure hope to hear more from him in the near future.

I’m so excited for this film.  Beautiful cinematography, lavish costumes, spoken french, oh la la.  And no composer would be better to set music to this rich and excessive luxurious life of France than Alexandre Desplat.  I’ll be sure to get a copy of this soundtrack.  I can always count on Desplat to take me on a musical journey and this score will be no exception.

The film stars Audrey Tautou as the fashion designer Coco Chanel, and is directed by Anne Fontaine (The Girl from Monaco).  The screenplay is written by Anne Fontaine and Camille Fontaine, with the collaboration of Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons), and is loosely based on the biography L’Irrégulière by author Edmonde Charles-Roux.

Fontaine and Desplat collaborated to reflect Chanel in the music.  Desplat believed Coco Chanel had a “pair of eyes that were very particular in real life.”  And he believed actress Audrey Tautou also carried that characteristic.

“They both have the same gravity and intensity.  She is not just watching.  She’s scrutinizing and really intensively watching.  She’s grabbing a detail, a color, a shape that becomes something of her own once it goes through her filter.  So, I guess that’s the main thing that I tried to do with the score:  always keep the intensity of her character, not just the fun.  She has a lot of courage and a desire to change things.  And that’s something I like a lot – when artists show the way, a different way, another way, not just follow the flow of the river.  My music should follow this.”

I’m sure it does.  Listen to Desplast’s music featured in this U.S. trailer of the film.

Track List:

Coco Before Chanel
Alexandre Desplat
Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra

1. L’abandon (4:06)
2. Chez Chanel (2:33)
3. Coco & Boy (2:47)
4. Royallieu (2:54)
5. Couture (2:27)
6. Avenue du Bois (1:38)
7. Premier baiser (1:40)
8. Gabrielle Bonheur (1:53)
9. L’Hippodrome (2:54)
10. Arthur Capel (2:09)
11. Confession de Balsan (1:26)
12. Coco rêve de Paris (1:31)
13. L’Atelier (1:48)
14. Un seul Amour (1:53)
15. Le Chagrin de Coco (2:59)
16. Casino de Deauville (1:37)
17. Little Black Baby (Scott Joplin) (1:37) Interprété par Vanessa Wagner sur un Piano Ibach de 1908
18. Qui qu’a vu Coco (Baumaine-Blondelet/Deransart) (1:42) Extrait sonore du film, interprété par Audrey Tautou et Marie Gillain Piano: Patrick Laviosa

By the way, the score is already available on iTunes, for those who prefer a digital copy.

I would love to attend the World Soundtrack Awards.  Screw the Teen Choice Awards!  Anyway, the highlight to this year’s program will feature music by composers Alexandre Desplat and Marvin Hamlisch.  The Brussels Philharmonic led by Desplat will perform music from his works including The Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Queen, The Painted Veil, Birth, The Golden Compass, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Lust, Caution.

The Brussels Philharmonic will also perform music by Academy Award winning composer, Marvin Hamlisch.  Hamlisch, who won three Oscars in 1973 for the films The Way We Were and The Sting, will receive the World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award.  Hamlisch’s other notable works include the tenth James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me and the hit musical A Chorus Line.  It’s sure to be a great night of film music.

Wow, summer is going by fast.  I didn’t even realize that director Nora Ephron’s film Julie & Julia was out this week.  I don’t know how, since I hear,  “I’m Julia Child” at least 20 times a day.  I knew it was coming soon, just not this week.  Anyway, a Julie & Julia release also means a new score from the acclaimed french composer Alexandre Desplat.

The film’s soundtrack is now available on Amazon.com and iTunes and  features 16 tracks of original music and an intro to the classic song “Time after Time” by Desplat.  This score is so bright, warm and fluffy. Excuse me while I go frost some cupcakes.  Listening to parts of this score put me in such a good mood.  I hope the film will do the same.  No matter what how many negative reviews this film may get, I’ll still see it.  I’m a huge Meryl Streep fan and I think Amy Adams is adorable.  Shoot, a score by Desplat alone will get me to see the film.

Here’s the track list with few audio samples:

Julie & Julia
Score Composed, Conducted and Produced by Alexandre Desplat
(p) and © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.
Score Published by Colpix Music, Inc., admin. by Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI)

1. Julia’s Theme – Alexandre Desplat

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

2. Julie’s Theme – Alexandre Desplat

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

3. Great Big Good Fairy – Alexandre Desplat
4. The French Chef Theme – Alexandre Desplat
5. Starting Out – Alexandre Desplat

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

6. What Should I Do? – Alexandre Desplat
7. Eggs – Alexandre Desplat
8. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
9. A String Of Pearls – Alexandre Desplat
10. Mes Emmerdes – Charles Aznavour
11. Time After Time (Instrumental) – Alexandre Desplat
12. Burning The Stew – Alexandre Desplat
13. Leaving Paris – Alexandre Desplat
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
14. My Husband Left Me – Alexandre Desplat
15. Stop The Train – Henry Wolfe
16. A Bushel And A Peck – Doris Day
17. The New York Times – Alexandre Desplat
18. Bouef Bourguignon – Alexandre Desplat
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
19. Julia Hates Me – Alexandre Desplat
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]
20. Last Supper – Alexandre Desplat
21. Time After Time – Margaret Whiting

I was first introduced to Alexandre Desplat when Stephen Frears’, The Queen was released into theaters.  I remember thinking in the theater how beautiful the score was and how it was unlike any I’m used to hearing.  I’ve been a huge fan of his work ever since.  Most would say he is too restrained, but that is why I love listening to his scores.  I find his music so relaxing and comfortable.  However, that doesn’t mean his music is boring; well to me it isn’t.  His music is full of texture and color.  Every time you listen to a track you find new layers and interesting sounds you may not have heard before.  That is what I find most fascinating about his film scores.  His scores are meticulously crafted and delicate, yet they still manage to bring the film to life.  Very rare with most film scores today, usually filled with heavy brass melodies and percussion (not that I don’t like such film scores).

Desplat’s score to Frears’ latest film, Cheri, is a beauty.  Here is a little preview to the wonderful score.

The first track “Cheri” is a fun and sprightly cue, with percussive elements and short bright notes giving it a playful feel.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

With “The Rose Acacia”, Desplat quickly introduces the main theme.  I love the interesting rhythmic beats supporting the theme.  I also love how Desplat shifts his themes.  The strings are leading when suddenly, but subtly, they fall back and a soloist is featured or the percussion section takes front.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

What I love about Desplat’s themes are the supporting rhythms.  Listen carefully to the repeating notes underlying the main theme in the cue “Flower Tunnel.”  It gives the cue so much more texture and depth. The solo violin is wonderful in this.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

“To Biarritz” is the biggest piece of the soundtrack.  It starts with a low sounding beat, then adds repeating strings and various solos, finally culminating into a beautiful grand chord. I can’t wait to hear this cue in the theater.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

It’s too bad I haven’t been able to see the film.  Cheri premiered at the Berlin Film Festival back in February and will be in limited release here in the U.S. on June 26th.  I usually try to watch the film first before buying the soundtrack, but I’m not too disappointed this time.  Being such a Desplat fan, I had to have my hands on it the minute it was released.   

If you’re in the mood to relax and relish in the beautiful strings of the London Symphony Orchestra, then Cheri is the score for you.

Check out the score over at Amazon.com.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, nominated for an astonishing 13 Academy Awards releases on DVD and Blu-ray today.  The film, directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, as Benjamin Button, a man living his life biologically in reverse, is accompanied by a beautifully written score from French composer Alexandre Desplat.  One of the year’s best scores, Desplat created a truly unique and stylistic score perfectly fitting the emotions and stunning visuals of the film.

Desplat’s soft, soothing melodies carefully drive the film forward without overwhelming the audience.  His themes subtly bring out the magical aspects of the film, bringing Benjamin Button’s fantasy world alive.  Writing “Benjamin’s Theme,” Desplat knew he needed to grasp a “going backwards” movement in the piece.

“Working and exchanging ideas with David Fincher (Director) and Ren Klyce (Executive Soundtrack Album Producer), I composed melodies in which the notes could be played both forwards and backwards, and chords that could be switched, like the Cole Porter line, “from major to minor.”

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Desplat’s score is constantly driving and in motion.  Like the characters Button encounters throughout the film, themes come and go throughout the film.  The score is also full of rhythmical elements evoking a ‘ticking time’ concept.  Unique sounds from an electric guitar, vibraphone, cimbalom, harps, and a celeste are used to create the concept.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Desplat perfectly captured emotions surrounding Button and his constantly changing world, with hints of New Orleans jazz.

“The orchestration colors had to capture the genuine innocence with which Benjamin embraces the human beings that he meets through his life, and the circular motion of the adventurous world around him.”

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

One of the film’s most beautiful pieces is set to the lavish and artistic life of Button’s love interest, Daisy Fuller, played by Cate Blanchett.  Daisy’s ballet career theme is powerful, moving, and full of life, yet not too overbearing and manages to successfully continue the rhythmical elements found in the rest of the score.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

“Every melody and motif had to be carefully positioned at the crossroads of emotions-never too dark, or too sentimental, or too quirky, or too frightening or too loud-always on the razor’s edge.”

Sunrise on Lake Pontchartrain, which I believe was one of the year’s most beautiful compositions, wonderfully showcases that razor edge of emotion.  A piece that carefully supports the film and embrace emotions.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

This score is one of Desplat’s finest achievements.  He created a relaxing, pulsing, magical sound to the visually stunning fantasy film, capturing the human spirit.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Original Score Composed, Conducted and Produced by Alexandre Desplat
© 2008 Concord Music
© 2008 Paramount Pictures

Oh, great! I promised myself I wouldn’t join the Twilight vampire craze.  Everyone I know, it seems, is getting sucked in to this fantasy world, yet another billion dollar outlet of the ‘Tween’ market.  A market full of low quality cheap entertainment.  Okay, okay, I’m a bit harsh.  I’m sure the books are good, and the film is entertaining, but still, I won’t cave in and read the darn vampire book.  It’s just not me.

But now it sounds like I’m going to have to at least see the films.  The upcoming sequel “New Moon” will feature a score from one of my favorite composers, Alexandre Desplat, which I find extremely exciting.  This will be Desplat’s second time working with director, Chris Weitz.  Desplat provided the score to Weitz’ previous film, The Golden Compass.  I’m a big fan of Desplat’s work.  He has provided beautiful scores to numerous film including, The Queen, Syriana, The Painted Veil, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (my favorite of his works).  Desplat’s wonderful lyrical sounds seems to be an odd choice for the highly anticipated film, but I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.  Who knows? Maybe Desplat’s orchestra will be the perfect compliment to a pale-faced, huge foreheaded teenager.