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THE QUEEN

 ABOUT THE SOUNDTRACK

Composer: Alexandre Desplat
Label:
Milan Records
Release Date: September 26 2006
Links:

www.milanrecords.com/index.php


www.thequeen-movie.com/

 

 



TRACK LISTING
1
The Queen
2
Hills Of Scotland
3
People's Princess I
4
A New Prime Minister
5
H.R.H.
6
The Stag
7
Mourning
8
Elizabeth & Tony
9
River Of Sorrow
10
The Flowers Of Buckingham
11
The Queen Drives
12
Night In Balmoral
13
Tony & Elizabeth
14
People's Princess II
15
Queen Of Hearts
16
Libera Me – performed by Lynne Dawson

REVIEW

Alexandre Desplat first caught our humble attention with his restrainedly exposed score for Peter Webber’s Girl With A Pearl Earring (2003). Since then, the Frenchman has gone on to compose a diverse range of scores like the mystical Birth (2004), the classy The Heart That My Heart Skipped (2005) and the angry Syriana (2005).

With his latest work for this important and widely acclaimed movie about HM Elizabeth II’s struggle over a personal family tragedy and a nationwide mourning during Princess Diana’s passing away in 1997, we are hoping that he will be more widely recognized.

A nomination at next year’s Oscars would be nice.

This 44-minute soundtrack album features some of the most refined score tracks we have listened in a while. Opening the disc is a regal cue featuring some sturdy timpani beats, elegant harps and quietly peaceful accompanying strings. The rest of the album is minimalist as well, with woodwinds and strings gracefully performed by The London Symphony Orchestra.

An effective soundtrack has a strong anchoring of the score’s main theme, with different variations to complement the different moods required in the film. The seven-note main theme is finely orchestrated in many tracks. And you’d be impressed with how the same tune creates different feelings: be it peacefulness in “The Hills of Scotland”, grief in “H.R.H”, or looming darkness in “The Stag”.

While we applaud the Desplat’s sophistication in arranging the score in different variations, we are also aware that the lack of action cues may be why impatient listeners may not be too impressed with this soundtrack.

But we’d really recommend that you take repeated listens to fully appreciate the fine work done on the album. If you really had to, just listen to “The People’s Princess I/II”.

The creativeness in infusing electronic beats, harpsichords and strings into the main theme makes it one of the most remarkable cues we have heard on any soundtrack albums this year.

When the album closes with Verdi’s “Libera Me”, which has been suitably included here because of its presence during Princess Diana’s funeral, we were left awed with its final fine touch of regality.

SOUNDTRACK RATING:

Review by John Li

 

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This soundtrack review is made possible with the kind support from Warner Music

 


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