Martin Phipps has composed music for a number of television shows including Wallander, North & South, Harry Brown, Sense and Sensibility and The Virgin Queen. Here he delivers yet another original score, this time for the BBC One drama series based on the Andrea Levy novel, Small Island. Phipps combines warm writing for orchestra with chamber-sized, intimate music and substantial material inspired by the Jamaican setting of the story...

Martin Phipps's score for Small Island represents an interesting collection of themes and styles - with more than a couple of nods to other composers.

There are elements of John Williams's score for Saving Private Ryan in 'Fireside' and 'War'. There was also a flavour of The Penguin Cafe Orchestra - the most obvious example being 'A Fine Joke'. There's also a theme that Phipps uses throughout this score, most notably in 'Mother Country' and 'Proposal', that reminded me of Nina Simone's version of 'Sinnerman'. But on the whole this soundtrack is packed full of originality and Phipps's own style.

While on balance I enjoyed this score, I have to admit that it's one that works best when accompanying the onscreen action. Still, if you're after something a little different you could do much worse than this.

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Darren Rea