Football documentary One Night in Turin takes a vibrant and passionate look at the World Cup in Italy 1990, a tournament where England reached the semifinals. The main bulk of Stuart Hancock’s epic orchestral score for the film depicts the drama of the classic semi-final between England and West Germany. Ingeniously, Hancock makes use of Puccini’s famous Nessun Dorma aria from Turandot, sung with amazing spirit by tenor Sean Ruane...

The soundtrack to the documentary One Night in Turin consists of seven tracks and lasts for just under 20 minutes. As such, instead of releasing this as an album, Movie Score Media has instead brought this to the market as an EP - and thank goodness they have as otherwise I'd never have had the chance to listen to such an incredible collection of tracks.

There's something about this score that captures, for me, everything that's great about movie soundtracks. This is an emotional score that should be listened to as loud as you think you can get away with without annoying the neighbours.

The EP opens and closes with tenor Sean Ruane's performance of the 'Nessun Dorma' aria from the closing act of Puccini's Turandot opera. For those who don't remember, Luciano Pavarotti's recording of 'Nessun Dorma' was used as the main theme for the BBC's coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. I was a little sceptical as to how another singer's interpretation would come across, especially as Pavarotti's version is so well loved and remembered. Comparing the two, however, there are plus points for both versions, and Ruane certainly manages to pull off the impossible by making as big an impression as Pavarotti did. I also preferred the orchestration much more on this new version.

'Trusted Lieutenants' leans heavily on Elmer Bernstein's score for The Great Escape (1963) for obvious reasons.

I wasn't so impressed with the quirky 'The Minister for Sport' (1 min, 05 sec) but to be honest it's interesting and does eventually grow on you.

But it's the three part 'England vs West Germany' score that really shines. It builds beautifully to the final track which revisits 'Nessun Dorma'.

The ending of 'England vs West Germany Part 2' reminded me of John Williams score for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 'England vs West Germany Part 3' also included a few segments that reminded me of David Arnold's score for Stargate.

A lot of this album seems to have been inspired by John Williams's work from the height of his career. I don't mean that as an insult to either Willams or Hancock - more that this soundtrack captures, for me, a modern age of Hollywood music which is very sadly missing in a lot of today's compositions.

It's short, it's sweet, but not a second of this EP is wasted. This is wall to wall, grade A quality material. Listen out for Stuart Hancock in the future - this is a name you'll hopefully be hearing a lot of.

10

Darren Rea