Hugo tells the story of Hugo Cabret, a boy who lives behind the walls of a Parisian train station. Howard Shore’s music for the film is composed for two ensembles - one nested within the other - to create a sense of layering in the musical palette. Inside a full symphony orchestra resides a smaller ensemble, a sort of nimble French dance band that includes the ondes Martenot, musette, cimbalom, tack piano, gypsy guitar, upright bass, a 1930s trap-kit, and alto saxophone...

Howard Shore's soundtrack to Hugo has some incredibly beautiful themes, including the album's main theme 'The Thief', which is echoed in the vocal track 'Coeur Volant' (Performed by Zaz).

There are traditional orchestrated tracks, coupled with your cliched 'French-feel' tracks, you know the sort of thing - the sound of a musette (or accordion) which instantly transports the listener back in time to a 1940s French bistro.

While in the movie setting this music no doubt works well to set the atmosphere, when listened to outside of the film the rather lazy 'French' sound has a tendency to get a little old a little too quickly. That said, I personally enjoyed this score especially the powerful 'Coeur Volant' vocal track.

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Darren Rea