Crestfallen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)   Composer: Henrik Skram MovieScore Media www.moviescoremedia.com RRP: £13.99 MMD0030 Available 22 April 2013

Norwegian composer Henrik Skram (90 Minutes) has composed an interesting orchestral score for the Swedish drama Crestfallen (original title: Den som Söker) starring Josephine Bornebusch. The score takes a sophisticated journey into dark territories with an emphasis on strings and piano, sometimes using unusual instrumental techniques to create an unsettling accompaniment to the story about a woman who, after her parents’ death in a car crash, finds out that she is adopted. Skram also uses some exciting brass writing for the more dramatic sequences in the film.

This is yet another wonderful score from Skram. Unlike his music for 90 Minutes, the soundtrack to Crestfallen doesn't straddle the line between classical music and film score. This time around Skram provides mellow, atmospheric cues that slowly build. Woven around this are a handful of themes. It's a risky gamble, as in the wrong hands this could have come across as dull and lifeless, but Skram adds a level of subtle beauty that is hard to ignore.

Bookending the album are two compositions by Antonio Vivaldi that are featured in the film score ('Nisi Dominus - Cum Dederit' and 'Adagio Molto from Symphony in b minor - Al Sant Sepolcro'. The score contains 16 tracks and lasts for 38 min, 15 sec.

It's an album that won't be to everyone's taste. But if you enjoy it then it's an album you'll be playing to chill out to for quite some time to come.

8

Darren Rea