Recorded with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Abbey Road, Barnaby Taylor’s score for natural history series Wild Arabia consists of sweeping melodies juxtaposed with solo traditional instruments and encompasses a full string section, brass, solo woodwinds, harp, percussion and timpani. The end result is a soundtrack that perfectly compliments the romantic journey into the very heart of a lost world...

Wild Arabia is the latest series from BBC Earth, previous productions including Frozen Planet and Africa.

Thankfully, on the whole, composer Barnaby Taylor sticks this side of cliched, with only a few tracks bringing us the well worn Arabian musical motifs. While Taylor does employ instruments that conjure up images of Arabia, they aren't used in a lazy way to signify to the listener: "Listen, we're in Arabia".

Possibly the most interesting track, which conjures up images of Lawrence of Arabia, is 'The Desert'. This is easily the most beautiful theme in the collection.

The album contains 26 tracks and has a running time of 52 min, 32 sec. This soundtrack doesn't reach the heights of George Fenton's score for Frozen Planet, but it's still an enjoyable listen.

6

Darren Rea