Silva Screen Records release Debbie Wiseman's score for BBC Drama Wolf Hall. The six-part TV series, is an adaptation of Hilary Mantel's Booker-Prize winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Oscar-nominated Peter Straughan. The series features an all-star cast of Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell, Damian Lewis as Henry VIII, Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn, and Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Wolsey...

To achieve this score's unique sound Debbie Wiseman mixes Tudor and modern instruments in an attempt to recreate the austere and vivid musical atmosphere of the Tudor period. Writing for the acclaimed Locrian Ensemble of London, the music features string quintet, recorder, harp, mandolin, harpsichord, lute, theorbo and cor anglais.

Once again Wiseman knocks it out of the park, as she has before with scores for Haunted and Lesbian Vampire Killers. This time she turns her hand to the music of 1485- 1603, to capture the atmosphere of life during the Tudor dynasty. As a consequence this feels more like classical music than a TV soundtrack.

The album contains 18 tracks (55 min) and while some may moan that the main theme is used a little too frequently, on the whole this is a varied and interesting score.

9

Darren Rea