Varèse Sarabande Records releases one of its most cherished recordings. Georges Delerue: The Complete London Sessions is a priceless collection of his music, with its last reissue being long out of print. The suites, recorded in London in the spring of 1989, were first issued as three individual volumes, each with a Bob Peak painting on the cover. In 2001 the label compiled the original three volumes into a 2-CD set called Great Composers: Georges Delerue, featuring a Matthew Peak photo of Paris on the cover. For this new, remastered edition, they have returned to Bob Peak’s painting from the original London Sessions, Volume One...

The latest CD Club title from Varèse Sarabande is Georges Delerue: The Complete London Sessions. The concept of the CD Club debuted in 1989 as a mail order exclusive releasing limited edition batches of beloved previously unreleased or long-out of print scores, carefully curated by Robert Townson.

I really don't know how, but my music library doesn't include any Georges Delerue scores - in fact I don't think I've ever heard one of his scores outside of the movies they were composed for. If you don't already own it (I do now, as I quickly purchased it after listening to the segment on this album) then you really should pick up the original score to Platoon. And, while you're at it, you'll want to search out 'Rich and Famous'; 'Her Alibi'; 'Exposed'; 'The Escape Artist'; Something Wicked this Way Comes'; and 'Memories of Me'.

It was also while listening to this that I realised how similar in style Patrick Doyle's work is to Delerue's. Doyle's work on Carlito's Way (1993) sounds very similar to Platoon (1986), and his music for Eragon (2006) isn't a million miles away from Delerue's music for Steel Magnolias (1989).

Overall this album represents just shy of 2 hrs of beautifully orchestrated music. If you don't find at least a handful of tracks that move you emotionally then there's no hope for you.

10

Darren Rea