MovieScore Media release Andrew Pearce’s Le Visionnaire, music for the exhibition at the Maison Yves Rocher, a museum dedicated to the founder of the famed cosmetics company. With an exhibition arranged into four rooms, the museum chronicles the journey of Yves Rocher: the early years, his success, the organic process, creating a worldwide brand and his vision for sustainability across the planet...

For this release I did something I don't normally do. This album came in for review just before Christmas and in a bid to catch up with my constantly behind schedule I took this album home to listen to over the festive period. Yes, I know, you should never take your work home with you... especially when you're supposed to be relaxing with family and friends. All I can say is that Andrew Pearce and MovieScore Media gave me the best Christmas gift in Le Visionnaire.

Talking about the commission, Pearce explains: "The composing process began in March 2017 when I was asked to score four short documentary films for a museum in La Gacilly, Brittany. The story begins with an elegant piano lullaby suggesting the seed of an idea and the birth of Yves Rocher. The beauty and triumph of nature is underscored through dramatic harmonic shifts on a variation of the main theme (‘Le Visionnaire’) while girl chorus echoes the brand’s femininity throughout. The score is an eclectic mix of styles and textures; sometimes small and intimate as in ‘The Genius Suite’ but also epic and wondrous as heard in 'Far & Beyond' and 'Success at Last'."

How can I explain this album simply, and without gushing too much? Hmm... Nope, sorry, I can't. It's impossible. So here comes an unapologetically glowing, yet honest description:

Imagine if you could kidnap John Williams, John Barry, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri and Danny Elfman... lock them in a room and tell them that they will only be allowed to leave once they've used their years of composing as inspiration to write an album of music that will be the most important work they'll ever produce. The result would not be far off Le Visionnaire.

That is not meant as an insult to Pearce's talents as a composer. I'm not saying that he's plagiarising other composers work. What I'm hamfistedly trying to convey is the beauty, range and depth that he delivers here. Yes, there's a nod here and there to other composers styles ('The Genius Suite' opens with hints of Horner has elements of Williams's work on E.T. and The Deep, and closes with a Silvestri-esque theme that has a hint of his work on Back to the Future and Predator; while 'Beautiful Trek' has a Barry flavour to it.) but this is all Pearce's work. In fact, it's very much a continuation of the incredible work he produced on 2008's Cinema Symphony.

For those unfamiliar with Pearce, he's a British composer who has been involved in some of Moviescore Media's previous albums as an orchestrator on Guy Farley's scores. The album contains 23 tracks (45 min, 12 sec) and is more like a retrospective compilation album of classical music by someone whose been working in the industry for decades.

Le Visionnaire also features a chamber suite arranged from the score for violin and piano, performed by Miriam Kramer and Ben Dawson.

This is an album that you can play from start to finish, dip in and out of... It doesn't matter how you mix up the tracks, it still works beautifully. It would have been interesting to see how it works in the exhibition. Thank goodness MovieScore Media saw fit to give this an audience outside of those attending the museum, as it deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.

If you only buy one album this month do yourself a favour and make sure it's this one.

10

Darren Rea