MovieScore Media once again teams up with director Yam Laranas and composer Oscar Fogelström on the release of the score for their latest collaboration, Death of a Girlfriend. The film tells the story of Alonzo and Christine who fall in love with each other during their walks in a forest. However, the appearance of an elderly farmer and an obsessed warden lead to a tragedy with a Rashomon-inspired investigation as each participant has his own version to explain what happened to Christine in the woods…

If you're a lover of melancholic soundtracks then Oscar Fogelström's beautifully scored album for Death of a Girlfriend will be one you totally fall in love with.

Talking about the music, Fogelström said: "Working with director Yam Laranas on this psychological drama was a wonderful experience. This time, he made the specific request of basing the main theme on 'Solveig’s Song' from Edward Grieg’s Peer Gynt as the topics of losing a loved one and keeping her memory seemed like a natural match for this story. The score also features an intercontinental collaboration between three continents - while the movie was produced in the Philippines, I scored and recorded the live strings, the bassoon and the oboe solos with Bylund Strings in Sweden. However, the Chinese instrument called hulusi (which is a gourd flute) was recorded by George Shaw in Los Angeles so that I could incorporate this most unusual sound into the farmer’s theme."

These 14 pieces (38 min, 44 sec) mainly focus on the love story. There's the odd moment of suspense, but on the whole it's the beautiful melancholic themes that will draw you in, making this a bit of an emotional experience.

My only slight complaint is the use of 'Solveig’s Song' from Edward Grieg’s Peer Gynt. It's a piece that's well known and so takes you out of the space that Fogelström has crafted. Personally I would have thought it would have made more sense to have Fogelström compose a new theme entirely... it's almost as though the director had settled on that one piece of music early on in the filming process and was reluctant to let it go.

Fogelström delivers some heartwarming moments, making this a score worth getting even if you haven't seen the film.

8

Darren Rea