"The Ghost Writer" - Alexandre Desplat

The Ghost Writer

Composer: Alexandre Desplat

Release date: February 23, 2010

Amazon page.

Amazon users rating: 4,5/5 stars.

DOWNLOAD



All About Soundtracks Review: The combination of a Roman Polanski thriller and an Alexandre Desplat score could have only been great. Still, this is a surprising achievement by the french composer.
(Read more)
His trademark delicate orchestration is present all over the score, which is not a bombastic kind of common thriller score, its instead a cheerful and deceptive score for a dark movie.
No one makes music like this anymore. Desplat uses, in the main theme of the score (heard most proeminently in The Ghost Writer and its reprise), a bass clarinet in a stacatto ostinatto fashion that reminds of Bernard Herrman's work for Hitchcock movies. An instrument that is rare in contemporary film music.
The score creates tension and suspicion with the strings, the muted trumpets and the resounding percursion, while creating an athmosphere of strangeness with glockenspiel and even xylophone (hear Suspicion), which serve also as support to those moments where the humor releases a bit the tension from this dark thriller. This elements are alternated in the score, what provides a fresh listening experience.
The main theme is excellent, as said before, paying homage to Herrman and Hitchcock, and it pretty much defines the score: nothing of bombastic or overblown; instead, a classical calm bright touch that contrasts with the tense dark feeling of the film. However, there are other interesting highlights.
Travel to the Island features the main theme in "singing flutes", provinding a very moving track. Other tracks change the pace of the score, like Chase in the Ferry or In the Woods, that prove that, actually, Desplat might be getting better with action scenes (good news for Harry Potter fans).
The climax of the score, The Truth About Ruth, is perhaps the greatest highlight. As the truth comes up and things get all clear, this cue brings all the elements of the score together, tying up the story to bring its conclusion. This brilliant 5-minute cue leads to the last track, a reprise of the the first one.
The score is professional from start to finish, feeling fresh and reinventing itself in almost every cue. It's a very strong score from Desplat, in the level of his Curious Case of Benjamin Button or Twilight Saga: New Moon.
Alexandre Desplat proves once again that he deserves to be recognized as the great composer he is and keeps everyone waiting for his score to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Pt. 1.
My heart is beating like a hammer.

Ups: an original and strong score, fusing elements of old-fashioned score with a modern athmosphere; great orchestration and better action cues than usual from Desplat.

Downs: only one main theme recongnizable and a perhaps slower pace than some would want; despite no relation to any other Desplat score, its still has that recognizable "Desplat sound" - which might be a bit over-exposed for some.

Noteworthy tracks: The Ghost Writer, Travel To The Island, Lang's Memoirs, Chase On The Ferry, Suspicion, In The Woods, The Truth About Ruth.

Score note: 8,5/10

Preview:
Track 1 - The Ghost Writer


Find more videos like this on Soundtrack Fans