Another addition to the already excellent catalogue of film music that is Movie Score Media, The Road Dance, is a beautifully written score and contains an abundance of affecting themes which become haunting and fully immersing. The score is the work of composer Carlos Jose Alvarez, and is a work that I am sure will appeal to all. The film is set in the Outer Hebrides and focuses upon a young girl who lives in an isolated village there just before WW1. Her life takes a dramatic change when an awful tragedy befalls her. Written and directed by Richie Adams and starring Hermione Corfield, Morven Christie, Mark Gatiss, Will Fletcher and Ali Whitney. The movie is based on the 2002 novel by John MacKay.
The composer has fashioned a sensitive and emotive sounding score for the movie and has utilised traditional sounding instrumentation within the work and has supported and elevated these elements with richer sounding orchestral textures and colours.
The end result is a mesmerizing and affecting collection of themes that one will return to many times after the initial listen. This is a personal and intimate score, filled with fragility and oozing with delicate moods. Recommended.
Another film that has a score that has sounds that are traditionally laced is The Drovers Wife,-The Legend of Molly Johnson which has a score by Salliana Seven Campbell who is a freelance composer and multi-instrumentalist performing on five String Violin, Nyckelharper, Octave Mandolin, Baritone Bowed Psaltry, Piano, Hammered Dulcimer, Hurdy Gurdy and Vocals.
Salliana studied at the old Conservatorium of Music which was where she met her bandmates of Tulipan whose achievements include an Aria nomination for their debut album, two European tours, North American Tour and winning Triple J’s Unearthing the World. The Drovers Wife is the composers first film score, and I certainly hope will not be her last. The score is not a grand orchestral affair, but when you see the movie, you will fully understand why the composer wrote the score in the way she did and also will understand why the films producers and director asked her to become involved on the project.
The style employed is inventive, and effective, I must admit I never really noticed the music whilst watching the movie, but that’s a good thing, because I know that it must have been doing its job in the context of the film, as in supporting and framing scenarios and situations without becoming overpowering.
As for listening to the score away from the images, well it works for me, the composer has successfully fashioned a work filled with so much variety and containing a plethora of themes and musical interludes that are innovative, and are a pleasure to listen to as stand-alone music. Well worth checking out. Available on digital platforms via Movie Score Media.
MOVIE MUSIC INTERNATIONAL. (MMI) . 