things i love: alexandre desplat scores

i used to work at a music store. ok, it wasn't a 'music store' in the traditional sense. it was one of those media stores. you know, music, books, movies, electronics, etc. i think media play was the first corporate entertainment store in utah county, so for a few years it really was the place to be. when i got home from spain, i really wanted to work there [my sister had written me and told me about it]. sure, the pay was lousy, the hours lousier, but it was a lot of fun. i went in for an interview and dazzled them my presumed encyclopedic knowledge of music. they hired me on the spot. literally. [looking back, however, i'm pretty sure they were just desperate]. so, i donned the blue apron and spent my days wandering the music shelves and i loved it. all music, all the time.

at the time, of course, i had an inflated sense of self regarding all things music and i tended to look down on anyone who didn't love and appreciate the same bands i did. [don't worry, i'm a reformed music snob now.] i used to roll my eyes and shake my head whenever someone asked where to find the bon jovi CDs, if we had the new 'manti' steamroller christmas album, or was looking for the beatles 'anthropology.' 'morons!' i said. 'morons!'

but what really irked me was the sheer number of motion picture soundtracks and scores we used to sell. i'll include showtunes [you know, broadway stuff] in that group, too. we simply never had enough 'phantom of the opera' or 'legends of the fall' CDs. ever. the second we stocked 'em, someone snatched them up. what was most puzzling, and remains so to this day, is how 14 year old girls bought 'legends of the fall' soundtracks, as if tristan himself were inside the jewel case. sorry, gals, but he got eaten by the bear at the end, which i have to admit, was the best part of an otherwise terrible, awful, horrible movie. 'but it's not real music!' i protested...to no one. 'it's just a bunch of sound!' see, at this time of my life i didn't really get music sans vocals. 'classical' music? psh! 'where are the vocals?!' yes, yes--i was a sad case. i fully confess to it.

as i grew up and matured, i gradually became less anal and more appreciative of all kinds of music. i embraced hiphop [well, some of it], bubble gum pop [i maintain that the spice girls are one of the greatest groups of all time!], jazz [i love me some chet and miles] and bossanova [i love me some tom jobim!]. the most surprising change, however, was with respect to soundtracks. i listen to them all the time now. how did it happen? well, i can even pinpoint the moment the light went on: the phantom menace. 'how's that?' you ask. well, when 'the phantom menace' came out, i remember being struck by john williams' score. i wasn't a real big movie buff at the time, so i didn't understand the score's integral place in a movie. but i went out and bought the soundtrack after i saw the movie. and i loved it! i listened to it all the time, even when i worked out. i loved the imagery it evoked, and marveled at its power to elicit an emotion with a simple chord change. i was in awe of a composer's ability to blend so many different instruments into one cohesive whole. i also fell in love with the oboe. a finer sounding instrument you simply will not find.

a few years later a friend of mine let me borrow her copy of alexandre desplat's score for 'the luzhin defence.' i'd never heard of movie or the french composer, but since i love discovering new things, i gladly listened to it. wow! to say i was overwhelmed would be an understatment. i'd never heard anything so beautiful in a motion picture score. it was muted, understated, wonderfully evocative; and most importantly, it was genuinely emotional instead of sappily sentimental. sometimes the line between the two is razor thin, but desplat never crosses it. over the years alexandre desplat have gained more and more recognition, just as i predicted he would in this review i posted on amazon.com a couple of years ago. since he scored 'the luzhin defence,' he's gone on to score 'the girl with the pearl earring,' 'casanova,' 'the golden compass,' 'the queen,' 'syriana,' firewall,' 'birth,' 'the painted veil,' and most recently, 'lust, caution.' they're all wonderful scores. in fact, the score for 'the painted veil' prompted me to see the movie--and 'the painted veil' was easily my favorite movie last year. it's devastating. i can't recommend it enough.

there's not a day that goes by where i don't get a least a little dose of alexandre desplat. he's my reading/go-to-sleep music and i wouldn't have it any other way.

→ alexandre desplat: luzhin defence [from 'the luzhin defence']
→ alexandre desplat: love theme [from 'the luzhin defence']
→ alexandre desplat: the end of innocence [from 'lust, caution]
→ alexandre desplat: falling rain [from 'lust, caution']
→ alexandre desplat: hrh [from 'the queen']
→ alexandre desplat: colours in the clouds [from 'the girl with the pearl earring]