Love Actually (Promo)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Craig Armstrong is a frequent man in the spotlights, with his Romeo + Juliet he gave us some musical highlights in an otherwise attractive package, for Plunkett & Macleane he gave us at least some choral majesty used often in trailers and for Moulin Rouge there are no words for his triumph, he created and unfolded all the songs in a dazzling new design and succeeded to capture the press, viewers as critics with it. For Love Actually there hasn't been said much but that's because his score will exist further on a song album for an otherwise successful romantic film. That the album will sell well is because of the attractive film songs placed on it and it should be because there is film music ala romantic standards on it. The romantic genre is always the same because its soft and with solo instruments first, and it moves to a romantic finale with the strings and whatever instrument creating the charm and the dazzle, but when done right you receive interesting results such as James Newton Howard's My Best Friend's Wedding, which even received an Oscar nomination. To tell you, with a proper commercial treatment and a chance at least to be heard, I guess Craig Armstrong would have gotten the chance too, if only for that release. Now, commercial it is only with 2 tracks on the song album but at least there are promo's and one of 20 minutes is the charming little end result of Armstrong's writing, with at least a couple of dazzling full orchestral finales like any romantic comedy should have. The score opens with one of Armstrong's typical instruments namely the piano and here in 'On the Beach' it doesn't do much, but when the themes appear its growing and growing to the finale like it should do!

A soft piano theme, a bit dramatically tinted even appears in 'Total Agony' but its 'Press Conference' where first appears the romantic blushing finale music, with the romantic themes here growing for the first time. This would be expanded in 'Joanna Drives Off' and here its really good, reminding yourself of the best moments of James Newton Howard's My Best Friend's Wedding and you know what I mean, its orchestral grand and repeats the gorgeous themes for several minutes and this all in a great finale. 'Mark's Video' performs also a nice piano theme, the one which even receives a wonderful orchestral flourish in 'Restaurant'. 'Jamie Leaves Aurelia' reveals by then also a guitar version of the romantic theme and also here the piano joins in, something it does from time to time in any track. Perhaps not much in the end because its only 20 minutes but give me 30 minutes and this score is right along with My Best Friend's Wedding another selling orchestral romantic bliss. Craig Armstrong doesn't receive the attention nor the praise but every score so far I've heard is capturing something unique, whether the choral moments in some, whether the string writing in others, its at least better then what most come up with. Love Actually is for the moment a promotional tool and only with that it can show what kind of potential this score has. But it seems so far those romantic scores have to do with promo releases since the better efforts like the aforementioned My Best Friend's Wedding as Notting Hill, and now Love Actually have to fight against a song reputation of grand hits, while it is always the orchestral score that has the undeniable charm of bringing the romance to the big screen.

\ЕЕЕ1/2/

Tracks

Single Disc

1. On The Beach (1.00)

2. Total Agony (1.59)

3. Press Conference (2.02) Excellent Track

4. Mark's Video (2.07)

5. Jamie Leaves Aurelia (2.47)

6. Natie Revealed (1.52)

7. Joanna Drives Off (6.05) Excellent Track

8. Restaurant (3.03) Excellent Track

Total Length: 20.55

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Craig Armstrong ===