In Love and War

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

George Fenton is a name people often associate with director and Jurassic Park man Richard Attenborough. Correct, the English composer has definitely captured a heart in the personality of the famous director because almost halve of the movies Attenborough directed was scored by Fenton, and besides classics like Gandhi, Cry Freedom and Shadowlands other titles come to mind, In Love and War is one of them. This broad but perhaps over emphasized love tale receives its over emphasized love score. All fine and well, getting the moments I wanted in the first place but sadly nothing more. I feel In Love and War is mainly for a certain crowd of fans. Perhaps it all has to do with being not really a big fan of Fenton's music, that I'm really not for the certain sounds the composer digs. But on the other hand it has the moments I appreciate and those moments make it a personal but interesting listen for those who worship the visuals of Attenborough or sound of Fenton, either way the movie or score will give you the answers when you try the combination for the first time.

The first thing you encounter with In Love and War is its romantic soul of heart. The sound features the classical warm style and nothing will detract Fenton of his course when he gets one of the two characters on screen. Just when things take on a different path the score in my book becomes more interesting, 'Leaving for the Front' has a short but good dramatic theme, late in the track that would also resurface in 'The Medal Ceremony'. 'Rescuing Roberto' has some major fanfares of heroic magnitude but the moments I don't really appreciate are such pieces like 'The Drive with Domenico' and 'Brothel' (the first minutes anyway). They don't really do much for me and detract my interest in the other better parts like 'Jimmy's Letter' and 'The Trip with Venice' with its excellent romantic finales, even if the second up mentioned track leaves me back with the more mood settling pieces of Italy. Still, the moment I refer to as being the moments I truly appreciate is the brass fanfare completely at the end of 'End Credits (In Love and War)', making it the best track on the score.

George Fenton is still a composer I'm beginning to know, getting to appreciate overall but some things make me happy, others things simply keep distracting me one way or another. They also appeared in minor ways in Anna and the King but mostly in the soundtrack In Love and War. Its sad because the score still has some good moments and attractive themes, the love theme, the theme for Sandra Bullock, 'Agnes' Theme' and the dramatic one which receives not a lot of attention (being a shame in my book especially). Fenton fans will already have the score and if not, they should go for it. But other fans of film music, not totally familiar with George Fenton should perhaps first see the movie if they have intentions of getting the score. It isn't a bad score, on the contrary but some things might not fully attract your positive attention, so you should perhaps gave it a try in the movie to see if its suites you.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Leaving For The Front (3.58)

2. Rescuing Roberto (3.51)

3. The Bullet (3.11)

4. The Drive With Domenico (2.29)

5. Agnes' Theme (1.49)

6. Play The Hand You're Dealt (3.17)

7. Small Talk (1.33)

8. The Medal Ceremony (1.53)

9. The Cloisters (1.59)

10. Jimmy's Letter (3.35)

11. The Brothel (3.57)

12. Pows (0.38)

13. The Trip To Venice (5.22)

14. "Dear Kind" (2.18)

15. End Credits (In Love And War) (4.00) Excellent Track

Total Length: 43.51

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

=== Link to Composer Site: George Fenton ===