Soundtrack Review: Pride and Prejudice by Dario Marianelli (2005)

Posted by Jorn Tillnes

March 7, 2008

If you're new here, you may like to get all my posts in your feed reader using my RSS feed or get all Soundtrack Geek posts by Email. Also check out Soundtrack Fans, a new social network for soundtrack fans. Thanks for visiting!

pride & prejudice

This is a review of the motion picture score for Pride & Prejudice by Dario Marianelli & Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

This is the first in a 3 part series of soundtrack reviews of Dario Marianelli’s work. Dario Marianelli, being the winner of numerous awards for the score to Atonement is THE composer at the moment, so I thought I take a look at some of his work. Yes, he has done a lot of different various works over the years and has composed for 36 movies. This year it is confirmed that he is composing for the movies Hippie Hippie Shake and The Soloist. This review is about Pride & Prejudice which I know many people have on their top scores list. This is the track list of Pride & Prejudice:

1. Dawn
2. Stars And Butterflies
3. The Living Sculptures Of Pemberley
4. Meyton Townhall
5. The Militia Marches In
6. Georgiana
7. Arrival At Netherfield
8. A Postcard To Henry Purcell
9. Liz On Top Of The World
10. Leaving Netherfield
11. Another Dance
12. The Secret Life Of Daydreams
13. Darcy’s Letter
14. Can’t Slow Down
15. Your Hands Are Cold
16. Mrs. Darcy
17. Credits

The 17 tracks on this album stretch to 41:23 which is the total playtime. Anyone who has seen the movie and noticed the music in it will know that this is very much a classical type of music, yes kids, the music they played a long time ago. Right from the start, with the light piano cue “Dawn” and the beautiful strings of “Stars and Butterflies” you can relax and enjoy the sound of long time ago. This is a score for the purists, not necessarily the ones who like Bernstein, Herrmann or even Goldsmith, but Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.

What Dario Marianelli and Jean-Yves Thibaudet has constructed here is quite unique. The score includes not a spec of electronic or any modern percussion, but relies on the piano, English horn and strings and it scores big time. I think I found just the right mood before I listened to it tonight, I took a nice shower and got in a relaxing mood, it was a nice day and this music just plays nicely into my thoughts. I really like this score a lot and feel that in Pride & Prejudice, Dario Marianelli has created a piece of history in modern wrapping. Take a deep breath, sink into that bathtub, maybe with a nice glass of wine and enjoy this lovely music. Listen to Pride & Prejudice below:

geekscore45 Soundtrack Review: Pride and Prejudice by Dario Marianelli (2005)

[tags]soundtrack review, movie score review, soundtrack, movie score, movie music, film score, film music, hippie hippie shake, dario marianelli, pride prejudice, jean yves thibaudet, beethoven and brahms, henry purcell, beautiful strings, netherfield, english horn, daydreams, purists, herrmann, atonement, type of music, playtime, soloist, goldsmith, top of the world, darcy, nice day, atonement[/tags]