[Est]Ouest Patrick Doyle Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra Sony Classical
After completing scoring duties on his fantastic score to Great Expectations , Patrick Doyle was suddenly diagnosed with leukemia. This was obviously a huge shock to him and his fans, however he survived, even managing to compose his (as yet not fully released) score to the animated feature Quest for Camelot . To the huge relief of lovers of his fantastic music, he has recovered and has now returned to writing more of the splendid music that has put him at the top of the list of today's best young composers. Est Ouest is his third collaboration with French director Regis Wargnier and while I wouldn't necessarily put his two other efforts as Doyle's absolute best scores, they have none the less been his finest work outside of working with Kenneth Branagh. Est Ouest is a French film about an escape to the West from communist Russia. Of course, the great slavic composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and at least another half a dozen other greats, were invariably associated with a similar time in history (perhaps a little before I suppose) and so their music was often commissioned by the Tsar (or whoever, I'm no historian) to commorate Russia's greatness. Doyle, of course is far too good a composer to merely emulate these leading romantic composers, but their dynamic presence can be felt in the style that Doyle uses. Most notably in the sections which feature virtuoso pianist Emanuel Ax; Rachmaninov perhaps being the obvious model. Indeed, Rachmaninov's love of making the pianist charge up and down the piano is present in several key passages of the score. | |
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