The Red Violin

Sony Classical

Music Composed and Orchestrated by John Corigliano

Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen

Produced by John Corigliano and Francois Girard 

Release Date: 1999

     Well, as many of you probably know by now, The Red Violin has won an Oscar in the 2000 Academy Awards for Best Original Score. In an interesting little twist from previous Oscar winners, many in the film score community believe that it was a good thing that this score won even though it topped two admirable efforts from John Williams (a.k.a. "da' man!"), The Phantom Menace and Angela's Ashes. Probably the most attractive asset of this score is that it does not follow the standard pattern of what a film score should be. Instead, with John Corigliano having more of a concert background than other composers in the area of film, this score is more like a classical music concert than the background music for a film.

     Since the title of this film is The Red Violin, it seems more than appropriate that the dominate voice in this score is a violin. That said, if you hate violin music than you'd better stay away from this score as a majority of the music is provided with a lone violin. The rest of the orchestra comes in to support the music at regular intervals and these swellings are always welcome and seem to appear to provide power for the moment. The orchestra is almost entirely string (as in Herrmann's Psycho), and it really does back the excellent violin performances very well. The main theme is really simple in construction, but it still packs an emotional punch due to the extraordinary feeling that it is given in certain cues. The music is pretty dark with very, very few light moments, but it is still a beautiful work despite its gloominess. The tracks are nicely arranged with the longest being just under five minutes long (not counting the wonderful concert suite which is seventeen minutes in running time).

     This is an excellent score and you'll especially get a good listen from it if you enjoy classical/concert music as well (and hey, we are soundtrack fans after all!). This score deserved its Oscar and you would be most advised to pick up this CD and find out why. *****

Track Listing

1 - Anna's Theme (2:50)

I. CREMONA

2 - Main Title (2:42)

3 - Death of Anna (1:44)

4 - Birth of the Red Violin (3:05)

5 - The Red Violin (1:34)

II. VIENNA

6 - The Monastery (1:06)

7 - Kaspar's Audition: Journey to Vienna (2:38)

8 - Etudes: Death of Kaspar (2:48)

III. OXFORD

9 - The Gypsies: Journey Across Europe (2:07)

10 - Pope's Gypsy Cadenza (1:37)

11 - Coitus Musicalis: Victoria's Departure (4:40)

12 - Pope's Concert (1:22)

13 - Pope's Betrayal (3:00)

IV. SHANGHAI

14 - Journey to China (4:10)

15 - People's Revolution: Death of Chou Yuan (3:15)

V. MONTREAL

16 - Morritz Discovers the Red Violin (3:38)

17 - Morritz's Theme (1:54)

18 - The Theft (2:10)

19 - End Titles (1:46)

20 - "The Red Violin": Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra (17:37)

Total Running Time: 66:00