Richard Rodney Bennett: Gormenghast (2000) / BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

ABOUT THE SCORE: This 2000 BBC adaptation of Mervyn Peake's popular fantasy novel allowed Bennett, by then no longer as active in the film scoring arena as he had been in the 60's and 70's, to write a late, great effort rich with unusual tone colors and subtle dissonances that are a trademark of this composer's style - while still remaining accessible and intriguing with the balance of musical ingredients. Unquestionably the centerpiece of the score is the opening "Song of Titus", a breathtaking composition for boy soprano and orchestra, with a sprawling utopian air about it to open the suite. From there things get substantially darker as the story requires; this is not traditional fantasy film scoring by any means, but rather more psychological and sophisticated scoring in a late 20th century style. Decades after writing masterful scores like "Far from the Madding Crowd" and "Lady Caroline Lamb", Bennett shows his dramatic and orchestrational acuteness had not dimmed in the least by the time he landed this inspiring assignment, and one wonders what musical joys we will never hear from his following his rather untimely 2012 death. Those who enjoy this score would do well to check out his "Symphony No. 3", which shares much DNA with this work.

The accompanying image is from this article, and I could find no artist creditied sadly: https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2018...

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