Music is, by its very nature, mysterious and intangible—it moves us, but we don’t know why. The synergy of celluloid and music, however, gives us a fascinating glimpse into its enigmatic workings. When sound and vision are experienced together—in the context of a film—the picture informs and reveals; we suddenly begin to understand how music weaves its spell. Soundtrack albums can be disappointing; writing for film requires restraint—the score must support but never overwhelm what is happening in the visual realm; consequently, it can feel like something is missing when the music is heard uncoupled from the picture. But the works featured on this album effortlessly stand up to the scrutiny of isolated listening.

Light and Shadow is a soundtrack album that consciously veers away from notions of ‘epic’ and ‘widescreen’ and instead explores intimacy, closeups and the subtle textures of a chamber ensemble. Understatement and subtlety aside, the emotional range displayed on this album is vast—fragility, whimsy, wonder, romance, ecstasy and excitement are all present. Rather than recording in the forensic atmosphere of an airless studio we deliberately chose to record in a venue more suited to live performance; that decision, I believe, lends these recordings and the interpretations of each work a fascinating new perspective and a fresh appreciation of the skill of each of these remarkable composers.

American beauty (Thomas Newman arr. David Le Page)
Thomas Newman’s distillation of the ‘American Sound’ has been much imitated since American beauty premiered in 1999. His score for Sam Mendes’ directorial debut was a revelation—characterised by gradually shifting string pads and underpinned by the subtle use of samples. An exquisite sotto voce piano part finds just the right notes to suggest the existential confusion and loneliness of the film’s characters.
featured in: American beauty (1999)

Chi mai (Ennio Morricone)
Ennio Morricone’s skill and range as a film composer was phenomenal and his influence far reaching. His understanding of the medium allowed him to produce work that was both playful and sincere; from intricately textured contemporary soundtracks to ‘straight to the heart’ utterly unforgettable tunes. Chi mai’s violin melody never lands where you expect it to—the harmonies are always lush and satisfying.
featured in: Maddalena (1971), Le Professionnel (1981)

Miserlou (Trad. arr. David Le Page)
Dick Dale’s overdriven, balalaika-style surf guitar created a memorable shard of cinematic alchemy in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. While Dale’s arrangement subsumed the Turkish folk origins of the piece it was, however, ideally suited to the DIY/guerrilla/widescreen ethos of Tarantino’s film making.
featured in: Pulp Fiction (1994)

Truman sleeps (Philip Glass arr. David Le Page)
The music of Philip Glass and cinema were always destined for each other—Glass’s deceptively simple, beautifully sombre, undulating motifs underpin the action on screen without ever interfering. Peter Weir’s highly original film, featuring Jim Carrey as the titular hero, seemed to prophesy the advent of a world in which reality television is an accepted and unremarkable part of the culture. Truman sleeps hints at the open-hearted simplicity of the character and his journey towards awareness.
featured in: The Truman Show (1998)

Twin Peaks theme (Angelo Badalamenti arr. David Le Page)
Angelo Badalamenti’s lush, almost saccharine, jazz-tinged chords add layers of necessary confusion to David Lynch’s often disturbing vision of American suburban life. Beneath the perfect lawns and beyond the white picket fences of Twin Peaks lurk the horrors of the human psyche revealed by Lynch and exacerbated by Badalamenti’s seemingly benign score.
featured in: Twin Peaks (1990)

Madeleine and Carlotta’s Portrait (Bernard Herrmann)
Bernard Herrmann was essentially Alfred Hitchcock’s in-house composer for a number of years, creating memorable scores for North by Northwest, Psycho and The Birds amongst others. Dwelling at that almost indefinable intersection between music intended for performance and music as compliment to onscreen action, Hermann’s output is often performed in the concert hall and stands up to scrutiny without the aid of the visuals it was designed to accompany. His score for Vertigo perfectly encapsulates the sense of mystery, confusion, obsession and fear that pervades Hitchcock’s most elegiac of movies.
featured in: Vertigo (1958)

Libertango (Astor Piazzolla arr. Eduardo Garcia/David Le Page)
Argentine tango renegade and musical innovator Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango is possessed of an urgency, made all the more so by its relentless metronomic rhythm. Piazzolla’s intoxicating brew of discipline and romance—perfectly showcased in this work—is infused with a muscular angularity and formidable reserves of passion.
featured in: Frantic (1988), Le Pont du Nord (1981)

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (Jon Brion arr. David Le Page)
Los Angeles based musician and composer Jon Brion’s whimsical soundtrack for the film Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind mirrors its combination of naïve charm, sci-fi elements and unusual romantic story.
featured in: Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (2004)

Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel adapted by David Le Page)
Solsbury Hill appeared on Peter Gabriel’s first solo album in 1976. The song has an ecstatic, infectious feel and describes the feeling of revelation, letting go and the promise of freedom. Gabriel’s original version is jaunty and rhythmically propelled. This ‘reimagining’, featuring English singer SuRie, takes the song into a serene parallel musical universe where the beauty of the text, the structure and the harmonies are allowed to breathe in a new way.
featured in: Vanilla Sky (2001), Good Company (2004)

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Ryuichi Sakamoto arr. David Le Page)
Ryuichi Sakamoto’s haunting theme for the 1983 film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence casts an unforgettable spell. Jazz-infused chords underpin the tenderest of melodies which hints at Japanese influence without ever overwhelming. Sakamoto’s score for the film, which starred David Bowie and Tom Conti, won a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.
featured in: Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (1983)

Exit music (for a film) (Philip James Selway, Colin Charles Greenwood, Edward John O’Brien, Thomas Edward Yorke, Jonathan Greenwood arr. David Le Page)
Oxford band Radiohead’s music is perfectly suited to the visual—an idea whose merit is accounted for by the fact that singer and songwriter Thom Yorke studied art at Exeter University. Exit music (for a film) effortlessly roams between the intimate and the epic—never straying into the territory of bombast, fragility never far behind.
featured in: Romeo + Juliet (1996)

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