Far from Heaven (Score) [Soundtrack]

Elmer Bernstein (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 5, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B00006WKXT
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,524 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Autumn in Connecticut

2. Mother Love

3. Evening Rest

4. Walking Through Town

5. Prowl

6. Psych

7. The F Word

8. Party

9. Hit

10. Crying

11. Turning Point

12. Cathy and Raymond Dance

13. Disapproval

14. Walk Away

15. Miami Arranged by Patrick Russ

16. Back To Basics

17. Stones

18. Revelation and Decision

19. Remembrance

20. More Pain

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant score... Reminiscent of 50s film scoring !, November 25, 2002

By 

P. Longworth (Newcastle, AUSTRALIA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Far from Heaven (Score) (Audio CD)

In contrary to the other readers' opinions, I found Bernstein's score a real 'charmer'. It sounds very 50s, and is deserving of the glowing accolades it has received in the media. This score is one of my favourite Elmer Bernstein scores. The quality of this score leaves modern scores for dead. If only film music would return to the golden -silver era once again. If this score doesn't get an Oscar nomination, I'll be very disappointed.

Peter..

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece, November 22, 2002

By 

Christian Kuehn - See all my reviews

This review is from: Far from Heaven (Score) (Audio CD)

50 years in the business and still on the top of his game...Elmer Bernstein has written a flawless masterpiece with Far from Heaven. Harkening to a more or less innocent time and to his own score for To Kill a Mockingbird, Bernstein has provided us score-fans with what is as of yet the best score of 2002.

Amazing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Close to Heaven, February 26, 2003

By 

Kathy Fennessy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Far from Heaven (Score) (Audio CD)

Like Douglas Sirk ("All That Heaven Allows"), whose lush Technicolor weepies served as inspiration, director Todd Haynes ("Poison," "Safe") doesn't define melodrama as "overdone" or "overblown," but according to its strict Latin components: as a union between music ("melos") and drama. Accordingly, he hired one of Hollywood's most respected composers, Elmer Bernstein ("The Sweet Smell of Success," "The Man With the Golden Arm"), to provide the all-important soundtrack for "Far From Heaven."

In the film, fashionable homemaker Cathy Whitaker is played by a blonde Julianne Moore. Dennis Quaid, in his "comeback" role, plays her ad exec husband, Frank, while Dennis Haysbert (the president on TV's "24") is Raymond, the sympathetic black gardener Cathy turns to when her picture-perfect life starts to come undone.

The score begins and ends with a similar cue; both "Autumn in Connecticut," where the film is set, and "Beginnings" rely on piano for most of their emotional impact. The distinctive--but never overbearing--cue is repeated throughout, with other instruments, like violin, coming to the fore. There are a few playful detours along the way. "Cathy and Raymond Dance," for instance, appears to be a riff on "As Time Goes By," while "Miami" has a light samba feel.

Like the film, Bernstein's score doesn't parody 1950s melodramas, but evokes the genuine article, and "Far From Heaven" ranks among his best work.