Customer Reviews

Hamlet: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1996 Film)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is certainly one of my top 3 Patrick Doyle scores and a towering achievement. The score unfolds like a great romantic symphony encompassing several moods from serenity and inner peace ("In Pace"), to violence and lush gothic undertones ("The Ghost", "Now, could I drink hot blood"), and a finaly sense of joyous celebration ("Fanfare", "What Players are they?"). After listening constantly to Mr. Doyle's scores for "Henry V", "Much ado about nothing" and "Frankenstein", I thought he could never top such achievements and somehow he did: "Hamlet" is a masterpiece of thematic inventiveness and dramatic power. The playing is wonderful and the engineering is very clear, taking full advantage of Air Lyndhurst's glorious acoustics. If you are a fan of british classical music or a Shakespeare fan (or even better, a fan of Patrick Doyle), don't pass up this CD. Great film music. No: great music. Period!

Although not as viscerally powerful as his Henry V score, Hamlet is, appropriately, much more meditative and introspective, making the extroverted sections (Fanfare, the Ghost, My Thoughts be Bloody, etc) that much more impressive. The only weakness I feel is the constant use of only two or three main themes with very little variation in their orchestration. However, that is a tiny quibble with an otherwise masterly score. Doyle's use of 20th century sounds (some atonal canonic writing and Stravinksyesque rhythms) gives this score just the right edge to balance the lush Romanticism of the main themes.

"In Pace", sung by the most artful singer in the world, Placido Domingo, justifies the purchase of this recording. It's operatic and he's an opera singer but... "In Pace" doesn't sound "opera"; it sounds noble and romantic. I love film music and must own over six hundred score recordings. Of those, there are three or four which I regularly and wholeheartedly recommend to my friends and acquaintances who are classical musicians. Doyle's HAMLET is one of them.

There's a LOT of music on this disc - 76:25! - and it's a journey through many moods: reflections of introspective quietude and expressions of pride, tender love, confusion and anger not least among them. It's orchestral, of course, but much of it is almost chamber and intimate. Favorite tracks? All those which include the "In Pace" melody and the thrillingly ominous "Oh, Here They Come".

While I love modern film scores with the wild action sequences (Hans Zimmer, etc), there is something so amazing when you find a score that plays out like a classical symphony. This score to the film "Hamlet" is just such a score. The music is melodious, moving and monumental. I highly recommend this!

This film is by far an amazing accomplishment with a terrific soundtrack to go along with it.

After Patrick Doyle's moving, haunting, and epic scores for "Henry V," "Dead Again" & "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein," could he deliver once again for Kenneth Branagh's uncut and totally epic film version of what is arguably one of William Shakespeare's greatest plays? The answer is YES, YES, and YES. As with the movie itself, Patrick Doyle has created yet another score which is haunting, moving and epic all in one. If you loved the movie, you'll completely immerse yourself in the soundtrack. The first track is an extra bonus to this already epic score:
Placido Domingo. BUY the movie AND the soundtrack; if you can't buy the soundtrack, get it in mp3 files. They're worth it. "If it be not to come, it will be now; yet it will come. The readiness is all. If no man knows aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes? Let be."

Patrick Doyle easily matches John Williams for great composition. This soundtrack is incredible, opening with a hopeful note and a fanfare. The middle is well balanced between dark, heavy thunder, victorious resolve, mystery, and grief. The last track, even played by itself with no context, will blow your mind away.

Patrick Doyle has truly composed an awesome piece of work. The score is so well done that you can feel the emotion coming through the music alone. This is by far my favorite soundtrack and I listen to it quite often.

Doyle fans are aware that he collaborates regularly with actor/director, Kenneth Brannagh. With the Hamlet score, he again writes powerful complementary music which also stands alone as worthy to be performed in concert. I would be interested to hear lengthier tracks such as accompanied the lengthy, but indeed beautiful and patient, movie. (The only mistake was Billy Crystal in the movie. I thought Robin Williams did fine work.) Although, I confess, this is my least listened to in my soundtrack collection, I do enjoy it, and believe it deserves accolades.

I spent a lot of time trying to get hold of this CD but I must say I am mildly disappointed. I thought Patrick Doyle's music for Branagh's Henry V was brilliant and that was why I was determined to obtain this sound track as well. Henry V is not Hamlet in terms of theme and plot but I think the music here tends to be too low key and lacking in drive, unlike Henry V. It is still very good in places and clearly the work of an excellent composer, but not quite up to Doyle's previous standard.