Oliver Twist [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Soundtrack]

Rachel Portman (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Rachel Portman
• Audio CD (September 20, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000AYQO9C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,660 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Listening to Rachel Portman's score, you find yourself wondering if she misread the assignment sheet and thought she was working for an adaptation of the Dickens classic made by Masterpiece Theater, not one by troubled, thoughtful cinéaste Roman Polanski. The music here is lovely. Portman, whose other works include Nicholas Nickleby and Emma, is very skilled at evoking 19th-centure ambiance without falling into pure mimicky of that period's classical composers. But "lovely" isn't necessarily what one might expect from Oliver Twist. It's all very quiet. How could something titled "Escape from Fagin" be that subdued?

And yet so it is. "The Murder" reprises similar themes with the same results. The Prague Philharmonic (a popular orchestra who's recorded everything from Dr. Strangelove: Music from the Films of Stanley Kubrick to the heavy strains of black metal band Dimmu Borgir) does its best, but one wishes for more depth throughout. Polanski is never afraid to stare straight into the darkness; Portman should have felt empowered to do the same. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Rachel Portman's Best Works, December 3, 2005

By 

Josh L. Bizeau "Jockolantern" (Wyoming) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oliver Twist [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

Pay no heed to the reviewer below. Any references found to themes from The Godfather are entirely coincidental (there are MANY three-note themes that sound similar; doesn't mean a thing. . . I mean, it's three notes!!) and, in fact, you could point to Portman's music leaning a bit toward sounding like more like Wojciech Kilar than anyone else and that's quite understandable due to director Roman Polanski's affiliation with that composer for quite some time.

What we have in Oliver Twist is pretty much the Rachel Portman we've always known, only now she's reached into unfimiliar territory for many of her listeners: dark, brooding themes and lots of minor key tonal centering. The score features a few notable themes, but only two are central to the score: Oliver's Theme and Fagin's Theme. Both of these themes are juxtaposed against one another effectively to create quite the wonderful English-sounding musical backdrop to Dickens' dark yet quirky character tale.

Portman's sensibilities towards strings and winds remain as strong as they ever have been, only this time she relies much more on use of the double basses and lower wind instruments to create carefully brooding textures for the more gloomy sections of the score. Her rhythmic action motifs are repetitive but effective and the simpler portions of the score are exquisitely well done and precisely orchestrated.

Overall, this is one of the biggest film score surprises of the year and I heartily recommend it to all Portman fans and especially to film music fans who have been disappointed in the 2005 film score year on the whole. This is a score to be long remembered and one to which Dickens himself would, I believe, give his approval.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but somewhat repetitive, January 11, 2006

By 

Molly - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oliver Twist [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

I think the soundtracks great, but the same melody seems to be carried out through almost all of the songs. It's great to listen to kind of in the background, but if you want to listen to something to actually LISTEN to it, it's not the most intruiging.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Quality Music., December 22, 2008

By 

T. Lau "b_w" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oliver Twist [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] (Audio CD)

I love this album.

If you've seen the movie, the soundtrack that goes with it (as well as the movie itself) is phenomenal.

If you're like me, a John William's fan, you'll be able to follow the movie through with this soundtrack alone. It is that good. Listening to it on a quiet afternoon or on the airplane, wherever you may be, can totally take you to that place in London back in the 19th century.

A lovely album. Must-buy.