Joeclyn Clarkelooks at soundtrack of the week

HANS ZIMMER

Sherlock Holmes Watertower Music****

Hans Zimmer's score for Guy Ritchie's new take on the famous detective is kind of marvellous. With a taut pulse running through it, the maverick composer of The Thin Red Line, Gladiatorand The Dark Knight) has written a dynamic score that bounces between rollicking action, sly comedy and urgent drama, deftly combining pounding rhythms and elegant melodies with idiosyncratic instrumentation (balaika, fiddle, tablas, double bass, dulcimer, banjo), spare orchestration and brooding electronica. Zimmer mixes European folk traditions (jig, waltz, polka, klezmer) and late 19th- century romanticism (Dvorák, Mahler), and juxtaposes exquisite lyricism with gleeful sturm und drang. The score teems with stylistic invention and visceral energy, as well as a surprising emotional power, notably on the 18-minute-long super cue Psychological Recovery . . . Six Months. Sherlock Holmes is both masterful and mercurial. www.water tower-music.com

Download tracks: Psychological Recovery . . . Six Months, My Mind Rebels in Stagnation