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HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS Shrek the Third Varese Sarabande ****

Harry Gregson-Williams is known for his driving electronic scores (Phone Booth, Man on Fire, Number 23), but his soundtracks for the Shrek franchise have proven pleasingly uncharacteristic. Shrek the Third is a bravura display of humour and wit that finds Gregson- Williams gleefully plundering both classical and film music canons for inspiration and exploitation. Sophisticated pastiches of Baroque, Romantic and Modernist music are craftily juxtaposed with knowing nods to film scorers Bernard Herrmann (Vertigo), Bill Conti (Rocky) and Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean) to create what is at heart a playful and delightful score, filled with energy and surprise. Gregson-Williams's orchestration is light and dynamic, with giddy strings, flighty winds and mock heroic chorales. www.colosseum.de

JOCELYN CLARKE

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