This week's Soundtrack CDs reviewed

HANS ZIMMER
Frost/Nixon Varese Sarabande***

Hans Zimmer's score for the film of the play about David Frost's landmark 1977 televised interviews with disgraced US President Richard Nixon, starts as an intriguing collection of musical sketches before losing direction halfway through and collapsing exhaustedly before the end. While infusing a talky character-driven film with drama and tension is always a challenge, the normally reliable Zimmer ( Gladiator, The Dark Knight, The Thin Red Line) chooses pulse and tempo over melody, creating a brooding yet diffuse score that progresses rhythmically but doesn't develop or vary thematically. After scoring The Dark Knight, The Burning Plain, Kung Fu Pandaand Madagascar 2(as well as producing Vantage Point, Iron Manand Babylon AD) by the end of 2008, it's perhaps not surprising that the wundermensch composer runs out of steam on Frost/Nixon. www.colosseum.de

Download tracks: Watergate, Status