The latest releases reviewed.

MARCO BELTRAMI
 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Recall
*****

After a decade of increasingly fine scores (Scream, Mimic, etc), Marco Beltrami delivers his best yet with this soundtrack for Tommy Lee Jones's award-winning western (see review, pages 12-13). Beltrami's evocative score is at once epic and lyrical, seamlessly merging simple melodies and lithe polyrhythms with eclectic instrumentation (log-drum, guitarron, accordion) and subtle strings. Beltrami has previously produced extraordinary drama with bold colours and dynamic orchestration on such diverse scores as Hellboy and I, Robot. But here he achieves an exquisite complexity of mood and feeling with his deliberately austere approach and spare palette, particularly the elegiac Cinco Anos, the suspenseful Mike Runs Off, and the redemptive Goodbye. Three Burials ranks with the best spaghetti and Texicana western scores of Ennio Morricone and Ry Cooder; a classic.

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