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PATRICK DOYLE
Sleuth Varese Sarabande ***

Patrick Doyle's score for longtime collaborator Kenneth Branagh's new film is an intriguing departure for the prolific 50-something composer. Having written predominantly neo-Romantic scores for Branagh's Shakespeare adaptations (Hamlet, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing), Doyle tries his hand at postminimalism (more Nyman than Glass) with varying degrees of success. At its most propulsive and spare, Sleuth achieves a strong dramatic progression with dynamic strings and insistent piano, smartly integrating its elegant themes with its sustained sinuous pulse. Occasionally, however, Doyle doubts his minimalist impulses, throws in some electronica and beats to surprisingly leaden effect, particularly on I Am Not a Hairdresser and Too Much Sleuth. This undermines his score's playful experimentalism. www.colosseum.de   JOCELYN CLARKE

Download Tracks: I Was Lying, Sleuth