SOUNDTRACK

THOMAS NEWMAN
The Good German Varese Sarabande
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Thomas Newman's superb Oscar-nominated score for this brooding second World War drama (and sly Michael Curtiz homage) is his least typical score. Inspired by the master composers of Hollywood's Golden Age (Max Steiner, Franz Waxman and his own father, Alfred Newman), Newman boldly combines strong themes (the darkening fanfare of Unrecht Oder Rechts and the love theme of The Good German) with dynamic suspense motifs and brusque martial rhythms (on Dora and Countess Roundheels) to create an old-fashioned-sounding but very contemporary score. With an emphasis on menacing strings, delicate harp and staccato brass in minor keys, The Good German evokes the paranoid atmosphere of postwar Berlin while retaining the emotional urgency, intellectual sophistication and effortless technique that are vintage Newman. Jocelyn Clarke www.colosseum.de