Clint Mansell

Black Swan Sony Music * * * * *

From the propulsive electronica of Requiem for a Dreamto the anthemic post-rock of The Fountainand the sinuous blues of The Wrestler, Clint Mansell has created a unique score for each of maverick director Darren Aronofsky's films. Black Swan is perhaps his most singular. Mansell combines sections of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lakewith original themes in his own echt Romantic style – elegant melodies and jittery pulse with brooding electronica and warm orchestration – to create a nerve-shredding score for the Freudian ballet chiller. Mansell achieves a delicate balance between ironic pastiche and affecting drama to infuse his score with exquisite tenderness and looming tension before climaxing in psychotic sturm und drang, transforming Tchaikovsky's glittering pas de deuxinto a terrifying fever dream. See foxsearchlight.com/blackswan JOCELYN CLARKE

Download tracks: Night of Terror, A Swan Song