The Iron Lady Sony Classics****

Thomas Newman's fourth and best score of 2011 (after The Debt, The Adjustment Bureauand The Help) is a witty and elegiac soundtrack to Phyllida Lloyd's controversial Margaret Thatcher biopic. Combining the British classicism of Edward Elgar and William Walton with his signature style of simple melodies and sinuous rhythms with idiosyncratic instrumentation and spare orchestration, Newman produces a score of surprising emotional complexity and dramatic force. From his pastiche of Elgar in The Great in Great Britainand Discord and Harmonyand his homage to Walton in Steady the Buffsto the tintinnabulating piano of Eyelash, his score charts a dynamic tension between irony and pathos that is as smart as it is moving. The Iron Ladyis vintage Newman. See theironladymovie.co.uk

Download tracks: The Great in Great Britain, Steady the Buffs, Eyelash