SOUNDTRACK

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Faced with scoring Oliver Stone's highly charged 9/11 film mercurial composer Craig Armstrong took the simple but effective creative approach of less is more to his subtle new score. Recalling the minimal orchestration and warm colours of The Clearing and A Simple Plan rather than his signature neo-romantic scores for Romeo & Juliet and Plunkett & Macleane, World Trade Center favours simple melodies, strong instrumental and vocal colours (piano and cello, and Catherine O'Halloran's exquisite soprano), and lean dynamic orchestration. From the sombre cello and delicate piano versions of the World Trade Center Theme to the threnodic strings of Ethereal to the haunting vocal of John Rescued, the emotional restraint and intellectual rigour of Armstrong's approach infuses his score with a quiet authority and force. www.sonybmgmasterworks.com