9.5 out of 10
Critics rate “A Single Man” soundtrack 9.5 and call it “achingly gorgeous” and “the type of score that is difficult to stop listening to”.
Reviews
My true holiday music selection this year is turning out to be Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski’s score for A Single Man. (…)
Abel Korzeniowski’s score celebrates strings to a dreamily nostalgic degree as the film tracks a day in George Falconer’s (Colin Firth) life eight months after the sudden death of his partner Jim (Matthew Goode). It’s classical, but tie-loosened and unstuffy, filled full with moments of sweeping sorrow and triumph. (…)
No Christmas music here—this is what I’ll be listening to.
Gay ennui takes on a suspenseful, dramatic power worthy of Bernard Herrmann for this achingly gorgeous score by Polish composer Abel Korzeniowski (with an assist by Japan’s Shigeru Umebayashi). But then, you could say Eastern European composers have always had a thing for despondent characters, and Korzeniowski rises to the best of his compatriots’ emotionally raw, string-heavy sound with a score whose infinite beauty seems tailor-made for the impeccable sensibility of MAN’s fashionista writer-director Tom Ford. For even if his hero has a love that dare not speak its name, Korzeniowski’s strikingly poetic work isn’t afraid to shout that passion to the heavens. Between this composer’s SINGLE MAN and his terrific sci-fi score to BATTLE FOR TERRA, I’m looking forward to hearing more of Korzeniowski’s bold shouting.
(…) I’m quite happy to say his score is quite an achievement and isn’t one that will soon recede from the memory banks.
Abel strikes a unique tone for this film, which can best be described as bittersweet yet elegant and offers a strong emotional connection to the listener. There is a sense of loss within the score but there is also hopefulness in it as well, a duality that lends a memorable characteristic to it. Overall, there is simply a unique beauty to it that transcends the film and enables the music to succeed fully on its own.
(…)
There is such a polished sound and flow to it that I think you will find yourself fully absorbed with the music. You’ll also find that it’s the type of score that is difficult to stop listening to; I was intent on listening to it uninterrupted from start to finish both times I cued up the disc. Truly engaging and quite refreshing fare!As award season nears, Abel Korzeniowski should be in serious contention for a Best Score bid for A Single Man. This score functions at too high a level to ignore and I think the voters should pick up on that.
Final Score 9.5 out of 10: A Single Man is an accomplished piece of work that should appeal to even the most casual of soundtrack listeners. It’s a captivating score that has a beauty about it that is difficult to dismiss once you start listening to it. Don’t be surprised by the nominations that it may earn.
December 2009
Comments
One Response to 9.5 out of 10
Reply
Twit this!
on Facebook
Fully deserved of all the praise it is getting. This is one of the most gorgeous scores I’ve ever heard. Can’t wait to hear what Abel does next.