French film composer Alexandre Desplat already had several exotic and evocative scores to his credit -- one thinks immediately of 2006's The Painted Vail and 2005's Syriana -- when he got the contract to compose the music for the film version of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, the first of the author's His Dark Materials trilogy.
Like his previous scores, Desplat's music for The Golden Compass is made up of driving ostinatos à la Philip Glass, ominous harmonies à la Bernard Herrmann, colorful orchestrations à la Jerry Goldsmith, and emotionally charged motives à la Alexander North, plus a slew of spooky sound effects à la John Williams.
The tone of the score, however, is entirely Desplat's own: located somewhere between ethereal and demonic and innocence and decadence, his music for The Golden Compass is as atmospheric as his music for The Painted Vail, but much weirder and otherworldly.
Produced by Desplat in EMI's Abbey Road Studios and AIR Studio in brightly lit but deeply textured sound, this disc is a lovely aural souvenir from the film.
Kate Bush's typically idiosyncratic but strangely haunting performance of her song "Lyra," named for the film's central character, is an apt way to end both the film and the soundtrack.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Golden CompassAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:20 | 5 MB | 8 MB |
| 2 | Sky FerryAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:42 | 6 MB | 13 MB |
| 3 | Letters From BolvangarAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:31 | 5 MB | 8 MB |
| 4 | Lyra, Roger And BillyAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 01:27 | 3 MB | 7 MB |
| 5 | Mrs. CoulterAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 05:18 | 12 MB | 20 MB |
| 6 | Lyra EscapesAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 03:42 | 8 MB | 17 MB |
| 7 | The MagisteriumAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 01:57 | 4 MB | 7 MB |
| 8 | DustAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 01:08 | 2 MB | 4 MB |
| 9 | Serafina PekkalaAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 01:48 | 4 MB | 6 MB |
| 10 | Lee Scoresby's Airship AdventureAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 01:18 | 3 MB | 6 MB |
| 11 | Iorek ByrnisonAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 05:26 | 12 MB | 21 MB |
| 12 | Lord FAA, King Of The GyptiansAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:17 | 5 MB | 10 MB |
| 13 | The Golden MonkeyAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:02 | 4 MB | 8 MB |
| 14 | Riding IorekAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 04:39 | 10 MB | 18 MB |
| 15 | Samoyed AttackAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 01:21 | 3 MB | 7 MB |
| 16 | Lord AsrielAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:08 | 4 MB | 11 MB |
| 17 | Ragnar SturlussonAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 06:19 | 14 MB | 28 MB |
| 18 | Ice Bear CombatAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:15 | 5 MB | 12 MB |
| 19 | Iorek's VictoryAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 01:27 | 3 MB | 7 MB |
| 20 | The Ice BridgeAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 01:31 | 3 MB | 6 MB |
| 21 | Rescuing The ChildrenAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:18 | 5 MB | 7 MB |
| 22 | IntercisionAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 02:48 | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| 23 | MotherAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 03:34 | 8 MB | 12 MB |
| 24 | Battle With The TartarsAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 25 MB |
| 25 | EpilogueAlexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat | Play | 03:27 | 7 MB | 15 MB |
| 26 | Lyra | Kate Bush | Play | 03:19 | 7 MB | 13 MB |
| 73 mins | 169 MB | |||||
| 73 mins | 321 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Allen | Art Direction, Design |
| 2 | Jonathan Allen | Engineer, Recording |
| 3 | John Alley | Piano |
| 4 | Dave Arch | Piano |
| 5 | John Barrett | Assistant Engineer |
| 6 | Robin Baynton | Assistant Engineer |
| 7 | Thomas Bowes | Concert Master, Violin |
| 8 | James Brett | Arranger |
| 9 | Paul Broucek | Executive Producer |
| 10 | Nicholas Bucknail | Clarinet |
| 11 | Nicholas Bucknall | Clarinet |
| 12 | Kris Burton | Assistant Engineer |
| 13 | Kate Bush | Composer, Composer/Lyricist, Featured Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 14 | Simon Chamberlain | Piano |
| 15 | Jason Cienkus | Soundtrack Executive Producer |
| 16 | Peter Clarke | Music Editor, Piano |
| 17 | Paul Clarvis | Gong, Percussion, Tibetan Bowls |
| 18 | Peter Cobbin | Mixing, Recording |
| 19 | Alexandre Desplat | Audio Production, Composer, Conductor, Flute, Liner Notes, Piano, Primary Artist, Producer, Programming |
| 20 | Jessica Dolinger | Music Clearance |
| 21 | Andrew Dudman | Engineer, Music Editor |
| 22 | Sara Durante | Music Assistant |
| 23 | Benjamin Ealovega | Session Photographer |
| 24 | Catherine Edwards | Piano |
| 25 | Terry Edwards | Choir Director |
| 26 | Karen Elliott | Scoring Coordinator |
| 27 | Xavier Forcioli | Assistant |
| 28 | Tristan Fry | Timpani |
| 29 | Simon Gibson | Mastering |
| 30 | Gavin Greenaway | Conductor |
| 31 | Isobel Griffiths | Music Contractor |
| 32 | David Hage | Piano |
| 33 | Richard Hale | Assistant Engineer |
| 34 | David Hartley | Piano |
| 35 | Jan Hendrickse | Woodwind |
| 36 | Rob Houston | Music Editor |
| 37 | Robert Houston | Music Editor |
| 38 | Bill Ives | Director |
| 39 | Jake Jackson | Engineer |
| 40 | Jim Jones | Executive Engineer |
| 41 | Skaila Kanga | Harp |
| 42 | Gary Kettel | Gong, Tibetan Bowls |
| 43 | Morin Khuur | Vocals |
| 44 | Greg Knowles | Cimbalom |
| 45 | John Lenehan | Piano |
| 46 | Jason Linn | Executive |
| 47 | London Oratory School Schola | Children's Chorus |
| 48 | London Voices | Choir/Chorus |
| 49 | William Lyons | Woodwind |
| 50 | Magdalen College Choir, Oxford | Choir/Chorus |
| 51 | Gerard McCann | Piano, Supervising Music Editor |
| 52 | Stuart Morton | Music Editor |
| 53 | Maurice Murphy | Trumpet |
| 54 | Sam O'Kell | Engineer, Music Editor, Pro-Tools |
| 55 | Michael Ormiston | Vocals |
| 56 | Del Palmer | Mixing, Recording |
| 57 | Nicholas Perry | Woodwind |
| 58 | Anthony Pleeth | Cello |
| 59 | Conrad Pope | Piano, Supervising Orchestrator |
| 60 | Frank Ricotti | Gong, Tibetan Bowls |
| 61 | Vincent Segal | Electric Cello |
| 62 | Lori Silfen | Music Business Affairs |
| 63 | Owen Slade | Tuba |
| 64 | Sandeep Sriram | Soundtrack Coordination |
| 65 | Alison Stephens | Mandolin |
| 66 | John F.X. Walsh | Music Business Affairs |
| 67 | David Walter | Composer's Assistant, Music Editor, Piano |
| 68 | Lee Ward | Children's Choirmaster |
| 69 | Lee Ward & Group | Children's Choirmaster |
| 70 | Richard Watkins | French Horn |
| 71 | Robert Winn | Flute |
| 72 | Nigel Woodhouse | Mandolin |
Alexandre Desplat
2015 - 21 tracks
The Imitation Game (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Alexandre Desplat, London Symphony Orchestra
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |