The Qobuz Ideal Discography

Neo Geo innovator and international musical collaborator Ryuichi Sakamoto has run the gamut in his lengthy career, from the Kraftwerk-inspired work of the Yellow Magic Orchestra and a handful of high-profile soundtracks, to several solo albums and various guest spots with Arto Lindsay, David Sylvian, Thomas Dolby, and Public Image Ltd., among many others. And on the heels of the YMO's breakup in 1983, Sakamoto jumped right into the fray with this soundtrack to director Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Sakamoto also co-starred along with David Bowie). While not as sophisticated as the music he wrote for The Sheltering Sky and The Last Emperor (a collaboration with David Byrne), Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence does sport one of Sakamoto's most fetching pieces, "ForbiddenColours" (given many treatments, including a fine David Sylvian vocal version), and a few successful Asian and Western classical hybrids. Unfortunately, though, the music often bogs down in bloated, synth-washed musings and staid rhythmic underpinnings. Not the best introduction to Sakamoto's work, but certainly worth a cut-out bin price for the lovely variations on "Forbidden Colours." © Stephen Cook /TiVo

One of the most traditional soundtracks for a Wes Anderson film, Grand Budapest Hotel's music sidesteps pop songs in favor of pieces that highlight the story's setting. Befitting a caper set at a Central European hotel in the '30s, Alexandre Desplat's score and performances by ensembles including the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra create a lavish, Old World feel. Budapest's orchestral pieces, which include "Concerto for Lute and Plucked Strings I. Moderato" and "The Linden Tree" are particularly charming, setting a genteel mood echoed by the traditional arrangement of "Moonshine." Meanwhile, Desplat's score feels akin to his twinkly, mischievous music for Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was a caper of another sort. Indeed, this might be one of the twinkliest scores to an Anderson film, which is saying something. However, Desplat gives these sparkles nuance and depth, creating an entire vocabulary from them that spans the dreamy "Mr. Moustafa," "Night Train to Nebelsbad"'s jazzy insistence, the lively wit of "The Society of the Crossed Keys," and the oddly comforting "The War (Zero's Theme)." Most excitingly, the high-stakes nature of a heist film like this one allows Desplat to inject more drama and suspense into Anderson's ultra-stylish world, and at times his pieces echo iconic scores such as Dr. Zhivago and The Third Man. The winding melody that is one of the score's major motifs takes on a sinister cast on "The Family Desgoffe und Taxis" and "J.G. Jopling, Private Inquiry Agent," while "The Lutz Police Militia" and "Last Will and Testament" add some menace -- however stylized -- to the proceedings. As always, the collaboration between Anderson, Desplat, and music supervisor Randall Poster sets the mood perfectly, whether that mood is innocence, mischief, mystery, or beauty. © Heather Phares /TiVo

While Mike Nichols' 1966 film of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? gets more frightening every time you watch it, Alexander North's score to the same film gets more consoling every time you hear it. Nichols' film, particularly the performances by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, has scenes of terrific intensity, but North's score, though faithful to what's on screen, has a tenderness, even a sweetness, that transforms the ultimate meaning of the film. Part of it is North's characteristically evocative orchestration with some cues delicately scored for guitar, celesta, bass clarinet, harpsichord, and a pair of harps, while others are scored for spare almost spooky winds arrayed against soothing strings. But most of it is North's soaring melodies and brooding harmonies -- and especially his big-hearted main theme. By prefiguring the film's reconciliatory ending, the solace offered by North's score transfigures all the horrors enacted between Taylor and Burton. Though clearly the anonymous studio orchestra wasn't given much time to learn its parts -- the ensemble sometimes flags, the strings' intonation occasionally turns sour -- the individual players' performances are persuasive. The stereo sound is impressive for its clarity and immediacy, but unfortunately the remastering here is so minimal that the sound seems to be coming directly off of an old LP. The inclusion of snippets of Taylor and Burton's dialogue from the film at the start of some tracks is at first disconcerting, but will help orient the listener who hasn't seen the film in a long time. © TiVo