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Filmtracks Recommends: Buy it... if you enjoy consistently dramatic, somber string writing that is respectful and dignified, lonely and depressing. Avoid it... if you prefer not to spend your day envisioning a funeral procession... no matter how beautiful the music. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
In fact, the score's only weakness --and it might be a significant one for some listeners-- is its extremely consistent somber tone. It's a downer from the opening cue to the final minute, rivaling the film's equally depressing journey with an attitude both respectful and dignified while maintaining an extremely restrained minor-key solace. Built almost entirely for strings, the broad strokes are accompanied by brass whole notes in a fashion that combines the most grim moments of James Horner and John Barry. In the opening cue, a very lightly mixed snare drum over the heavy strings and whispering brass account for the most volume heard anywhere in the score, with few crescendos heard throughout. Badalamenti makes sure to break your heart with the few crescendos that do exist, however, building up to them in the major key and eventually pulling you back to the ground with a sudden return to the minor. Without much counterpoint, the strings perform their simple themes in unison and never with enthusiasm, creating a loneliness that does begin to drag the album's enjoyability after 30 minutes. Variation is sparse, with electronic choral sampling in "Heartbeat to a Gunshot" serving as perhaps the most inconsistent element. Woodwinds occasionally flutter with distant tones, and the percussion does make itself heard with an occasional rumble. The only truly memorable aspect of Badalamenti's A Very Long Engagement is the title character's theme, appearing in full during "Mathilde's Theme," "Our Soldiers' Letters," and "End Titles." If you're a fan of depressing orchestral works, be forewarned that A Very Long Engagement isn't melancholy in overtly magical, Danny Elfman-like fashion. Nor does it have the same overbearing, resonating power of a James Horner string ensemble. True to its European roots, it practices restraint, and it is exactly that drab and ultimately non-descript character that reduces the score's listenability. For such a resilient young woman, there is surprisingly little determination outside of the alternating string motif in the primary theme. Still, beauty comes in many forms, and Badalamenti's score is certainly beautiful, albeit in the kind of fashion you'd expect at a funeral procession. ***
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