Due to delays in the production schedule of The Red Violin, Corigliano ultimately used an 18-minute concert piece that was supposed to be inspired by the soundtrack as the basis for the final score. His approach to the work is exactly as one would expect: he creates a musical soul for the violin (and the woman who inspired it in somewhat gruesome ways) and adapts it to the various time periods of the film, eventually developing into his modern techniques for the 1990's sequence. The instrument is haunted by the death of the famed violin-maker's wife, and so the spirit and theme heard in the solo female vocals of "Anna's Theme" are eventually transferred into the domain of the high strings in both that cue and "Main Title." There is an undercurrent of tension in this theme, an abrasive edge that understandably inhabits "Birth of the Red Violin" and prevails in several later cues. The tone of the ensemble contributes to this occasionally grating edge. Corigliano bases most of the score in the string section, sometimes stripping the sound down to chamber quartet size. There is no brass, and percussion and woodwinds are limited to specific geographical purposes in the Oxford sequence of the film. As such, the score relies heavily on the performances on violin by Joshua Bell and the conducting of Esa-Pekka Salonen to exude as much drama and personality as possible from the limited soundscape. For the most part, they succeed, though the tone of The Red Violin is so harshly whiny in the treble region that it will likely repulse listeners who are attracted to the lower dynamic range of most modern film scores. Some of this troublesome aspect of the score is diminished by the Montreal sequence, especially with the addition of a theme for Samuel L. Jackson's character and a cue of tumultuous action in "The Theft." It's easy to understand why this score won the Oscar, however. The mere style that results from a script with an instrument as its central character is too appealing in its classicism to resist. But for the mainstream, Corigliano is no John Williams, and the lack of Williams' habit of adapting a classical stance into a broader soundscape (as with Schindler's List) restrains The Red Violin from being a truly viable recommendation for film score collectors. For this crowd, the score remains an interesting, but somewhat overrated curiosity.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download