Pride & Prejudice (Music from the Motion Picture)

iTunes Review

Jane Austen's class-conscious 1813 romantic novel has been a favorite subject for numerous screen adaptations, including a '90s miniseries and even a buoyant, more recent Bollywood send-up (Bride and Prejudice). For this 2005 version, director Joe Wright gave Italian composer Dario Marianelli the not inconsiderable task of conjuring a score that evoked the various classical compositions in vogue at the time of the story's early-19th century timeframe. The range that gambit requires encompasses everything from obvious homage ("A Postcard to Henry Purcell") and period dance conceits ("Another Dance," "Meryton Townhall") to the martial music of "The Militia Marches In." It may not have made for the most cohesive soundtrack, but its rich accomplishments — in particular the composer's sly evocations of Beethoven's piano sonatas via the romantic performances of soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the English Chamber Orchestra — nonetheless earned Marianelli an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.