THE INNOCENT SLEEP

MARK AYRES

Rating:

Original Review: Mark Ayres and his conductor Nic Raine are probably best known to soundtrack fans for being regular members of the Silva Screen team who produce all those wonderful compilation albums rather than for being composers in their own right, but here they prove without a shadow of a doubt that they are musicians worth watching in the future. The director of The Innocent Sleep, Scott Michell, had previously collaborated with Ayres on his award-winning short film Seeds, and specifically asked for a full orchestral score, huge in both scale and drama. However, in the film, the music seemed much too grand and overblown for its own good, swamping the gritty realism of its London setting with inappropriately over the top cues. On CD, though, it's a completely different kettle of fish. From the opening bars of "Il Sonno Innocente", an original operatic theme accompanied by the beautiful tones of British soprano Lesley Garrett, The Innocent Sleep turns into a surprising little gem. This theme gets two or three more airings during the score, most noticeably during 'Cavani/Billie Meets Alan' and the end credits cue 'Ashes', and it lends a real touch of class the entire album. In the liner notes, Ayres describes it as "a piece which would reflect the loneliness of our hero and become a lament for the abandoned homeless" and the Italian lyrics, based on lines from Macbeth, are suitably morose. As for the rest of the album - well, for the most part it is somewhat overshadowed by this wonderful opening, but the third cue, 'Lusano/The Execution' introduces the a deliciously dark nine-note motif which reappears throughout the score whenever something sinister is about to happen; 'Billie/A Word With Willie' introduces a short, delicate piano theme for the film's heroine, and the many action cues (like 'Warehouse Chase', 'Jail Break', 'Motorbike Chase' and 'Arson') are all well-constructed, being both tense and loud without being overbearing, while 'Cavani Flies In' is a majestic string melody all of its own: beautiful, but with just a hint of danger. As a debut feature score, The Innocent Sleep is certainly an impressive, if less than perfect effort by Ayres and, with practice and polish, he could go a long way.

Track Listing: 59 minutes 04 seconds

Silva Screen FILMCD-167 (1995)

Music composed by Mark Ayres. Conducted by Nic Raine. Performed by The Chamber Orchestra of London. Orchestrations by Nic Raine. Soprano vocal solos performed by Lesley Garrett. Recorded and mixed by Mike Ross-Trevor. Album produced by Mark Ayres.


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