The English Patient
Gabriel Yared

  • Original Score Composed by: Gabriel Yared
  • Label: Fantasy
  • Online Ordering Options: Amazon.com

Review

Winner of the 1996 Academy Award for Best Original Score, The English Patient is a mighty work. Scored by little know composer Gabriel Yared, it also features the voice behind Deep Forest and Goldeneye. It is a beautiful soundtrack that mixes happiness, sadness, loss, anger, despair and hope into one seamless journey of the boundaries of the human condition. There is a lot of 20's music mixed into this soundtrack, though annoyed me at first, I found grew on me in time. For a roleplaying adventure, unless it's set in the 20's, they will be inappropriate.

The rest of the music, however, is perfect to fit events and descriptions. The main theme, heard in the first track, was what attracted me to the score in the first place and is perfect for Arabian adventures. The score is quite exotic in places, and should only be considered for such settings in either science fiction or fantasy settings (more the latter than the former).

Track Listing and Notes

  1. The English Patient (3:37) - wailing ~ mournful opening ~ danger
  2. A Retreat (1:26) - sad
  3. Rupert Bear (1:27) - bitter sweet
  4. What Else Do You Love? (1:05) - something is in the air
  5. Why Picton? (1:09) - happy sad
  6. Cheek To Cheek : FRED ASTAIRE (3:19) - inappropriate
  7. Kip's Lights (1:30) - rare beauty
  8. Hana's Curse (2:11) - realisation
  9. I'll Always Go Back To That Church (1:53) - happy
  10. Black Nights (1:57) - thinking unhappy thoughts
  11. Swoon, I'll Catch You (1:52) - a merging of souls
  12. Am I K. In Your Book (0:59) - a soul bared to the winds
  13. Let Me Come In! (2:40) - why?
  14. Wang Wang Blues : BENNY GOODMAN (2:52) - inappropriate
  15. Convento Di Sant'Anna (9:12) - happy sad
  16. Herodotius (1:11) - sadness is . . .
  17. Muzsikas (4:36) - folk music
  18. Ask Your Saint Who He's Killed (1:09) - the past
  19. One O'Clock Jump : BENNY GOODMAN (3:15) - inappropriate
  20. I'll Be Back (4:03) - discovery
  21. Let Me Tell You Amount Winds (1:00) - strange lands
  22. Read Me To Sleep (5:00) - lament
  23. The Cave Of Swimmers (2:02) - letting go
  24. Where or When : SHEPHEARD'S HOTEL JAZZ ORCHESTRA (2:18) - inappropriate
  25. Aria from The Goldberg Variations : JULIA STEINBERG (3:04) - classical piece
  26. Cheek to Cheek : ELLA FITZGERALD (3:46) - inappropriate
  27. (6:25)
    • As Far As Florence (5:16) - ending
    • En Csak Azt Csodalom (1:09) - lament

Total Running Time: 75:13

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