Charlotte Gray

After her boyfriend in the Royal Air Force is shot down over France during World War II, Charlotte Gray (Cate Blanchett) joins the French Resistance to rescue him in the film Charlotte Gray, based on the novel of the same name.  Award-winning composer Stephen Warbeck provides a romantic and affectionate string-heavy underscore, with strong themes.

Starting with "The Train", the album begins on a tentative edge, with a lush string section rhythmically providing a backing to the Scottish-edged secondary theme that dominates the second half of the track.  But it is in "Charlotte Gray" that we really hear the main theme from the film, a sweeping melody that never truly reaches an epic climax, at least in this cue.  It is first heard on accordion (no doubt that "French influence"), and eventually the rest of the orchestra builds it up.  Tension is underscored in such cues as "The Plane to France", "The Threat", "The Decision" and ", while melancholy romantic moments reside in "The Loft", "The Field" and "Nobody's Ordinary Now".

There are a few intimate tracks, such as "The Tunnel", featuring a guitar and flute, and a piano solo in "After the Letter".  The first real action cue, "The Gendarmes" features a lot of low-end timpani and percussion, with a few fast-panning snare drum effects that sound a bit synth - it felt just a little out of place with the rest of the album.  "My Name is Charlotte Gray" is the track, in the end, that has the large epic climax and statement of the main theme.  It's sweeping, and a truly memorable theme.  (They even used it in the trailer for the film, not something commonly done these days.)

The album runs a hair under 50-minutes in length, and showcases an overall solid effort by Warbeck.  There is no pop song at the end (seemingly rare for a Sony Classical release), and aside from the one action cue, this album holds together wonderfully.  Fans of Warbeck's past efforts will no doubt find this a welcome addition to their collection; others might want to check out the film first.