Much Ado about Nothing [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

by Patrick Doyle

Overview

Melodramatic ham that he is, Kenneth Branagh seldom lets a minute go by in his screen adaptations of Shakespeare without some kind of musical accompaniment. Patrick Doyle is a shameless enabler for Branagh's music addiction, dealing out 24 tracks worth of sticky sweet orchestrations to satisfy the director's jones. Much Ado About Nothing was Branagh's second Shakespeare film, and at the time of its release his ebullient directorial style seemed radiant and charming. The film was widely regarded as a magnificently robust Hollywood popularization of one of the Bard's cheekiest comedies. But Branagh's unwinking earnestness began to wear thin in later efforts like Hamlet and Love's Labours Lost, making Much Ado seem somewhat light weight in retrospect. Doyle's contribution is nevertheless suitably sweeping and frothy, even if it does borrow rather too liberally from his previous (and superior) compositions for Henry V. As usual, Doyle's greatest work comes in classical vocal tracks like the dirge-like choral passage "Pardon Goddess of the Night" and the winsome musical setting for Shakespeare's poem "Sigh No More Ladies," which receives a beautiful reading in the opening credits by the incomparable Emma Thompson. These help to compensate for the egregiously swollen romantic pieces that underscore ridiculous shots of a lovestruck Branagh splashing around in Venetian fountains. ~ Evan Cater

Product Details

Release Date:	05/04/1993
Label:	Epic / Sony Music Distribution
UPC:	0074645400921

Tracks

1. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~The Picnic
2. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Overture
3. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~The Sweetest Lady
4. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~The Conspirators
5. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~The Masked Ball
6. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~The Prince Woos Hero
7. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~A Star Danced
8. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Rich She Shall Be
9. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Sigh No More Ladies
10. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~The Gulling Of Benedick
11. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~It Must Be Requited
12. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~The Gulling Of Beatrice
13. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Contempt Farewell
14. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~The Lady Is Disloyal
15. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Hero's Wedding
16. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Take Her Back Again
17. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Die To Live
18. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~You Have Killed A Sweet Lady
19. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Choose Your Revenge
20. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Pardon Goddess Of The Night
21. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Did I Not Tell You
22. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Hero Revealed
23. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Benedick The Married Man
24. Much Ado About Nothing, film score~Strike Up Pipers

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Patrick Doyle   Primary Artist
David Snell   Conductor

Technical Credits

Tonia Davall   Assembly
Patrick Doyle   Liner Notes,Composer,Producer
Chris Dibble   Engineer
Maggie Rodford   Producer,Music Supervisor
John Bell   Orchestration
James Collins   Assistant Engineer
Roy Prendergast   Editing,Music Editor
Emma Thompson   Recitation
Lawrence Ashmore   Orchestration
Steve Price   Mixing,Soundtrack Mixing