Varèse Sarabande Records release Patrick Cassidy's score for Calvary. The film stars Brendan Gleeson as Father James, a priest who has a week to put his affairs in order after being told he is marked for murder during a confession. Set against the stunning beauty of Ireland’s West Coast comes a darkly comic thriller from writer director John Michael McDonagh...

I'm usually not a fan of scores of this nature; ones that rely on just a handful of themes to carry the entire soundtrack. The 22 tracks (47 min, 22 sec) revolve around three main themes: 'The Calvary' theme, which is the leitmotif of Father Lavelle; 'The Ben Bulben' theme representing the landscape that is the Ben Bulben table mountain that is the backdrop of the movie; and the 'Veronica' theme, which represent faith and spirituality.

However, the three main themes are so incredibly beautiful, so diverse and so well camouflaged throughout the score that it's almost impossible not to fall in love with the music.

If heartbreakingly painful scores with a healthy side order of melancholy are your thing, then you'll love this album. It's one of the most impressive scores I've heard for quite some time and is certainly an essential addition to any serious soundtrack collector's catalogue.

10

Darren Rea