English Patient Soundtrack CD

Personnel includes: Ronnie Hazelhurst, Harry Rabinowitz (conductor); Marta Sebestyen (vocals); John Constable (piano); Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields.
Includes liner notes by Derk Richardson.
Recorded at Air Studios and Angel Recording London, England; YAD Music, Paris, France.
Original score composed by Gabriel Yared.
THE ENGLISH PATIENT won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture Or For Television.
Gabriel Yared composed most of the music for the soundtrack of one of 1996's most acclaimed dramas, which was largely performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields; John Constable (on solo piano) and Marta Sebestyen (vocals) are also featured. Yared's score is mostly typical wide-screen epic stuff--nothing special. More interesting are Hungarian folk singer Sebestyen's occasional contributions. A few period pop/jazz cuts by Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, and Fred Astaire are interspersed throughout, and are most likely more effective on screen than on disc, where they juxtapose uncomfortably with the orchestral instrumental pieces. ~ Richie Unterberger
The soundtrack to this 1996 epic film combines Gabriel Yared's stirring orchestral score, performed by the Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields, with swing-era jazz standards like Benny Goodman's "One O'Clock Jump" and Ella Fitzgerald's "Cheek To Cheek." Yared's music complements the broad sweep of the film, utilizing grand, romantic themes with strong, simple melodies evocative of the film's bold images of WWII-era Italy and North Africa. THE ENGLISH PATIENTS's director, Anthony Minghella, is a musician himself, and it shows in the amount of care taken to create just the right aural atmosphere to accompany the film's poignant story of love and faith tested by a war-torn world.Entertainment Weekly (1/17/97, pp.61-63) - "...music that works brilliantly on the big screen and that grows on you slowly--but no less effectively--at home..." - Rating: B-