Michael Nyman - The Claim - OST (2000)

The Claim is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, a morality play on greed. As a film composer, Nyman can be relied upon for not doing certain things. Glorifying action or violence is a case in point, and for moments like "The Explosion" or "The Shoot Out", there's no attempt to mimic bursts of volume or highlight drama so as to become melodrama. Instead, this album represents possibly the most superb intuitive scoring of his career. Immediately with "The Exchange" you're washed over by a sense of grandeur, even nobility. A pair of lush central themes swim around one another, given wordless voice by an (uncredited) female soloist. Many subsequent cues offer welcome familiar Nyman development, in the form of solid counterpoint from urgent strings and small saxophone ensemble. Yet there are passages where orchestration opens out depicting a snowy 19th-century west America. An energetically charged piece with heraldic fanfares feels like the speedy onrush of some noble dignitary ("The Train"). Most important is the album's heart; a nine-minute concert-worthy set-piece encapsulating all that's magnificent in this score ("The Burning"). Without doubt Nyman's most cinematic work since The Piano. --Paul Tonks