Music from the Motion Picture The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Various Artists
TWO Formats Available
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CAT # CRE-31231-02
DISC ONE 1. Postcards 2:51 Preview 2. Mr. Gateau 3:02 Preview 3. Meeting Daisy 1:22 Preview 4. A New Life 3:39 Preview 5. Love in Murmansk 3:53 Preview 6. Meeting Again 2:41 Preview 7. Mr. Button 2:05 Preview 8. "Little Man" Oti 2:02 Preview 9. Alone at Night 2:33 Preview 10. It Was Nice to Have Met You 1:43 Preview 11. Children's Games 4:10 Preview 12. Submarine Attack 2:40 Preview 13. The Hummingbird 2:35 Preview 14. Sunrise on Lake Pontchartrain 3:33 Preview 15. Daisy's Ballet Career 2:03 Preview 16. The Accident 2:38 Preview 17. Stay Out of My Life 1:44 Preview 18. Nothing Lasts 2:54 Preview 19. Some Things You Never Forget 1:36 Preview 20. Growing Younger 1:36 Preview 21. Dying Away 2:58 Preview 22. Love Returns 1:44 Preview 23. Benjamin and Daisy 2:32 Preview DISC TWO 1. "My name is Benjamin" Preview 2. We Shall Walk Through the Streets of the City 2:56 Preview 3. "Some days I feel different" 4. Ostrich Walk 3:06 Preview 5. "How old are you?" 6. That's How Rhythm Was Born 2:53 Preview 7. "When was the last time you had a woman?" 8. Freight Train Blues 5:35 Preview 9. Basin Street Blues 7:34 Preview 10. "Thanksgiving, 1930" 11. If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight) 3:35 Preview 12. "What's your secret?" Preview 13. Chanson Sur Staline 3:06 Preview 14. "A date which will live in infamy..." 15. Arabeske for Piano in C Major Op. 18 3:18 Preview 16. "Coming home" 17. Out of Nowhere 3:00 Preview 18. Dear Old Southland 3:17 Preview 19. "Defined by opportunities" 20. Skokiaan 2:38 Preview 21. "Things were becoming different for me..." 22. My Prayer 2:46 Preview 23. Bethena (A Concert Waltz) 5:43 Preview Also available as
$19.98
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CAT # CRE-31231-25
DISC ONE 1. Postcards 2:51 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 2. Mr. Gateau 3:02 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 3. Meeting Daisy 1:22 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 4. A New Life 3:39 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 5. Love in Murmansk 3:53 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 6. Meeting Again 2:41 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 7. Mr. Button 2:05 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 8. "Little Man" Oti 2:02 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 9. Alone at Night 2:33 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 10. It Was Nice to Have Met You 1:43 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 11. Children's Games 4:10 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 12. Submarine Attack 2:40 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 13. The Hummingbird 2:35 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 14. Sunrise on Lake Pontchartrain 3:33 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 15. Daisy's Ballet Career 2:03 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 16. The Accident 2:38 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 17. Stay Out of My Life 1:44 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 18. Nothing Lasts 2:54 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 19. Some Things You Never Forget 1:36 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 20. Growing Younger 1:36 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 21. Dying Away 2:58 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 22. Love Returns 1:44 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 23. Benjamin and Daisy 2:32 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ DISC TWO 1. "My name is Benjamin" Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 2. We Shall Walk Through the Streets of the City 2:56 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 3. "Some days I feel different" Buy MP3 89¢ 4. Ostrich Walk 3:06 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 5. "How old are you?" Buy MP3 89¢ 6. That's How Rhythm Was Born 2:53 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 7. "When was the last time you had a woman?" Buy MP3 89¢ 8. Freight Train Blues 5:35 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 9. Basin Street Blues 7:34 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 10. "Thanksgiving, 1930" Buy MP3 89¢ 11. If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight) 3:35 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 12. "What's your secret?" Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 13. Chanson Sur Staline 3:06 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 14. "A date which will live in infamy..." Buy MP3 89¢ 15. Arabeske for Piano in C Major Op. 18 3:18 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 16. "Coming home" Buy MP3 89¢ 17. Out of Nowhere 3:00 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 18. Dear Old Southland 3:17 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 19. "Defined by opportunities" Buy MP3 89¢ 20. Skokiaan 2:38 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 21. "Things were becoming different for me..." Buy MP3 89¢ 22. My Prayer 2:46 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ 23. Bethena (A Concert Waltz) 5:43 Preview Buy MP3 89¢ BUY ALBUM AS MP3 DOWNLOAD — only
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Benjamin's life progresses in retrograde motion, from his birth at the close of World War I to his death at the start of the 21st century. During his backwards lifetime, he falls in love with an exquisite beauty named Daisy (Cate Blanchett). As deep and genuine as their love may be, Benjamin's reverse biology makes a lasting union impossible.
Desplat's haunting score creates a mystical, diaphanous haze through which we watch events in Benjamin Button's life transpire as if through a scrim of heart-tugging sadness.
"All the people Benjamin meets he loses quickly," says Desplat, "as they age and die while he gets younger. Because a continuous love relationship with anyone cannot work, his life is composed of heartbreaking flashes of connection. The music has to express the movement of going inexorably forward but still backwards, and the melancholia that is the essence of Benjamin's character."
The miracle of the movie is that Benjamin embraces life fully and continuously moves forward on his journey. In doing so, he transcends the limitations of his fate. As the empathic beauty of Desplat's score draws us in deeper and deeper, it transforms the cinematic experience into a heartwarming affirmation of love.
"The movie," says Desplat, "has everything that a film can offer to a composer: A humanistic script by Eric Roth of a man's epic journey living his life biologically in reverse through a century, a heartbreaking love story played with intensity by two of the most glamorous and gifted actors of our times, the pulse of jazz in the city where he was born, a twist of witty humor, the metaphysical question of death, and the pure visual magic created by a genius director."
The composer, who was born in Paris in 1961, has received worldwide recognition for creating an ideal musical language for cinema. Desplat received his first award nomination, the César Award of France (the French movie industry's main equivalent to the Oscar), at the age of 36. Since then, he has been on a roll, receiving 13 other nominations and nine awards for nine different films. In the three-year period ending in 2008, his wins included the BMI Film & TV, European Film, World Soundtrack, and Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (The Queen); the Silver Berlin Bear, César, and Étoiles d'Or Awards (De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté); the Golden Globe, World Soundtrack and LAFCA Awards (The Painted Veil); and Taiwan's Golden Horse Award (Se, jie).
Finding a way to weave together music and dialogue with Benjamin and Daisy's ongoing narration posed a particular challenge for Desplat. "The music has to be powerful, yet very silent," he explains. "It must be very delicate and prudent - never showing off - while always conveying the characters' underlying emotions. And since Benjamin is a very silent man, the music must express great empathy with his situation as it illumines his moments of sadness and questioning."
To mirror Benjamin's retrograde existence, Desplat created a main theme that can be played backwards as well as forwards. Other themes come and go, and chords switch from major to minor, as the clock ticks and characters disappear from the story.
"The orchestra's colors have to capture the genuine innocence with which Benjamin embraces the human beings that he meets through his life, and the circular motion of the adventurous world around him," says Desplat. To bring the movie's sound world to life, Desplat, David Fincher, and Executive Soundtrack Album Producer and Sound Designer Ren Klyce enlist the 87 exceptional musicians of the Hollywood Studio Symphony.
The movie begins in New Orleans in the 21st century, just before Katrina hits. As it flashes back to the time of Benjamin's birth, in New Orleans in 1918, and follows his retrograde journey through life, Desplat's haunting music finds its counterpart in the forthright, authentic sounds of the jazz era in New Orleans, as performed by Bix Beiderbecke, The Boswell Sisters, Louis Armstrong, and other greats. The contrast between the two sound worlds, as heard on the two separate CDs, speaks volumes.
"Writing this score has been a beautiful, creative experience," says Desplat. "Eternal thanks to Ren Klyce, who was so supportive of my work, and David Fincher for having created such a fabulous, magical world of its own."
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