CD REVIEW - Water


Water
Score by Mychael Danna Songs by A.R. Rahman
Varese Sarabande VSD-6695 (EU)
20 Tracks 59:50 mins

Mychael Danna, having recently written a number of conventional orchestral scores, returns to more familiar territory with this Indian-set film, mixing traditional Indian instruments with string orchestra to provide a thoughtful score, largely based on a kind of lament, very reminiscent of that featured in James Horner's Titanic. This theme opens the album, first played on sitar and flute, but orchestra joins later to give the theme more emotional clout. The theme continues to crop up in variations throughout the score, which features a number of brief cues in more traditional style. "Carriage" however, is a tender orchestra-based cue, which is expanded emotionally in "Train." "Across the River" concludes the album with solo flute and strings bringing proceedings to a warm and tender finish.
Danna's score shares the disc with five songs of varying styles, performed by various artists, with music by the popular A.R. Rahman, and lyrics by Sukhwinder Singh, who also performs three of the songs, and Raquib Alam, as well as the traditional "Vaishnava Janaiho."