In my Must Buy List - Memoirs of Geisha

Ever since I heard this album, I have become a greatest fan of John Williams. As “Memoirs of Geisha” is co-produced by Steven Spielberg, for the most obvious reasons John Williams got the opportunity to score music for this Japanese film. I always wondered how it would sound if JW writes south East Asian music and now I know how it would. Actually I liked his similar work in “Seven Years in Tibet” very much. JW scores mostly include heroic timpani, trumpets, and brass and string section dominating the orchestra. But for this movie, JW has given a dark, quiet, intimate score that beautifully brings out the emotions and also the sound of the place in which the drama is set in.

Yo-Yo Ma has played the Solo Cello pieces and Itzhak perlman has played (who played the haunting solo violin pieces in Schindlers' list) violin pieces with other traditional Asian instruments and minimal symphonic string orchestra supporting them aptly. Listen to the 1-minute audio clip of all the tracks here. This is a must buy album for any JW fan. I can’t wait to get hold of this CD but really don’t know whether it would be released in India. Not a surprise to know that this score has been nominated for Golden Globe awards thie year.