MINT Craig Armstrong Love Actually Original Motion Picture Score Promo CD RARE!

Description: Love Actually Original Motion Picture Movie Score Very Rare Official Universal 8-Track Promotional CD 2003 BAFTA Awards “For Your Consideration” Release for Best Original Score Music Composed, Orchestrated, and Conducted by Craig Armstrong Like New & in Mint Condition* Shipped FREE the Same or Next Day! *Since this is an awards promo and was never commercially available, the CD was manufactured and issued without any front inlay booklet. It only contains an interior back tray insert with the album’s track list. By 2003's adorable Love Actually, the team of writer/director Richard Curtis and producer Duncan Kenworthy had proven their mastery of the British romantic comedy. Following their success with Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones' Diary, they turned a $25 million budget for Love Actually into nearly $250 million in worldwide grosses (the mass majority of which coming from outside of America, where the film's charm didn't connect as well). It was the kind of production nominated for ensemble cast awards, featuring a screenplay that examines romance in contemporary times through several love affairs and marriages that cross nearly every conceivable socio-political boundary. Familiar names carry both the lead roles and cameo appearances throughout the picture, led by crowd (and critic) favorites Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, and Hugh Grant. So authentic are the depictions of each couple's struggles and triumphs that Love Actually is a rare entry in the genre that sidesteps the cheese factor almost entirely. The soundtrack for the film was also well managed; like all of the Curtis films of this variety, an intelligent combination of classic and contemporary rock songs were licensed for prominent placement in mostly transitional scenes. Leading these songs were the Pointer Sisters' "Jump" for an entertaining scene with Grant and Dido's "Here With Me," a song for a moment of solitude on the streets that was experiencing an explosion in popularity at the time. Unlike the aforementioned Curtis films, though, Love Actually also gave a prominent role for an original score. Although these films had included work from names as popular in London as Patrick Doyle and Trevor Jones, the production turned to Glasgow's own Craig Armstrong for this assignment. Given Armstrong's success in building bridges between sensitive, intimate underscores and his extensive experience as an arranger of accompaniment for pop songs, not to mention the high that he was still enjoying from the monumental success of his compositional and arrangement work for the phenomenal Moulin Rouge, he was a smart choice for the job. Armstrong's score for Love Actually, despite a short overall running time, occupies some of the most poignant scenes in the film, underlining both the incredible sorrow of some of the storylines while offering jubilant, fully orchestral exuberance for others. The twenty minutes of highlighted material that Armstrong provides to Love Actually was so effective, in fact, that its three most engaging themes became a strong accompaniment to the rock songs for the demographic of women most interested in the film and soundtrack. Despite Universal's attempt in America to push the score for major awards consideration, Armstrong was shut out of that season across the board, likely due to his contribution's short running time and its placement in the shadow of the songs. Still, for enthusiasts of the composer's relatively sparse but fruitful output in the first ten years of his film scoring career, Love Actually is a lovable entry with eight to ten minutes of music that belongs on any compilation of light orchestral romance. Three of the major relationships receive consistent thematic development, led by the Glasgow theme for the bittersweet, doomed interaction between Knightley's character and her new husband's best friend. This piano piece is pure Armstrong at his best, devastatingly lovely in a tragic sense, using descending lines much like the love theme for Christian and Satine in Moulin Rouge. It's also the best known track from the score, the only one to appear on all of the commercial song compilations for Love Actually. Joining it is the Portuguese theme representing Colin Firth's funny interactions with his Portuguese chambermaid, culminating in a full-ensemble, grand expression in the restaurant proposal scene. The most surprising theme in Love Actually is the one of stately stature for Grant's Prime Minister, reminiscent of the broadly realized excitement in a political environment that Marc Shaiman so memorably wrote for An American President. Heard briefly in "Press Conference," this distinctly British theme at the height of its orchestral bombast erupts for extended treatment in the latter half of "Joanna Drives Off," summarized in a slightly altered form as "PM's Love Theme" on the European song compilation album. With the full statements of these themes occupying roughly seven minutes of running time, the remainder of the score generally reprises these ideas in less obvious incarnations. The piano is, as usual for Armstrong, the heart and soul of Love Actually's score, though it is joined by acoustic guitar and strings for appropriate depth (the composer performs most of the solos on piano and guitar). The only notable brass and percussion usage comes in the two renditions of the Prime Minister's theme. The full twenty minutes is pleasant even in the most contemplative moments. Armstrong enthusiasts didn't receive much satisfaction from the American song compilation album for Love Actually (only the "Glasgow Love Theme" appeared on this product), but the European variation, targeted at the greater mass of viewers of the film, rearranged the songs considerably (adding and omitting some) and appended three Armstrong score cues representing the seven minutes of the three major themes at the end. These truly are the highlights of Armstrong's score, making the European song and score combination album a recommended product for fans of the film. For film score collectors, Universal offered the score's twenty minutes on an official "for your consideration" promotional pressing aimed at AMPAS members. The sound quality of the promo is slightly muted compared to the cues presented on the song compilations, but simple volume adjustment can solve most of this problem. On the promo, the "Restaurant" track mirrors the "Portuguese Love Theme" from the European song album, and the "Mark's Video" track likewise mirrors "Glasgow Love Theme." As previously mentioned, there was some editing involved in cutting "Joanna Drives Off" down to the version of "PM's Love Theme" on the song album, and the promo really exists for listeners who want the extra performances of this robust idea. The "Glasgow Love Theme" also appeared on a short-printed Armstrong compilation in 2005 and a Ghent Film Festival compilation souvenir in 2007. The cue "Restaurant Proposal" additionally appears on the latter. It's surprising and disappointing that the highlight of the score, so clearly the Prime Minister's theme in full performance, doesn't represent the score on these compilations and the American song album, for it is truly among the most satisfying single themes of 2003. For some collectors, the score for Love Actually will seem insignificant. It is, indeed, a scant lightweight. But its impact on the enjoyable film is more memorable than most others in this genre, earning Armstrong well deserved recognition for working his original music so effectively into environments otherwise dominated by songs. This is "warm and fuzzy" of the best kind. Tracklist Time 1. On the Beach 1:00 2. Total Agony 1:59 3. Press Conference 2:02 4. Mark's Video 2:07 5. Jamie Leaves Aurelia 2:47 6. Natie Revealed 1:52 7. Joanna Drives Off 6:04 8. Restaurant 3:03 Total Time: 20:54 Released: 2003 by Universal StudiosItem: Does Not Apply (Promo)UPC: N/AMade in the U.S.A.Like New & in Near Mint ConditionShipped FREE the Same or Next Day!

Price: 175 USD

Location: Whitehall, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2025-02-09T03:36:48.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD