Correspondence Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score Correspondence by Ennio Morricone.

Buy the score here (if available)

At a glance:

Geek Score: 92.5
Total Minutes Of Excellence: 48.4
Album Excellence: 74.4%

How are the scores calculated and what does it mean?

Correspondence AKA La Corrispondenza is an English language 2016 Italian romantic drama film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and starring Olga Kurylenko, Jeremy Irons and Shauna Macdonald. The Correspondence tells the tale of love and loss, a story of Amy (Olga Kurylenko), a young PhD student who takes excessive risks in her paid work as a stuntwoman. Her specialties are the action scenes, the acrobatics full of suspense, the danger that in fiction would typically end with the death of the double. It is through her relationship with an older astrophysics professor (Jeremy Irons) that she learns to reconcile past and present and face life’s vicissitudes. The score is composed by Ennio Morricone.

It’s allowed to be a bit excited about this one because Tornatore and Morricone are back together again. Hailed as one of the best director/composer relationships of all time which has given us movies and scores like The Other Woman, Cinema Paradiso and Malena. So yeah, a little bit excited about this one. The score opens with ‘La Casa Sul Lago’, a long 7-minute love letter to romantic Morricone and what can be better than that? I remember the first time I heard Cinema Paradiso how it just became THE score for romantic adventures. This is just what Morricone can do and does. This 7+ minute piano cue is all you need to rekindle that lost romantic flame of yours. Not that my flame needed rekindling, but this is wonderful it really is. It isn’t an epic romantic venture, more of a minimalistic one, but that just allows the music and theme to come out more powerful.

There’s a reason Morricone should do lengthy cues and the proof is right here. The opening cue was 7+ minutes but the second cue ‘Una Stella, Miliardi Di Stelle’ is 13+ minutes and like the opening cue, the piano is used quite a bit, but it adds to the musical spectre with some dark and deep guitar. The piano ostinato is simple but oh so beautiful when combined with that guitar. It’s soft, it’s emotional, it’s Morricone (and Tornatore) in top form. Speaking of guitar, check out ‘Improvvisazione in Sol’ which has a great solo guitar that reminds me a bit of Zimmer’s Thelma & Louise. It has that same road trip feeling, that feeling of vast open landscapes. Quite beautiful. Tornatore said in a recent interview that it was a bit hard for Morricone to adjust because they agreed that they would use electronics in the score and I guess ‘Stuntgirl’ is that cue. Not the best cue on the score, and it’s sounding like a modern action piece. I much prefer the romantic side of this score like ‘Due Camere In Hotel’. Now that to me signifies beautiful music.

This is no Cinema Paradiso beater, but this is a damn fine score, one of the better scores I will hear in 2016 no doubt. It’s Morricone and Tornatore is top form and that’s a momentous event that shouldn’t be missed.

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. La Casa Sul Lago *
2. Una Stella, Miliardi Di Stelle
3. Improvvisazione in Sol
5. Due Camere In Hotel
6. La Corrispondenza
8. Il Ritorno Di Una Stella
10. Una Luce Spenta
11. Parabola Astratta
12. Calco
16. Disperata Chitarra