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HOWARD SHORE Eastern Promises Sony Classical ****

For almost three decades, composer Howard Shore and director David Cronenberg have collaborated on an idiosyncratic slate of films, from The Fly and Naked Lunch to Crash and A History of Violence. Eastern Promises, Shore's score for Cronenberg's thriller about the Russian Mafia, finds the Canadian composer at his most elegant and restrained. Combining strong themes and spare orchestration (with an emphasis on solo violin performed by Nicole Benedetti) with Russian folk motifs, Shore's dynamic and evocative score gradually reveals an astonishing dramatic complexity beneath its exquisite atmosphere of brooding melancholy. Its effects are less immediate than deliberate, and its power is more visceral than sentimental. Eastern Promises, Shore's 12th Cronenberg score, is one of his best. www.sonybmg masterworks.com JOCELYN CLARKE

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