Articles
Spotlight 17
Anneli Drecker

Albums
Aegri Somnia
Susan Alcorn
Damián Anache
A Sides and Makoto
Heather Woods Broderick
Atrium Carceri
Robert Crouch
Anneli Drecker
David Evans
Finland
Anne Garner
Tania Giannouli
Peter Gregson
Grönnert and Mondfish
Emily Hall
Hidden Orchestra
Hior Chronik
Hilde Marie Holsen
Inner8
Joyfultalk
Deborah Martin
Scott Miller
Monkey Plot
Kate Moore
Mr. Jones
Nicolay
NOW Ensemble
Numina + Zero Ohms
Oiseaux-Tempête
Kristoffer Oustad
Pete Oxley & Nicolas Meier
Peptalk
Qluster
Bruno Sanfilippo
Maria Schneider
Dirk Serries
Stratosphere
Robert Scott Thompson
Skydive Trio
Time Being
toy.bizarre / EMERGE
T_st & Dronelock
Kamasi Washington
Andrew Weathers
XaDu
Yen Pox
Young & Martin
ZOFO

EPs / Cassettes / DVDs / Mini-Albums / Singles
Alex Agore
Bird People / Waterflower
Kaison
Lullatone
Donna McKevitt
M. Mucci
Nattavaara Rocks
Zenwan

Peter Gregson: A Little Chaos
Milan Records

The orchestral score cellist Peter Gregson composed for A Little Chaos (directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet, Stanley Tucci, and Rickman, among others) adheres to a number of conventions associated with the soundtrack genre: most of the recording's sixteen pieces are in the one- to three-minute range and therefore designed to complement the film's scenes; a broad emotional range is encompassed by the material in keeping with the presumed emotional contrasts of the film's narrative content; and so evocative are Gregson's settings that one can hazard a pretty good guess as to the kind of scene they're accompanying even if one hasn't viewed the film. That's helped along by a measured musical trajectory that climaxes in the soundtrack's longest setting, the rousing title track, fittingly sequenced so that it's followed by a credits-accompanying outro.

But that Gregson conforms to said conventions is no black mark against the soundtrack. The musical material is orchestrally lush and, in keeping with the story, suitably exquisite. too. In the film, a female landscape-gardener is awarded the assignment of constructing the grand gardens at Versailles, a position that naturally puts her at the very center of the court of King Louis XIV. One imagines that a little chaos, romantic and otherwise, might very easily arise, given such a set of circumstances. In its formal classical tone, Gregson's strings-heavy soundtrack sits very comfortably alongside those Italian composer Dario Marianelli created for Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), and Anna Karenina (2012) film treatments.

Strong conveyors of mood, the settings range from pensive vignettes for piano and strings to episodes dramatic and agitated by comparison. At one moment, strings swell to an emotional height; at another, piano playing suggests a character's introspective yearning. The music is refreshingly free of bombast, and Gregson exercises admirable restraint in his arrangements. No more than two to three instruments appear in a given piece, resulting in music of remarkable delicacy (“Don't Ask Me” and “The Music Comes from the Heavens” representative examples). Sadness, wonder, regret, anticipation, excitement, joy, triumph—all are brought to vivid life in Gregson's forty-two-minute score.

July-August 2015