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84 CHARING CROSS ROAD
Lovely romance score brims with charm
A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Music composed by
GEORGE FENTON

Rating
* * * *



Performed by
UNNAMED ORCHESTRA
led by
GAVYN WRIGHT
conducted by
GEORGE FENTON
Oboe d'amore
MICHAEL JEANS
Kantele, dulcimer
JOHN LEACH
Irish flute
ANDY FINDON

Orchestration
GEORGE FENTON
ROBERT STEWART
JOHN WARREN

Engineered by
KEITH GRANT
Produced by
GEORGE FENTON

Album running time
37:06

Released by
VARESE SARABANDE CD CLUB
Catalog number
VCL 0307 1062

Album cover copyright (c) 1987 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.; review copyright (c) 2007 James Southall

A gentle romance aimed at an intelligent, adult audience, no film like 84 Charing Cross Road would be made today, just 20 years later.  Anne Bancroft plays a lonely New York woman who enters into correspondence with a London bookseller, played by Anthony Hopkins.  They send letters to each other for years, without actually meeting.  A charming, warm film, it is certainly worthy of your time, but seems so sedate in today's world it's untrue.

George Fenton was perfect casting for the film.  His film composing career was still in relative infancy at the time, but his wonderfully rich, romantic music is ideal for this film.  The opening title music is splendid - wistful, full of longing, and unashamedly "English" in a way little film music, even by English composers, has been for fifty years.  It's a lovely little portrait of postwar London, and the theme is further expanded in even more romantic fashion in the utterly gorgeous "Book of Love Poems", one of the most attractive pieces of Fenton's career.

There isn't the lush sentiment familiar from Fenton's Hollywood romances here, though - it is full instead of gentle charm.  The piano solo of "Dear Speed" could tug far more heartstrings than any wall of strings ever could.  Fenton cleverly contrasts the very English nature of the music for the London scenes with equally-charming, but slightly jazzier music for the New York sections, with more than a hint of Gershwin gently interwoven.  Perhaps the finest piece is "Pilgrimage - Helene and Frank", a profoundly moving performance of the main theme on Irish flute with subtle dulcimer backing.

This is wonderfully mature, rich, rewarding music.  It is not the kind of sweeping romantic score which would appeal to many, but perhaps the English equivalent of those wonderfully charming Elmer Bernstein romance scores.  It's not what you might call subtle, but it is full of charm and grace, evidencing Fenton's deft touch, an old-fashioned score full of a kind of innocence.  A truly beautiful album, issued by Varese Sarabande on LP when the film came out, and now on CD thanks to their CD Club.

Tracks

  1. Fanfare / The Journey (3:02)
  2. Book of Love Poems (2:03)
  3. Marks and Co (1:09)
  4. Dear Speed (1:39)
  5. Christmas Gift, 1949 (1:32)
  6. Nora Writes (1:47)
  7. Corelli: Church Sonata in A (1:58)
  8. Pilgrimage - Helene and Frank (2:28)
  9. The Wedding (1:47)
  10. The Subway (:38)
  11. Love Between Friends (1:46)
  12. Tread Softly... (2:05)
  13. Helene's First Letter (1:45)
  14. Business as Usual (1:31)
  15. Festival of Britain Conga (:51)
  16. Daydream / Meeting Ginny and Ed (2:01)
  17. The Move, 1958 (1:41)
  18. New Year, 1960 (1:52)
  19. Hopes Fade / Condolence (1:18)
  20. Love Between Friends (reprise) (3:58)
    21.