The late, great Georges Delerue wrote many great scores for distinctly substandard Hollywood movies, but one of the few American movies he scored in his last decade to gain much critical recognition was Agnes of God, Norman Jewison's story of a murder mystery in a nunnery, starring Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly.  It netted three Oscar nominations - for Bancroft, Tilly and Delerue.  It actually turned out to be Delerue's last Oscar nomination (losing to Out of Africa) and certainly counts as one of his finest scores.

Delerue had a unique gift to touch the heart and soul of the listener, but surely he can never have delved into the soul in such a deeply spiritual way as in Agnes of God.  Based on a core of outstanding orchestral and choral themes, this is some of the most expressive and touching music he wrote in his long and extraordinary career.  Obviously the setting of the movie called for religious-sounding music, but nothing here is specifically Catholic or even Christian, it's just written in a way that allows the listener to connect with some underlying spirituality within himself.

Aside from the two deeply moving main themes, which each appears a couple of times, there's some surprisingly effective more dramatic material, with choir and orchestra, and a beautiful piece for solo choirboy.

Agnes of God was one of three scores released by Varese in 1993 as a memorial to Delerue, and it features a deeply personal and moving note from producer Robert Townson about his own friendship with the great composer.  There was truly never a composer so able to touch me on so personal a level, and Agnes of God - with its stunning finale, especially - is arguably his most touching score.  Whatever your religious beliefs, this is a score that will bring you closer to whatever god you believe in, a great masterpiece of film music that is an essential part of any serious collection.

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