Neil Jordan's acclaimed Michael Collins tells the tale of the leader of the IRA who founded the Republic of Ireland.  It marked the second time he worked with composer Elliot Goldenthal, and the second time Goldenthal was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for his troubles.  In truth, a nomination was the very least he deserved for this deeply moving, complex musical work.

There are three main ideas, heard consecutively in the first three tracks.  First is a theme usually performed by the (wordless) voice of Sinead O'Connor, a beautiful piece; second is hard-as-nails action music, heard in tracks such as "Fire and Arms", "Football Match", andHis Majesty's Finest".  Finally is what may be termed the "main theme", a beautiful piece for piano and trumpet heard in "Train Station Farewell", "Boland Returns" and "Collins's Proposal".  There is also a little more traditional Irish music thrown in ("Train to Granard") and an original song with words for O'Connor, "She Moved Through the Fair".

Goldenthal has an army of fans but, it seems, an army of detractors as well.  I am very much in the former camp, though I can at times see why the latter camp gets frustrated by his music, since several of his most famous scores do seem to amalgamate so many different styles together that the resulting work can be slightly challenging - I'm thinking of things like Titus and the two Batman scores (all of which I think are brilliant).  But Michael Collins is a coherent, consistent listen, penned by an outstanding composer.  For the more melodic side of Goldenthal (along with some of his hard-edged action music), you can't find a better score.  For my money - a masterpiece.

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