Georges Delerue wrote brilliantly for a whole variety of films, but of course it is for his romantic writing that he is best-remembered.  Seemingly able to conjure up lush, passionate, beautiful melodies at will, countless films were blessed with his astonishing romantic music.  A Summer Story was a relatively low-profile British movie from 1988, directed by Piers Haggard and starring Imogen Stubbs and James Wilby.  Delerue was inspired by both the stunning Devon landscapes and the film's tale of forbidden love in pre-WW1 England.

Delerue sets out his stall very early on.  The first cue, "Love in the Loft", features one of his stunningly beautiful love themes.  Indelible, unmistakable Delerue.  Imbued with the unmistakable air of tragedy, the theme is chock-full of emotion and feeling.  Nobody could do it quite like the French maestro, and in all likelihood nobody ever will.  Over the course of what follows, further themes are introduced, mostly in somewhat short tracks, but despite their brevity, each is perfectly constructed and leaves an impression.

Tales of forbidden love must of course feature some sadder music at some point, and here we get it in "Abandoned", at five minutes the longest cue on the album, an exquisite piece of music perfectly conjuring up images of anguish and pain, still based around the melodic ideas of the rest of the score, but presenting them in an entirely different setting.

The soundtrack was released by Virgin at the time of the film's release fifteen years ago and is now, predictably, virtually impossible to find.  But anybody who is as enraptured as I by the music of Georges Delerue is strongly advised to remortgage their house or sell their grandmother if they have to, this is one of his classics.  

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