The Sessions

Marco Beltrami

 
" As delicate as can be "

Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release

The Sessions (originally titled The Surrogate) was one of the hits at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012, and actress Helen Hunt was later nominated for the Academy Awards for her role as sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene. For the music, Marco Beltrami was chosen. Lately Marco has been showing his diversity in many different genres, with often extremely pleasing results. The Sessions is a short but lovely expansion to that diversity.

The quirky delight of "Newcast", the cold emotion of a piano that shows how difficult "Breathing" can be for Mark or the lovely woodwinds and solo violin in the delicate blossoming "Casanova's Kiss", The Sessions shows you immediately Beltrami's diversity and intentions. Something that comes together in the tantalizing "Amanda Reckonwith". The Sessions is in its entirety a small lovely little score, often addressing its delicate emotions through solo instruments. That delicate piano, that heart breaking violin every time we hear it, the soft woodwinds or the eerie use of electronic accompaniment. Not much is needed to create a delicate balance between near death and the will to keep on living.

The most beautiful tracks of this short selection then have to be "Coffee Date" and "Mark's Kiss", with a close second place for "Last Date" for its heartbreaking sadness. All in all, The Sessions is mostly calm and emotional mood. So you have to be in a certain kind of mood to fully appreciate this score. But the melodic intentions easily fulfill that listen with ease after that. It's not Marco Beltrami at his most innovating, but it's Marco Beltrami at his most intimate instead.

Favorite Moment - Mark's Kiss (0.09 - 1.58)
That heart breaking violin performing the delicate main theme in probably the most beautiful track

Track Listing

1. Newscast (1.31)
2. Breathing (2.06)
3. Casanova's Kiss (2.27)
4. Amanda Reckonwith (2.09)
5. Rejection (1.18)
6. Priest Blessing (1.08)
7. Hair Trigger (1.53)
8. Boy At The Beach (1.33)
9. Coffee Date (3.17)
10. Last Date (1.25)
11. Love Poem (2.35)
12. You Forgot This (1.02)
13. Mark's Kiss (1.58) Excellent track

Total Length: 24.22
(click to rate this score)  
 
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(total of 10 votes - average 3.75/5)

Released by

Lakeshore Records LKS343082 (regular release 2012)