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Sounds monotonous....

NP: THE GOLDEN BOWL (Richard Robbins)

You can't really go wrong with Robbins. Those slowmoving, circular movements feel like someone's rubbing balsam on your soul. He was doing post-minimalist romanticism long before it was fashion. Richter, Korzeniowski, Desplat, Marianelli etc. -- they all point back to Robbins.

"Gin-based fog"...I love it.

NP: COSI FAN TUTTE (Pino Donaggio)

Outside the tantalizing cover, a delightful sex comedy score that combines synths and orchestra in ways that only Donaggio can (and perhaps Francis Lai). Perhaps a melancholic piano or string line, with discrete, bubbly synths underneath. Also some delightful collision of styles, like the opening track "Mozartiana" - having Mozart's stylings (of the famous opera by the same name) collide with electric guitars, BEVERLY HILLS 91210-style. Love it!

That summarises a larger portion of his resume, even though it often varies in between delightful and dubious, quirkiness on a single body of work. If I were to compile the best of list, even though he has written about 20 absolute masterpieces, the majority consists of fragments of a lot of scores, among them some quirky or influenced by temp.

NP: EN KÄRLEKSHISTORIA (Björn Isfält)

Sadly, as a Roy Andersson fan, I haven't seen this 1970 film of his. But the soundtrack is great. Proto-prog á la Procol Harum with some folk elements thrown in, as always with Björn Isfält's achingly gorgeous, bittersweet orchestral backdrops and variations.

NP: A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER NEVER CRIES (Richard Robbins)

This is one of the Robbinses I always had a bit of trouble getting into. Something about the starkness of the minimalism, I think. But once you weed out the existing songs and pieces, you're left with 32 minutes of score, which means the style doesn't wear out its welcome.

NP: SISTER MARY EXPLAINS IT ALL (Philippe Sarde)

This 2001 score was a major revelation in my recent 'collection expansion'. From the cover, it might look like a cheesy comedy, and perhaps it is. But one shouldn't be fooled by the cover. Remember how WE'RE NO ANGELS, despite its cover, housed a rollicking George Fenton action score? Well, this is no action score. Instead, it's a gorgeous religioso score that channels wonderful, lithurgic choir. No comedy in sight. I'm ALWAYS sold when it comes to this religious sound, so this quickly rocketed into my top 10 Sarde.

NP: DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE (Dave Grusin)

I think this 1967 score is one of the first feature film scores Grusin ever did? In any case, it's a solid album. Loungey, with some sprinkles of orchestral drama and even those quasi-baroque elements I love so much in jazz-centered scores. Kritzerland put it out on CD in 2011.

NP: DOLI SAJA KE RAKHNA (A.R. Rahman)

I like how moody the songs are, for this 1998 movie. Not a lot of aggravating vocals, just running smoothly along. Rahman always has those gorgeous chord modulations.

NP: NOW IT'S DARK (Thomas Dybdahl)

Thomas Dybdahl is primarily known in Norway for his melancholic pop music, but for this 2018 film, he really branced out into dark synth landscapes. Love it.

NP: ANTHOLOGY, VOL. 1 (Eduard Artemiev)

I've managed to procure both of Artemiev's anthologies (11 and 12 CDs, respectively), but only in digital format. I'm now trying to make a "best of" of both volumes, for easier listening. There's some absolutely stunning music in these sets, especially the synth stuff, but also some lovely loungey things.