Featuring Original Music Composed by Rachel Portman
Varèse Sarabande will release the THEIR FINEST – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on April 7th and CD April 21, 2017. The soundtrack features the original music composed by Academy Award® Winner Rachel Portman (EMMA, CHOCOLAT) along with ‘pub classics’ performed by the actors, including Bill Nighy’s lilting rendition of “Will You Go, Lassie, Go.”
“THEIR FINEST is set in 1940s London during the Blitz. The music is a mixture of orchestral wistful, thematic, at times up tempo underscore with themes for Catrin, the protagonist, and for the war,” Portman described. “One of the main features of the score is the film score for the film within the film, ‘The Nancy Starling.’ I had to create a film score of the period, which ended up being very enjoyable to write.”
With London emptied of its men now fighting at the Front, Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) is hired by the British Ministry of Information as a “slop” scriptwriter charged with bringing “a woman’s touch” to morale-boosting propaganda films. Her natural flair quickly gets her noticed by dashing movie producer Buckley (Sam Claflin) whose path would never have crossed hers in peacetime. As bombs are dropping all around them, Catrin, Buckley and a colorful crew work furiously to make a film that will warm the hearts of the nation. Although Catrin’s artist husband looks down on her job, she quickly discovers there is as much camaraderie, laughter and passion behind the camera as there is onscreen.
British composer Rachel Portman became the first female composer to win an Academy Award®, which she received for the score of EMMA. She was also the first female composer to win a Primetime EMMY® Award, which she received for the film, BESSIE. She has received two further Academy Nominations for THE CIDER HOUSE RULES and CHOCOLAT, which also earned her a Golden Globe Nomination.
Rachel has written over 100 scores for film, television and theatre, including THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, OLIVER TWIST, HART’S WAR, ONLY YOU, THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE, BELOVED, BENNY AND JOON, LIFE IS SWEET, NEVER LET ME GO, GREY GARDENS, THE DUCHESS, ONE DAY, THE VOW, SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN, THE LAKE HOUSE, INFAMOUS, MONA LISA SMILE, HUMAN STAIN, CHOCOLAT, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, BELLE, DOLPHIN TALE 2, BESSIE, RACE and A DOG’S PURPOSE. Rachel has written an opera of Saint Exupery’s, “The Little Prince” for Houston Grand Opera as well as a musical of “Little House on the Prairie.” For the BBC Proms concerts, Rachel was commissioned to write “The Water Diviner”, a dramatic choral symphony. She composed an orchestral piece entitled ‘Endangered’ performed at the World Environment Day Concert, at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing. Rachel was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2010 and is an honorary fellow of Worcester College, Oxford.
TRACKLIST
1. Catrin Goes To The Ministry (:57)
2. I’d Miss You (2:03)
3. Catrin Grieves (1:48)
4. Writing Uncle Frank (2:04)
5. Kiss (2:04)
6. Nancy Starling Part 1 (2:29)
7. Nancy Starling Part 2 (2:46)
8. Catrin Rewrites The Ending (1:01)
9. Heavy Rescue (1:20)
10. On The Dunes (1:21)
11. Ambrose is Cast (:55)
12. They Can’t Black Out The Moon (1:29)
Performed by Stephanie Hyam & Claudia Jessie
Rachel Portman, piano
13. Mortuary (1:28)
14. Buckley Talks About His Dad (1:39)
15. Tower Falls (2:29)
16. Boarding House (1:40)
17. Make It A Happy One (2:30)
18. Red Sails In The Sunset (3:11)
Performed by Charlie Kunz, His Piano & The Casani Club Orchestra
19. Will You Go, Lassie, Go (2:08)
Performed by Bill Nighy
Rachel Portman, piano
