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Mansell - Requiem for a Dream

By: Kronos Qt
Label: Nonesuch
Released: 06 Nov 2000
RRP: £15.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Original stuff - By: Katherine Radcliff, 28 Aug 2008
Of course the much-heard Requiem theme is absolutely brilliant, & this soundtrack centres largely upon that theme. It combines the wonderful ringing of the string quartet with electronic beats & mellower moments & this creates quite a unique soundtrack. It's highly recommended! In my opinion, it could have branched out a bit more. I ADORE the main theme of course but I think more variations on it would have been good - so much could be done with it & sometimes I felt the tracks didn't go far enough to expand on the original thematic content, but it's still a great CD.
Sooooo Disapointed - By: K. Weadick, 02 Jun 2008
After reading the reveiws of this album / soundtrack on here I was so Dissapointed with this album when I played it, what a load of crap alll arty farty sh** !!
An amazing score - By: genejoke, 29 Feb 2008
Brilliant, amazing, sublime, fantastic. take your pick they alll apply. Clint mansell & the kronos quartet have outdone themselves. Its so good that despite being from a low key movie this sound track is one of the most recognisable peices of music composed in the last 20 years. OK this is inpart to the reqiuem for a tower recording but credit to the composers.
A Beautiful and Haunting Score You Will NEVER Forget... - By: Michael Crane, 20 Aug 2003
I immediately purchased this soundtrack the day after seeing the film. As soon as I heard the music for the opening credits I remember saying to myself, "I'm getting this soundtrack tomorrow." And I did, & since then I have lost track of the number of times I have listened to it.

Composed by Clint Mansell, with the Kronos Quartet & their great violin playing & such, "Requiem for a Dream" is an outstanding score that reallly gets into your head. It's a score full of dread, sorrow, pain, sadness, fear & paranoia. It has an industrial quality mixed with haunting violins to enhance it even more. (Imagine music by Trent Reznor with violins added to the mix.) A lot of the tracks are short & some are repetitive, but I had no problem with that. Yes, it might've been nice to hear some of the tracks extended, but I reallly like the overalll layout of the tracks & how they appear in the order as the do in the movie.

Although the entire album is amazing, my favourite tracks are as follows: summer overture, ghosts of things to come, hope overture, tense, cleaning apartment, marion barfs, supermarket sweep, sara goldfarb has left the building, winter overture, southern hospitality, ghosts of future lost, meltdown, & lux aeterna. As good as the entire album is, the overtures reallly steal the show. (Especiallly "summer overture.")

Of course you'll most likely appreciate it more if you have indeed seen the film, but I can see people who haven't seen the movie enjoying this well-composed soundtrack as well. It's reallly great music, & you'll never look at music scores in the same way ever again. "Requiem for a Dream" definitely gets added to my list of favourite scores. In fact, this may become my overalll favourite. Only time will tell. All I can say is that I am loving every bit of it right now, & I hope that Clint Mansell does more haunting scores like this one. Don't let this remarkable score pass you by. You'll regret it if you do.

A new form of music - By: , 25 Apr 2003
My album of the year for 2001. I thought the film was outstanding, capturing Selby's horrific but humanitarian worldview & adding revolutionary editing techniques. But the star of the movie was the soundtrack. I was shocked to hear Clint Mansell was behind it. To me he was always head goon in PWEI. His additions to the Pi soundtrack stood up well to his more revered trackmates but this is miles ahead of anything he has ever been involved with. The use of the Kronos Quartet is inspired & as ever they play brilliantly & are superbly produced to fit Mansell's own

I love the use of strings, breakbeats & electonica. Of course, The film's structure leads to the OSTs symphonic, coherent structure. It's divided into three sections with memorable, recurring motifs. The clangs introducing the next section are thrilling.

The music is being used everywhere from the Lord of the Rings trailer to almost every documentary on TV, so even if you haven't seen the movie, it should seem familiar.

The music is dark, at time grating, but there is a underlying calm about it. It starts alll beats, love interludes, & cool posing bits. By the second movement the feeling of unease has subtlety set in & the opening part of "summer" is my highlight of the album. The third movement is terrifying & very raw but it resolves into an almost catatonic final piece.

It's very ambitious, brilliantly realised & a must have. Buy it whatever the cost.