Continuing with our catch-up of weekly recommended scores, here’s a round-up of scores – all from documentaries – that caught my attention over the week ending, 30th December 2022.
Queen of Hearts (2022) – Cato Hoeben (Cato Hoeben)
A recent winner of the “Original Score for a Documentary Feature/Short Film/Series” award at our 10th Reel Music Awards, Cato Hoeben’s score for the documentary feature, Queen of Hearts (dir. Chema Ramos) is a strong documentary score. The film’s subject is Larissa Swirski, a spy of Nazi Germany who became a double agent working for the British. Hoeben balances the competing aspects that’s featured in many documentaries: conveying the emotional aspects of the story without becoming overly dramatic. Here, the composer focuses predominantly on using a small string ensemble (supported by piano and woodwinds) in ways which are constantly interesting. The use of lower register strings gives the whole album a feeling of dread but it’s subtly done so as not to detract from the overall listening experience.
Aurora’s Sunrise (2022) – Christine Aufderhaar (MusicHub)
Aurora’s Sunrise (dir. Inna Sahakyan) is an animated documentary feature that combines animation, interviews, and archival footage to tell the story of Armenian Aurora Mardiganian who witnessed the murder of her entire family during the Armenian Genocide in 1915, before fleeing to America and becoming a Hollywood silent star. As with Cato Hoeben and his score for Queen of Hearts, Swiss-born composer Christine Aufderhaar does a good job of scoring the various aspects of this documentary (i.e., dramatic, interview, archival footage), using various sections (and combined talents) of the the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra to convey the personal and broader aspects of Mardiganian’s experiences.
State Organs (2023) – Daryl Bennett (Records DK)
Daryl Bennett’s award-winning score for the Canadian documentary feature, State Organs (dir. Raymond Zhang), focuses on the heartbreaking emotional consequences of the film’s subject, only occasionally reminding us musically of the region-specific setting. The documentary’s focus is on two Chinese families who each saw the loss of a family member caught up in state-sponsored organ-harvesting. Extended periods of tense string-dominated music combine with more forceful orchestral interludes to follow the personal stories that have wider, country-wide ramifications. Although tinged with a powerful emotional quality, Bennett’s score does offer some hopeful resolution with a powerful conclusion to the 55-minute album.
Reel Music 