Che (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

iTunes Review

The Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias has written music for numerous films, including such high profile projects as the The Constant Gardener and The Kite Runner. Iglesias also wrote music for Steven Soderbergh’s 2008 dramatic feature, Che, which details the Argentinean revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s campaigns in Cuba and Bolivia in the 1950s and ’60s. Unlike many film scores, the music for Che doesn’t scream “movie music;” Iglesias’ compositions possess a level of sophistication and sense of subtlety — not to mention a stand-alone integrity — that is rare in the world of soundtracks. His compositions draw on a rich timbral pallet, and the score incorporates dissonant modernism, martial beats, folklorically inflected material, and other sounds. The album closes with a pair of tracks by two popular and politically-inclined Latin American artists. Argentinean nueva canción singer Mercedes Sosa displays her pure voice on “Balderrama,” while the Cuban singer/songwriter Silvio Rodriguez — who has written a number of songs about Guevara — performs a spirited live version of “Fusil Contra Fusil.”