The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Music from the Motion Picture)

iTunes Review

The original music for David Fincher’s 2008 drama, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was created by Alexandre Desplat, who has scored numerous French films, not to mention U.S. productions such as Syriana, Hostage, and The Golden Compass. Desplat’s score evokes Debussy, Ravel, and Satie, and there are very subtle touches of jazz as well. (The film’s key location is New Orleans, the birthplace of that definitively American style.) Desplat works wonders with his variations on strong melodic material. For instance, “Children’s Games” foregrounds a harp playing a striking melody; later, on “Benjamin and Daisy,” a piano renders the same theme to haunting effect. “Postcards” finds a slow-moving, mysterious keyboard line fleshed out by a lush arrangement, while “Daisy’s Ballet Career” draws on music associated with the dance form. The second disc contains pop, jazz, and classical pieces that were used in the film along with snippets of dialogue. Jazz masters Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechtel (who plays with great fire on “Out of Nowhere”) are among the featured recording artists.