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Dario Marianelli - Anna Karenina OST: an album guide
Italian movie music maestro Dario Marianelli's score for the latest version of Anna Karenina has been nominated for the BAFTAs and the Oscars - here's our guide.
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1. Overture
Movie composer Dario Marianelli's score for the latest film version of Anna Karenina is a typically sumptuous offering, summed up perfectly in this indulgent Overture - but there is a distinct menace to it that hints at the drama in the narrative...
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2. Clerks
Marianelli's previous scores include Atonement (which also starred Keira Knightley, as does Anna Karenina) and Jane Eyre, suggesting that our Dario perhaps has a fondness for period drama.
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3. She is of the heavens
Keira Knightley plays the title role of the Russian socialite who leaves her husband to try and help save her brother's marriage. Of course, it's not quite as simple as that when Anna arrives in Moscow.
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4. Anna marches into a waltz
As the title suggests, Marianelli's score make full use of the opportunity to use the dance scenes as musical starting points.
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5. Beyond the stage
The role of Anna Karenina has been taken on by dozens of actors over the years, but perhaps the most iconic is Greta Garbo. And Ms Knightley, of course...
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6. Kitty's Debut
In a complex web of relationships, the character of Kitty (Alicia Vikander) is one of the more provocative - at this early point in the film, she is the object of Count Vronsky's affection.
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7. Dance With Me
Another opportunity for Marianelli's luxurious score to take advantage of the various courtly dance scenes for Anna Karenina (Keira Knightley, pictured here with her on-screen long-suffering husband Jude Law).
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8. The Girl and the Birch
Keira Knightley is pictured here with director Joe Wright, who took steps to ensure his version of Anna Karenina visually stood out from many others.
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9. Unavoidable
Despite their attempts to control their feelings, the attraction between Anna and Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is, as the title of this piece suggests, Unavoidable.
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10. Can-Can
Another example of dance being a recurring and important theme in Marianelli's score. More often not, the dance scenes feature the central trio of Keira Knightley, Domnhall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander (pictured here at the premiere).
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11. I don't want you to go
The pleading title of this yearning section of the soundtrack is central to the heartbreak at the core of Anna Karenina.
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12. Time for bed
Director Joe Wright has collaborated with Dario Marianelli twice before, already forging a strong composer/director relationship in the same manner as Spielberg and Williams.
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13. Too Late
Things inevitably start to unravel for Anna Karenina, and Marianelli reflects this in his sensitive score.
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14. Someone is watching
After assuring her husband (played by Jude Law) that she has been completely faithful to him, the truth comes out...
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15. Lost in a maze
As confusion prevails and the characters' various romantic entanglements unravel, Marianelli's score takes on the darker character hinted at in the opening overture.
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16. Leaving Home, Coming Home
Director Joe Wright and Keira Knightley on the set of Anna Karenina, during one of the many travelling scenes.
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17. Masha's Song
The character of Masha in Tolstoy's original novel is small but influential, and the movie version also makes a point of featuring her - especially in this dainty little musical excerpt.
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18. A birthday present
Anna ends up leaving her son and husband on her son's birthday, and the music's high-pitched piano and violin make for a heartbreaking sound.
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19. At the opera
One of the film's most spectacular and important sequences takes place at a grand opera house. Anna, now having left her husband and wary of her lover's behaviour towards other women, chooses to appear in public and hold her head high. Needless to say, it doesn't quite go to plan.
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20. I know how to make you sleep
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who shot to fame after playing the young John Lennon, plays another troubled young man in love in Anna Karenina, taking on the role of Count Vronsky.
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21. Anna's Last Train
We don't want to give anything away, but with a title like that you can be sure that this snippet from Marianelli's score is unlikely to be too cheerful...
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22. I understood something
Matthew Macfayden plays Oblonsky, at first adulterous and after Anna's last train journey is seen to quietly mourn for her.
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23. Curtain
Kitty also undergoes a character transformation, and is humbled by the birth of her son with Levin. The climax of the film is the realisation that it has taken place on a stage (hence the theatrical name and reference).
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24. Seriously
This shuffling jazz number is a confusing end to this block-busting soundtrack - perhaps hinting at the 'all the world's a stage' attitude of the film, purposely trivialising the whole drama. Either, it's a top knockabout tune, and another Marianelli triumph.
