Enduring Love

Enduring Love is from a novel by Ian McEwan, starring Daniel Craig and Rhys Ifans and directed by Roger Michell, who has a curious selection of credits including, amazingly, Notting Hill, but also the Ben Affleck thriller Changing Lanes. Given that he has worked with Trevor Jones and David Arnold, respectively, the choice of the rather less well known Jeremy Sams for Enduring Love may seem strange, but they previously worked together on Persuasion for which he won a BAFTA. However, most of his work is for the stage, notably as a director, but also in adapting works.

Despite its deceptively cosy title, Enduring Love focuses on obsession following a slightly surreal incident involving a hot air balloon. In the pleasingly detailed liner notes, Sams notes that the director didn't want too much commentary on the obsession, rather more a background edginess. The result is, in some ways, almost an old fashioned horror score of unsettling strings, but with, as the track titles suggest, some moments of pastorale calm. About the closest comparison would be the City music from Psycho which is every bit as disquieting as the better known parts of Herrmann's classic. Although much is on a fairly intimate level, the two Passacaglias, together with the closing passages of A Drunken Conversation with Myself wind up the tension with a repeating figure onto which Sams piles layers of sound and musical stress.

The Finale is like a musical exhalation where all the built up tension is let out in a final blow out and some of the musical lines are allowed to resolve rather than going round and round in circles. If all that sounds a bit unbearable then rest assured that Enduring Love is a finely crafted piece of work and a surprisingly enjoyable listen, about the only complaint one could level is that it is a touch repetitive, although this is a side effect of its compositional style than any lack of imagination. A finely crafted work, with splendid packaging and notes.