Did George Fenton have a good year in 1998 or what?! First Ever After and The Object of My Affection, plus a couple of other scores, and then the score for Dangerous Beauty, which simply have to be one of the most enhjoyable and wonderful scores of 1998. Every track on this album is a pure delight listening to, from the opening cue "Venice Proud and pretty", with its soft acoustic guitar solo, to the lush "The Verdict/End Titles".
The score contains a wide variety of different styles - from the already mentioned guitar solos, to playfull music (dominated by bouncy strings and woodwinds) and sweeping romantic music at its best. Add a dash of period sounding music, mostly inspired by Renaissance music, and you get a score it's hard not to love.
Like Ever After, Fenton's music for Dangerous Beauty is brimful with wonderful themes. There is the beautiful, and melodic guitar theme in "Venice Proud and Pretty" - one of the most lyrical themes by Fenton I have ever heard. Then we have the optimistic and pompous theme, with Italian sounding harmonies, in "Marco's Homecoming". In "Job Training/The Library" we are given a wonderful rendition of a lush, sweeping theme, for the first time. The score then goes on like this - new themes are presented, and already established themes are given extensive treatment.
If you haven't heard any score by George Fenton, but want to discover his music, this is the score I recommend you to get first. You won't get disappointed.