Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Stephen Warbeck

THE film of the book has received mixed reviews. So what of the music of the film of the book?

The cover looks sumptuous - a picturesque Greek pier with Pelagia (Penelope Cruz) and Corelli (Nicolas Cage) indulging in a little light "fraternising" with Cephalonian cliffs in the background.

But the music itself is more delicate and less sweeping than you would think.

It is always difficult to take the soundtrack of a film in isolation of the movie itself - like listening to an opera without the singers acting it out in front of you.

The central theme of Stephen Warbeck's composition is Pelagia's Song, a low-key lilting melody which is first performed in its entirety and then in different snatches until Russell Watson gets his vocal chords around it.

Personally, I think the first is the best.

The rest of the 20-odd tracks split themselves between the "Italian" side of the story - fighting in Albania, battles on Cephalonia, the arrival of the Italians with their lusty singing of Verdi, and the "Greek" side on the island itself.

Apparently Cage trained quite hard to learn how to play the mandolin, and there is a certain amount - perhaps not enough actually - of its trilling on this recording, although here the soloist is virtuoso Giovanni Parricelli.

Solo guitarist

The soundtrack also features solo guitarist Dario Rosetti-Bonell and the La Scala Singers who open their lungs for a rousing version of Lily Marlene.

While Warbeck's score evokes the sleepy, dreamy life of a Greek island extremely well, the soundtrack to "war" is not nearly stirring enough. Of course, it could just be the Italians of Corelli's unit are not stirred much themselves in this land of milk and honey.

A drifty, summer evening CD, or for someone who loves the film.

Decca

467 678-2