After the disappointment of Desplat’s soundtrack for Lust, Caution, he has found renewed inspiration from Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, the first film drawn from the trilogy His Dark Materials. The film did well at the box office in the UK over the Christmas period but lacklustre box-office returns in the US have prompted speculation that the producers, New Line Cinema, who were behind Lord of the Rings, are yet to commit to a second film.

The main themes of the score are presented in the title-track, including a little running figure on harp at 1'17" that evokes a Sibelian world of flickering northern lights and vast empty plains. These themes are presented initially in fragments, suggesting a subtlety and malleability that could be developed should a sequel be produced. The skilfully crafted and beautifully written “Sky Ferry” track that follows features a sextet of distinguished pianists in the lyrical second subject. The piano takes the lead too in the following track, “Letters from Bolvangar”, where an expressive tune is underpinned by harp. Desplat mentions Ellington as an inspiration for this score, which is discernible in the muted brass figure that opens “Lyra, Roger and Billy”, a perky portrait of the three children. In the next number Desplat introduces a Mrs Danvers-like presence for the figure of Mrs Coulter, the children’s charge, portrayed musically by an octave drop on the piano that returns as one of her motifs throughout this soundtrack. Listen out for its metamorphosis into a slow waltz at 2'05" on tr 17, “Ragnar Sturlusson”. The reprise of tunes and their development within the score, sometimes refined, sometimes embellished, makes for a particularly happy listen. I stop just short of giving full marks to this soundtrack since I didn’t feel the composer was so engaged when composing the action sequences and was therefore not so original. Top marks, however, for the recording itself.