Miss Potter's music draws much of its inspiration from the Cumbrian countryside which features in the love story of Beatrix Potter, played by Renée Zellweger, and her publisher, played by Ewan McGregor. In that respect it shares a common bond with The Queen (1/07) which I liked so much. There, stags dashed over moors; now rabbits hop across fields or are caught in freeze, deftly imitated in the music (tr 3). Miss Potter, though, wears its heart on its sleeve to a greater degree. The song and main theme “When you taught me how to dance”, attractively sung by Katie Melua, is a well crafted tune by Michael Westlake and Mike Batt who co-wrote the lyrics with Richard Maltby Jnr. If the tradition of a title-song is to become common currency once more, this song could spearhead its revival. Westlake beguiles the ear with a lightness of touch in his scoring with the employment of harp, piano and celesta capturing the characters of Peter Rabbit in a thoughtful little study, the Mother in a scurrying scherzo and Jemima Puddle Duck with a simple nursery rhyme tune (1'37" in). The first indication of Potter's personal creative struggle is suggested in his cue “Beatrix and Norman” and developed by Rachel Portman in “Beatrix locks herself away”, where the music takes on a soulful tread. “The Park” (tr 2) is also appealing, with Portman's snatches of clarinet music developing into a rhapsody for the Lakes themselves in tr 14. In this instance, many hands have made light work and produced a winning soundtrack.