The talented Mr. Ripley - 25th anniversary expanded edition

In collaboration with Warner Chappell Music, Sony Music and Paramount Pictures, Music Box Records proudly presents the remastered and expanded edition of Gabriel Yared’s score for the 1999 thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, Cold Mountain, Breaking and Entering).

Nominated for five Academy Awards (including Best Original Score, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay), this movie about a desperately murderous quest for identity, class and love was based on the most notorious character created by author Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train). Previously adapted as Purple Noon with Alain Delon, Anthony Minghella’s version gave a new, tragically vulnerable take on the character, who insinuates himself among jazz loving expatriates (Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow), only to kill the brother he’d always wanted and assume his identity, all while trying to keep his illusion of innocence at any cost.

Taking his lush Oscar-winning approach for The English Patient in a new direction to capture both the beat jazz era of the film’s 1959 setting alongside a multi-thematic approach that plays both Ripley’s increasingly psychotic quest for the good life and the wounded, child-like boy that yearns for love and purpose. The score combining striking orchestral melody with suspenseful rhythm, eerie female voices and the music of a dark lullaby (as personified by its title song by Sinéad O’Connor), The Talented Mr. Ripley is a masterpiece of dark romance and suspense that’s a highlight of Yared’s acclaimed collaborations with Anthony Minghella.

Celebrating the film's 25th anniversary, this new expanded edition, supervised by Gabriel Yared, has been assembled and remastered from the recording session elements. Disc 1 ("The Film Score") presents the expanded film score with previously unreleased cues. Disc 2 ("The Extras") presents excerpts from the original Sony album, Yared’s demo cues and numerous instrumental tracks that highlight the alternative presentations and edits of the score. The CD comes with a 16-page booklet with liner notes by Daniel Schweiger, who discusses the film and the score including new comments by Gabriel Yared on his career-defining work with Anthony Minghella and film editor Walter Murch. The CD release is limited to 2000 units.

Tracklist