Born in Beirut and living in France for many years, Gabriel Yared initially studied law before switching to music studies. He has now been composing music for film and stage for some considerable time. Much of his earlier work has been for the French cinema, but more recently he has established his reputation in Hollywood with some noteworthy scores. The "English Patient" is brim full with wistful romantic love melodies which seem to have a life of their own, spanning time across the film's flashbacks. Against the musical accompaniment, some of these scenes have a serene beauty oblivious to the war being waged elsewhere. You'll find some pieces played by Benny Goodman on the soundtrack and Bach's famous "Aria from the Goldberg Variations" is also used to good effect within the film (popular in film, this also features on "Silence of the Lambs"). The English Patient deservedly won an oscar for the composer, and he was to come close again with nominations for "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain".
"Betty Blue" (called "37*2 Le Matin" for its original French release) is filled with music from an interesting variety of styles (including instruments such as Sax, Harmonica, Piano, Synth and sound effects), yet it is all unified by some common thematic elements.
A documentary film has been released about Yared and his film music called "Music by Gabriel Yared". Check out our review of Music by Gabriel Yared for details of our competition giving you the chance to win a copy of this film on DVD.
Gabriel Yared soundtracks on Amazon.com:
Films by Gabriel Yared:
Tennessee Nights
Beyond Therapy
Wings of Courage
Camille Claudel - a biographical film about the lover of French sculptor Auguste Rodin (played by Gérard Depardieu) with a classical influenced score
L'Amant (The Lover)
Betty Blue - light yet quirky, employing a variety of styles
The English Patient - with an epic feel to the broad emotional love theme
City of Angels
Message in a Bottle
The Talented Mr. Ripley - the soundtrack has both classical and jazz source music and Yared's contibution is to bring a degree of unity to this mix, yet comment on the characters and their hidden motivations
Autumn in New York
Possession
Sylvia
Cold Mountain - simple but moving, and a new departure for Yared with its touch of Americana
Shall we Dance - credited for original music along with John Altman, with many variations on the song "Shall we Dance" from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I"
Breaking and Entering - an ambient musical collaboration with the British duo "Underworld" who specialise in Electronic Music
Recommendations:
The soundtrack to "City of Angels" is available www.amazon.com in the US and www.amazon.co.uk in the UK. The oscar-winning soundtrack to "The English Patient" is also available from www.amazon.com in the US and www.amazon.co.uk in the UK, and the Sheet Music for the same film (also highly recommended) can be found at SheetMusicPlus. Amoung 10 pieces of music from the film, this includes "The English Patient" main theme, and "Rupert Bear" as well as Bach's "Aria from the Goldberg Variations". Gabriel Yared himself has a web-site at www.gabrielyared.com with more in depth information about his projects past and future, including comments about his work on "Troy" which was wasted when he was replaced by James Horner.
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