The nominal first track opens with a repeated, cool and hypnotic guitar motif, onto which strings are laid. Warbeck curbs his tendency to lay on his string writing too thickly and avoids the kind of sludgy orchestration that makes his scores rather unpalatable at times. The main theme forms over the top of this base and, while not hugely memorable, is a supremely effective counterpoint and moves along nicely upon its pulsing bed. Although it took me some time to realise, the Shakespeare in Love main theme is surprisingly similar in construction - the chugging motif with a longer string melody over the top and, in both cases, the motifs in the underlying pulse are more memorable than the tune itself.
The minimalist approach isn't very strict and several cues are rather low key, notably the shorter ones where, in truth, not a great deal actually happens. They are pleasant enough in a Thomas Newman kind of way, but without much in the way of Newman's ingenious harmony or orchestration. Fortunately, the longer cues take elements of Shearmur's K-Pax, the inevitable Michael Nyman or Philip Glass and perhaps a little Ennio Morricone, notably the jabbing string intrusions. Unfortunately, each appearance of this material is rather similar and almost all of the score's material appears in the lengthy final cue (easily the best on the disc in variety and development) which, ultimately, is the biggest disappointment. Not that the album outstays its welcome, but a little more variety wouldn't have gone amiss.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 41:55