It’s another Monday, but we’re back with another original score that never ceases to stun us. While Sanditon as a series may have ended with the type of heartbreak that makes the show hard to revisit, it’s original score by Ruth Barrett is an addicting beauty.
From the track that serves as the series’ opening theme to “Charlotte and Sidney,” “Blue Shoes,” “Esther Takes the Reins,” “Possibility of Love,” “No Regrets,” and my personal favorite, “Sidney and Charlotte Dance,” the score is a melancholy wonder that features a multitude of tracks that are hard to take off of replay.
Barrett’s compositions are full of such longing that the large part of why the dance in episode six is so special is due to the score moving the story along. The original score encapsulates the playful serenity within the resort town and its residences. There’s a sense of joyous escapism to each of the tracks that makes them both fun and moving to write along to. Yes, I wrote that right, I did mean write (as in what I’m doing right now), if I had a horse or perhaps a carriage, I imagine it’d also be fun to ride along to.
If I’m talking about this score however, I’ve gotta bring back what I said about the dance back in the day too: “The progression of Barrett’s score encompasses the weight of Charlotte and Sidney’s emotions with such momentum it’s enamoring. Disclaimer, I’m no musician, in the same way that medical terminology and I don’t mesh together, describing music properly doesn’t come easy to me. I can only touch on the emotions it evokes in the best way I know how. In simpler terms, it’s one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve ever heard. The melody starts off slow, as does their dance and the choreography behind it, which showcases what it really means when two people securely come together. Slow and steady then explosive and liberating. The dance touches on emotions words could not properly describe by allowing the music and choreography to exhibit the innermost parts of their souls. Yup, we went there. We’re going to talk about souls.” (You can read the full article here.)
And there’s also “Esther Takes the Reins,” which serves the scene it’s set in beautifully and manages to take listeners along with the journey of laugher and freeing joy that’s found in moments that are as liberating as this.
Basically, it’s been a while–we know it has, but this score is still magic and always will be.