The Green Mile: Score from the Motion Picture

The greatest soundtrack composers have historically performed a musical tightrope act, being called upon to be stylistically inventive yet invitingly familiar, emotionally compelling without being cloying. In modern times, few have risen to the challenge like Thomas Newman. His score for Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's miraculous death row fable is an organic masterpiece, whether Newman is wringing dramatic fury from his orchestra's rhythm and percussion or, as is more often the case here, delicately shading the proceedings with a palette of sounds distinctly his own. Though seasoned with a pinch of period pop and folk music to underscore the film's period and locale, it's Newman's spare, creative soundscapes that become the film's subtle, emotional core. The composer may have grown up in a family (Hollywood's legendary Newman clan) steeped in daunting film-music history, but Newman has gratifyingly created a body of work whose attention to shade and nuance--and their crucial spiritual connections--seem more influenced by Bernard Herrmann, and that's not bad company, either. --Jerry McCulley