Record Label: New Line Records
Genre: Film Score
Band Link: link
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After Mychael Danna composed the soundtrack for Little Miss Sunshine with DeVotchka, his next project was something completely different to that movie. A biblical movie called the Nativity Story and it’s about Mary & Joesph’s journey to Bethlehem. Danna took a different approach with this score than you usually hear in religious music. A lot of those scores use more Middle Eastern instruments and chanting. This time, he uses wooden flutes, medieval type chanting and instruments that were used in the pre-baroque era. The culture was affected by Europe so what you get is an European classical score. I didn’t know what to expect with this film score but I really like it!

The first song “Veni, Veni Emanuel” sounds like the Gregorian Chants a little bit. It has a very Medieval and Renaissance feel to it. Although, the whole score is very Medieval and Renaissance sounding. A lot of the chanting & caroling is sung in Latin, and there are hints of Middle Eastern influenced music as well. Not sure what instrument it is, but I love the harp-sounding instrument. Maybe it’s the harp, maybe its some type of guitar, I don’t know. Just from listening to Nativity Story, you can tell Danna has done plenty of homework to get the right sounds for this movie. I haven’t seen the film yet to see how well the score works with the movie. But judging from the album, The score sounds excellent, and definitely can stand on it’s own. If you didn’t know the title of the album, you would think this is a Medieval album. This is definitely one of Mychael Danna’s strongest albums to date.

Bottom Line: One of Danna’s best scores to date.
Notable Tracks: Nazareth, Corde Natus Ex Parentus, And Thou Bethlehem, The Shepherd’s Gift
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