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Under-the-Radar Round Up 2013, Part 4
Original Reviews by Jonathan Broxton
I’m pleased to present the fourth installment in my on-going series of articles looking at the best under-the-radar scores from around the world.
This article, the fourth of 2013, explores seven outstanding scores from recent months, including a raucous horror-comedy about a pair of bumbling bank robbers who run afoul of a coven of cannibalistic witches in the Basque country, an ingenious thriller about a concert pianist who discovers that a sniper will kill him if he plays a wrong note during his comeback performance, an epic historical television series chronicling the life and reign of Queen Isabella I of Castile, a bittersweet drama about a soldier and the mule he adopts during the Spanish Civil War, a sweeping television drama about a Madrid seamstress whose life is transformed by war, espionage, and political intrigue, an apocalyptic science-fiction thriller in which a mysterious epidemic leaves humanity terrified of venturing outdoors, and a boisterous family adventure about mischievous twin brothers who form a secret gang at summer camp and embark on a hunt for hidden treasure. Read more…
EL TIEMPO ENTRE COSTURAS/THE TIME IN BETWEEN – César Benito
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
El Tiempo Entre Costuras, “The Time Between Seams”, is an epic Spanish TV series based on the novel by María Dueñas. Broadcast on the Antena 3 network in October 2013, it stars Adriana Ugarte as Sira Quiroga, a seamstress in Madrid in the 1930s, who is forced to flee her home when the Spanish Civil War breaks out. The score for El Tiempo Entre Costuras is by Los Angeles-based Andalusian composer César Benito, and it’s absolutely sensational. There’s something captivating, emotional, entrancing about César Benito’s work here. Epic, yet intimate, sweeping, yet personal, it’s one of the best scores for television you are ever likely to here. Beginning with the rhapsodic “Tema de Sira”, written for solo piano, the score opens up into the sparkling, busy “Madrid, 1922”, which captures the life and energy of pre-war Madrid through central theme which effortlessly moves around all sections of the orchestra, and features an especially gorgeous sequence for various solo woodwinds. Read more…

