Have you ever heard music so touching, so sensitive, so ethereal that tears come to your eyes? It happens, not often, but on rare occasions I am carried off and my mind is clear of all except this music.
At the beginning of the film “The Father’ the lead character is listening to a piece of music that was new to me. It is Bizet’s opera Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) WD 13 Act I, sung by Cyrille Dubois, Je crois entendre encore.
I shouldn’t be surprised as one of my favorite opera pieces is Au Fond Du Temple, same opera. Has a similar quality, especially if you hear it sung by top level opera singers such as Jussi Björling.
I was intrigued by all the music in ‘The Father’ so I pulled out my IPad. No wonder. Much of the score is written by Ludovico Einaudi, another of my favorites. And ‘Casta diva’ sung by Maria Callas also used; magnificent.
And yet another singer with whom I was unfamiliar was discovered in this film: Andreas Scholl singing Handel’s ‘Ombra mai fu”. Ah, what a voice – so pure, so controlled, exquisite. One regret this brings to mind is that I wasted the opportunity, when at German university, to take advantage of numerous opportunities to easily experience first rate classical music. Ah, it was another time, my life was otherwise engaged in the adventures of young adulthood.
And ‘The Father’ is an incredible portrayal by outstanding actors on the story of a father’s progressing dementia. Anthony Hopkin is such a powerful actor. It was not only the music score that engrossed me.
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