• Composed by Maciek Dobrowolski
• Promotional release / 2010 / 40:46

A Qatari film (in fact, the first Qatari film!) about an old man reminiscing about his glorious past, Clockwise hasn’t seen much of a wide release and indeed its score, by young Polish composer Maciek Dobrowolski, hasn’t been released either.  So what’s a review of it doing here?  The answer is simple – it’s seriously impressive.  I get sent numerous promotional albums and rarely review them (there doesn’t seem much point reviewing something which nobody can buy) but it’s clear I would have to make an exception for this one, such is its strength.  Dobrowolski – who is only 25 – has fashioned an exquisitely beautiful, thematic score which is worthy of being heard very widely and I hope a label will see fit to release it.

Music isn’t all about melody, of course, but one thing is sure – most of us film music fanatics became so because we fell in love with some great sweeping melody or other we heard in a film score.  Clockwise contains some wonderful themes which fall into that category and I’m sure there would be various people falling in love with them had they the chance to hear them.  The music is performed by a string orchestra with a handful of soloists – the opening cue presents the first of the great themes, one which tugs at the heartstrings, though perhaps the one which leaves the largest impression is that introduced in “Jeena Calls at Night”.  Directly emotional, no-holds-barred, it’s a stunning melody which contains more than a hint of the kind of anguished beauty delivered with such brilliance by the great Georges Delerue on so many occasions.  Almost as good is a secondary theme for the same character, heard in all its ravishing beauty in “Into Her World” before being reprised for the finale.  The solo vocalist adds an additional layer of human interest which is very effective.

Dobrowolski’s own film music hero is Hans Zimmer – the hints of Zimmer here come in the few moments of more urgent, action-style music, first heard in “The Storm” and later in “Broken Circles” and briefly elsewhere.  The sharp string blasts are urgent and exciting, the occasional addition of the vocalist adds in intriguing additional layer which simply exaggerates the feeling that this is a very rich musical experience.  Dobrowolski is clearly hugely talented and I hope he gets more opportunities – I for one would be delighted to hear more music from the young composer.  Clockwise is warm, rich, very moving – a great album.  ****

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