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The surprise hit of the London Film Festival 1995 "Angels And Insects" is on general release. A dark tale of repressed Victoriana, it stars Mark Rylance and Patsy Kensit as star crossed lovers caught in a trap of decay and perversion set within a world coming to terms with the impact of Darwin's then new revolutionary ideas. The music for the film, which highlights and accentuates the plot, has been composed by the Balanescu Quartet's principal, Alexander Balanescu (whose ensemble actually appear as the musicians in a key dance sequence). The Quartet play the score themselves, occasionally augmented by selected musicians to transform themselves into the Luminitza Chamber Orchestra.Taking the film recordings as a basis, the group reconvened at the legendary Abbey Road Studios for further work on the project after the completion of the film in order to bring the music to a point of cohesion for release as a CD in it's own right. Alexander had approached the commission from the beginning as more than a side project. For him, the music should not only temper the coldness of period mores with some warmth that was at once worrying and surreal but also make sense as a piece that could stand alone. Hence the programming of a series of theme and variations which are presented as a Mute Records release. Whilst recognisably still the music that accompanies the film, the record is also the next step for the quartet which thinks of it's recording career as a series of artistic departures rather than conservative manoeuvres.
Producer:
Clare Connors
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