The King's Speech (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper, portrays the relationship between Bertie, the future King George VI (Colin Firth), and the speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who helps Bertie overcome his debilitating stammer. Composer Alexandre Desplat, one of the hardest working men in show business —The Ghost Writer and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 are just two of the other movies he scored in 2010 — provided the film’s music. You might think a movie that deals with royalty would feature bombastic accompaniment, but Desplat took a subtle approach to the project. He’s careful not to overpower the intimacy of the story of a man struggling to make meaningful sounds. Melodies are delicately etched on piano as strings often float in an almost ambient manner. (“The Rehearsal,” with its chugging rhythm and flute interjections, is probably the perkiest piece here.) The album also includes excerpts of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and the “Emperor” Concerto performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Terry Davies, with Steven Osborne at the piano.