This is one of those CDs which has been on my curiosity list seemingly forever. Literally, I have wanted to check this out for over a decade. The only other music by Gowers I am familiar with is his wonderful violin suite on the Birthday for My Grandmother CD, but I was aware of the high reputation of both this British TV series and the score for a long time. Ever since I saw The Seven Per Cent Solution recently, I’ve been in a Sherlock Holmes sort of mood. So I finally took the plunge and obtained a copy.
It was well worth the wait (as I’m sure everyone already knew except me). This is utterly perfect Victorian music; and, as someone put it to me recently, “It IS Holmes.” Naturally, as Holmes is an amateur violinist, the violin figures heavily throughout the various selections culled from almost a dozen different Holmes TV-movies and episodes for Granada Television, most strongly in the classy and urgent main theme and in the romantic “Irene Adler.”
But it’s not all just chamber music; there is a haunting choral “Libera Me” and the full orchestral treatment for many of the cues, including the taut, stunning “River Chase.” (Warning: don’t turn up the sound too loud on this one, as the score is, uh, dynamic as well.) The truly beautiful theme for “Elsie Cubitt” is one of those perfect pieces that leave you unsure if it’s original music by Gowers or if it’s some classic traditional tune that he’s adapted. (Unfortunately, the liner notes, although full of relevant quotes from Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, aren’t very helpful when it comes to the actual music and don’t even include track times).
Gowers’ music has to be the definitive word on this literary character, not to mention one of the pinnacles of the impressive tradition of British television music. (It’s funny to hear everyone getting all excited about LOST as “groundbreaking” TV music, when the Brits have enjoyed outstanding small-screen scores for years…) Highly recommended.
