OSVALDO GOLIJOV
Youth Without Youth Deutsche Grammophon *****

Part of an ongoing collaboration, the oddly personal film Youth Withouth Youth unites two very different mavericks: iconic American director Francis Ford Coppola and pathfinding Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. Emphasising atmosphere and colour rather than character and theme, Golijov combines eastern European folk idioms and 21st-century post- modernism (sacred music meets Romantic kitsch), with simple melodies and bold instrumentation (kamancheh, cimbalon), to evoke Youth Without Youth's pre-war setting and heighten the absurdity of its dark story of an aging professor's magically restored youth. Tracing an exquisite tension between tender lyricism and gleeful reflexivity - a signature Golijov trope that divides critics and fans alike - Youth Without Youth is a powerful dramatic score, and all the more so for being Golijov's first. www.osvaldo golijov.com

Download tracks: Dr Rudolph's Suicide, The Third Rose