What You Need to Know: Daniel Pemberton really knows how to embed himself into the very fabric of a story.  In both Attila and Napoleon, Pemberton creates scores that will fully entrench you into their worlds with music that is innovative while also remaining familiar.  There is a creative energy about the music that stands out and it's a welcome sound; Pemberton provides a genuine twist to the typical types of scores we've heard from these two periods in history.

 

For Attila, the music eased in and out between rousing, epic moments and the subtleties of day-to-day life.  The vocal components, when coupled with the rising swell of the action music, came across in a highly entertaining fashion.  I, for one, felt as though I was getting swept up in the momentum of Attila's campaigns whenever Pemberton's music hit full stride.  While this type of bold and intense music didn't dominate the running time, its presence more than made up for some of the idling moments in the score.  In fact, whenever I became worried that Attila was relying too much on its underscore, a momentous burst would enter the fray and I was back on my way to high adventure.

 

Moving on to Napoleon -- this is where Pemberton's ingenuity is really showcased.  He takes Beethoven-inspired foundations and merges them into a modern framework to create an overall sound that blends the best of the two.  In a way, I can compare it to the approach that Nick Glennie-Smith took with The Man in the Iron Mask but with more refinement.  I was completely impressed with the style Pemberton created; engaging, exciting, and true to its roots.