MUSIC ON ASH WEDNESDAY

I received a much appreciated compliment for Melodies & Memories Ash Wednesday feature which surprised and pleased me greatly. The program comprised a selection of music from the fabulous original score to the 2008 film adaptation of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” , a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and first published in Colliers Magazine in 1922 and subsequently anthologized in his book Tales of The Jazz Age.

Development rights to the story were owned by producer Ray Stark from sometime in the mid-1980s until his death in 2004, when they were purchased from his estate for the film directed by David Fincher. The Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana and surrounding rural areas were chosen for the principal filming locations to take advantage of the state's production incentives, and scenes set in wintertime Russia and in Paris were shot in Old Montreal .

French composer Alexandre Desplat’s compelling score was recorded with an 87-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The 1961-born Desplat has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, and two Grammy nominations. Desplat won his first Golden Globe for The Painted Veil in 2006, his first British Academy Film Award in 2011 and his first Grammy Award in 2012 for The King's Speech.