Jean-Yves Thibaudet: The Movie Album is an A&R man's brainstorm -- take all of the things
Thibaudet has recorded in his 11 years with Decca that has been used in a movie, have him record one new track, and Voila! -- The Movie Album. The new track is Dawn from Pride and Prejudice and, while not a tremendously substantive piece of music,
Thibaudet's performance of it is certainly up to his usual standard, which is high indeed. Absolutely everything else has appeared before on various Decca albums devoted to
Thibaudet. This strategy has worked before with
Thibaudet's recordings, with Beautiful Starry Night, a user-friendly single disc drawn from his Ravel: Complete Works for Solo Piano set, becoming a runaway success back in 1995. If one is already equipped with a reasonably complete library of
Thibaudet's recordings for Decca, then chances are you will not need The Movie Album. Nevertheless, if you like film themes and are not yet familiar with
Thibaudet's wondrous piano playing, then Jean-Yves Thibaudet: The Movie Album will turn out to be an unexpected pleasure.