Patrick Doyle began his career in film music writing scores for
Kenneth Branagh's films -- but he didn't receive his first Oscar nomination until he wrote this one for
Branagh's then-wife,
Emma Thompson (whose magic touch with the Academy landed her almost annual nominations in the 1990s). Since then,
Doyle seems to have joined the small group of score writers who get voted in year after year by the old boys' club that is the Academy's musical wing. However, this is not
Doyle's best work -- most of it simply recycles melodic phrases from his previous stuff. Nonetheless,
Sense and Sensibility has a pleasant romanticism in its orchestrations, and the vocal solos by renowned soprano
Jane Eaglen are quite good. ~ Darryl Cater