The Village, the latest film from Indian-born director M Night Shyamalan, revisits the world of the occult he drew on so imaginatively for his ghost story The Sixth Sense, a huge box success that The Village hasn’t managed to emulate. The score by the classically trained James Newton Howard features violinist Hilary Hahn and a large symphony orchestra supplemented by a chamber-size electronic ensemble. Readers need only to be reminded of her recording of the Barber Violin Concerto (Sony, 5/00) to recall her lyrical gifts. Hahn’s presence would seem to have influenced Howard’s instincts about the film, a story about a close-knit village community threatened by an outside force, for he has given her a song-like stream of music, placing the emphasis on the pastoral setting rather than on the drama unfolding on its perimeter. That music doesn’t raise so much as a goose-pimple, but when interwoven with the main theme, a genuine frisson arises, as on track 3, ‘The Bad Color’.

Howard’s main theme ebbs and flows throughout the score, changing instrumental colour in a harp variant (track 4) and again in a variation for a clutch of recorders (track 9). The beautifully honed playing of the orchestra and soloist is complemented by a sumptuous recording. I look forward to hearing it in context.