War Horse. John Williams

Down to his last penny, Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan), a former Second Boer War veteran and now a farmer in Devon, England, outbids his cruel landlord, Mr Lyons (David Thewlis), at an auction and buys a thoroughbred colt. As his son, Albert (Jeremy Irvine), forms a close bond with Joey, the family's beautiful, graceful, and muscular male horse with the shiny coat, World War I breaks out, and the noble beast changes hands. Now, from the harsh mountainous landscapes of Devon, and the battle-scarred fields of the no man's land near the River Somme, brave Albert embarks on a peril-laden adventure across war-torn northern France, bent on finding his beloved horse Joey.

In his liner notes for the album, Steven Spielberg talks about the beauty of the score, and about the “earth speaking through” Williams, emerging as music, and this really is the case. Beginning with a pastoral, inviting theme for the lush Devon setting in the opening cue, “Dartmoor 1912”, the music gradually emerges from a delicate, flighty flute solo into a warm and enveloping string refrain of the first theme, which seems to represent the tranquil location of the film’s opening reel. The theme is classic Williams, with all the positive connotations that implies, and grounds the score in a sound which is period-appropriate and emotionally powerful.