Perhaps taking a nod from Hans Zimmer’s Sherlock Holmes [M] film scores (and maybe a slight homage to Ron Grainer), composers David Arnold and Michael Price make extensive use of the cimbalom and heavy, bass-friendly rhythm for the BBC’s revamped series, where Holmes and Watson are present day sleuths, but the overall tone of Silva’s album is much more reserved.

Selections from Season 1’s first six episodes is decidedly low-key, with action and bombast replaced with more straightforward theme variations and somber suspense tracks. Action bits (the Zimmerlisch “Pink”) tend to occur in short spurts (such as the brassy “Pursuit,” with horns mimicking a seething traffic jam), and the series’ theme is more recurrent in its complete form rather than striking deconstructions. The album regularly snakes between grim and introspective material (“Pink”) as well, which does give the album some variation in moods, but at almost an hour, things do get a little repetitive, particularly since most cues feel like transitional and montage material, lacking room to fully develop, and recapping motifs almost verbatim.

Some standout cues include “Which Bottle?” with its driving pulse and shrill string ostinato, the soft vocal in the lovely “Elegy,” the clacking Asian percussion in Targets,” the electronic-fused “Library Books,” and “Number Systems” with its radical shift from period to electric guitar styles.

Arnold and Price’s music does face a slight challenge under the shadows of Zimmer’s potent film scores (neither film nor TV series are directly related), but the nuances do shine after repeated listening.

© 2012 Mark R. Hasan