Despite the dominance of the individual coloration from the solo players of Operation Mincemeat, the fuller orchestra is indeed there, the strings and brass lending force to the few highlights and occasional humor to a minority of cues. The music rarely supplies the level of gravity expected for this topic, instead underplaying the emotional impacts and historical significance of the characters involved. In fact, the strangest aspect of the music for Operation Mincemeat is that there's absolutely nothing in its constructs or execution that would inform a listener of the story's basic elements; there is no sense of history or place to this music, and if not for the vintage source songs littered throughout the album presentation, the score apart from the film could be mistaken for a variety of genres or time periods. Newman's thematic applications don't help this situation, as they are fairly anonymous despite the composer's loyalty to the same three general ideas throughout the work. Be aware, though, that Newman does heavily manipulate these three themes as a likely nod to the cloudiness of the characters' interests and the deceit of the espionage field. The main character theme of Operation Mincemeat is a pair of rising two-note phrases on piano, introduced at 0:09 and 0:56 into "Submarine Rises" but struggling to complete; it meanders, sometimes descending, but always using the same, stuttering two-note phrasing. After challenged extensively in the cue, Newman closes out "Submarine Rises" with the idea's originally mysterious, incomplete form. At 1:01 into "Fresh as a Daisy," the theme is better formed, faster and rhythmic but still vague. It opens "Single Diamond Ring" with minimally frothy accompaniment and develops secondary phrasing on strings nicely for a romantic touch. The idea dissolves to a minimally rhythmic role throughout "Holy Loch" and does the same in "A Spy Under My Roof" after a quick reminder of its original form at 0:06. The "Operation Mincemeat" cue is the suite-like representation in the score as a whole, and it mostly reprises the "Submarine Rises" mystery before returning to the main theme's trepidation at 3:45 and to close out the cue. The piano is joined by a poignant cello solo line that finally reveals the true theme in "Limited Casualties," and the ensemble takes that idea at 1:21 with resolute nobility and melodrama that serves as the work's most impressive highlight. The main theme then opens "Personal and Most Secret" in fragmented form again. As primary identities for Newman scores go, this one is about as anonymous as you could imagine, adapted well technically but never stated clearly enough for you to care.

A theme likely for the operational aspects of Operation Mincemeat is built upon a chopping conspiracy-suggesting rhythm in the minor key. It builds with full force and a touch of Dario Marianelli at his most brutal at 2:09 into "Submarine Rises" but quickly shows its malleability once accelerated at the start of "Room 13" and turned somewhat jaunty and comedic. It remains slightly amused during "Dull as Ditchwater," and a fuller variant enjoys a crescendo late in "Jean Leslie." The operations theme forms a rhythmic base at the start of "The Burial is Set" with slightly jazzy piano, returning with force in "A Missing Eyelash" and shifting to more heightened suspense as the churning motif becomes more explicit. A rare, muscular brass presence gives the theme power at 1:00 into "Fifth Column." Its full construct from "Submarine Rises" is reprised at 4:21 into "Operation Mincemeat" as well, with notable percussion and electric guitar in the dissonant crescendo at the theme's end. Finally, the operations theme nearly overtakes the main theme a few times in "Personal and Most Secret" with a touch of prototypical Newman exoticism. The third theme in Operation Mincemeat is seemingly for duty, a cyclical series of three chords of faint hope that sounds very much like a Tolkien leftover. Heard throughout "Iris" and near the start of "War Hero," this idea is an undercurrent in the pretty "Last Lovely Golden Day" with solo cello, guides the atmospherics of "Officer in the Royal Marines," and returns to solo cello after extreme deliberation at 0:10 into "Dangerous Waters." It adapts at 3:13 into "Operation Mincemeat" for heroic brass chords, moves to piano at 0:07 into "Limited Casualties" with a bit of gravity underneath, and follows the main theme at the end of "Limited Casualties" as a nice conclusion. These themes cannot salvage the narrative of Operation Mincemeat, however, as Newman ensures that the score is one of ambient emotion and general feeling rather than leitmotific memorability. Most of the thematic passages are truly unremarkable, though "Limited Casualties" is the clear exception and provides vintage Newman orchestral beauty that his listeners often crave the most. If you combine this cue with the just preceding "Operation Mincemeat," you have a well-rounded, nine-minute representation of the entire score. The album's placement of source material throughout the score is jarring. Without those tracks, Newman's score would lull you into a stupor over its hour of running time, the atmosphere lacking the positive spirit of Tolkien or the sustaining highlights of 1917. The very high quality of "Limited Casualties" barely salvages a third star for this basically effective but mostly forgettable score.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download