Endeavour Soundtrack Review

• 5th Jun 2013

As a Morse purist, I’d like to start by saying that I’ve never watched an episode of Endeavour, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to comment on the relevance of the soundtrack to each episode, or the context in which each track is used. Though if the programme bares any resemblance to its patronage, we can safely assume that this isn’t an example of a soundtrack à la Luhrmann (i.e. grossly out of place).

So I’m coming at this one from the angle of a Radio 3 lover; as someone who was brought up with classical music as standard practice, and therefore as someone who doesn’t really need to listen to this CD in order to review it because if it weren’t called “Endeavour – Music from the TV Series” it might as well be called “Now! That’s What I Call Classical Music – Best Hits!!!!!”(Because I really am that much of a know-it-all, smug git.)

But I’m listening to it anyway, because there’s a good reason these tracks have made the top 40 over the centuries. From your Fauré’s Requiem (bliss) through to Purcell’s ever uplifting dirge When I am Laid in Earth (which was a bedtime favourite of my mother’s when I was about six), these tracks stand out as some of their composers’ best works, and whilst you won’t find the likes of some of Mozart’s or Beethoven’s more cheerful works thrown in here (well, what do you expect from Morse?), for lovers of the Romantic Period, this CD is a handy little go-to gem for a quick, easy and thoroughly moving musical fix.

My only comment stems from my other instance of being a know-it-all, smug git: for a soundtrack from a programme about a Wagner lover, the CD is notably devoid of the work of classical music’s answer to T.S Eliot, but such is life I suppose. More’s the better as far as I’m concerned, I find him all a bit grandiose anyway. And on that peculiarly dismissive note, I’ll leave you with the sentiment that whether you’ve watched this programme or not, the CD is work having close at hand for those moments when only those old favourites will hit the spot.

Dani Singer