Alexandre Desplat named Composer of the Year

For the second year in a row Alexander Desplat has been named Composer of the Year at the World Soundtrack Awards. The current honor is mostly for music Desplat wrote for movies in 2009 — Julie & Julia, The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Fantastic Mr. Fox — but The Ghost Writer is also included in this year’s citation.

A year ago Desplat was Composer of the Year for his 2008 scores The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Coco Before Chanel, Largo Winch and Chéri. He first earned the title in 2007 for his music from The Queen and The Painted Veil.

Each time Desplat has been named Composer of the Year the honor has been matched with a corresponding Oscar nomination — The Queen (2006), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), and Fantastic Mr Fox (2009), and here are his scores up for consideration this year:

• The Ghost Writer
• Tamara Drewe
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• The King’s Speech

His music for The Ghost Writer was already¬†on my short list, but it remains to be seen how that score will fare against the coat-tail effect of The King’s Speech. Looking ahead to next year, it’s probably wise to insert a placeholder for Alexander Desplat’s score for The Tree of Life.