Together with a director, Thomas Vinterberg, who had just succeeded in having his last film Academy Award nominated re: 'The Hunt' (starring Mads Mikkelsen, 'Hannibal'), Craig Armstrong's composing skills just soared through the roof here for Far From The Madding Crowd.

A composer of modern orchestral music, electronica and multiple film scores, Scottish Armstrong - who graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and has since written music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta - brings a powerful, and effectively delightful bounce to this classic.

'Far From The Madding Crowd' is set in Victorian England, where the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor.

This timeless story of Bathsheba's choices and passions explores the nature of relationships and love - as well as the human ability to overcome hardships through resilience and perseverance.

Armstrong's orchestral sweeps are amazing, and truly an art form when it comes to watching the film, and seeing how they match the movements of the characters just perfectly. Indeed, since the mid-nineties, he has created scores for both Hollywood and independent films including 'Love Actually,' 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps' and 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age.'

He has composed the scores for four Baz Luhrmann films, winning a Golden Globe® for Best Original Score for his work on 'Moulin Rouge!' and received a Grammy® nomination for his score for 'The Great Gatsby.' Want more evidence that this man was the right man for this scoring job, well, Armstrong was awarded a Grammy Award® for Best Original Score in 2004 for the Oscar-winning biopic, 'Ray.'