KEEPING SCORE

Thomas Newman, the eight-time Oscar-nominated composer, is a double threat this year with memorable scores for Pixar’s animated blockbuster “Wall-E” and Sam Mendes’ latest drama, “Revolutionary Road.”

The Mendes film is based on the acclaimed 1961 novel by Richard Yates about a troubled young married couple in 1955 and reunites “Titanic” stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

The director was interested in “theme and a classic approach musically because of the period nature of the film,” Newman says.

“Beyond those requirements, you try to find ways to inject more kind of personal choices.” To that end, Newman supplied his own piano solos for the melancholic, clean-lined score.

“Typically, if it’s a moody piano, a quiet piano, I play it myself,” he says. “I know what my taste is and I do like my touch on the piano.”

-- Susan King