Celtic harp and acoustic guitar scoring a Ghibli film about tiny people living under floorboards and it sounds exactly right. Cecile Corbel wrote The Secret World of Arrietty's 2010 soundtrack with this Breton folk sensibility that gives the whole thing a handmade, miniature quality.
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The Neglected Garden opens with fingerpicked guitar and soft vocals that immediately set this intimate scale. Sho's Waltz brings in gentle strings over a lilting 3/4 rhythm that feels like watching dust float through sunlight.
The Wild Waltz picks up energy with fuller instrumentation and actual momentum. Rain is so stripped back it barely exists. Just atmosphere and a melody suggestion. If you love Ghibli for the quiet in-between moments more than the spectacle, this soundtrack is basically an entire album of those.