Guitarist Jonny Greenwood has composed a hauntingly dramatic instrumental score for Oscar nominated writer-director — Paul Thomas Anderson s ambitious new film, There Will Be Blood. An adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel... more » Oil!, the movie features
Daniel Day-Lewis in what The Hollywood Reporter has described as a powerhouse performance... it s a certain awards contender.
Greenwood s remarkable compositions, written primarily for strings, have already garnered considerable praise in advance reviews.
The score resembles his rock compositions only in the level of daring and inventiveness to be found throughout these tracks and in the unsettling atmosphere he is able to conjure at key moments. Greenwood s score is more indicative of his current collaborations with the BBC Orchestra as Composer In Residence activities closely followed by Pitchfork Media and The Daily Swarm.
In fact, the score incorporates material from two orchestral pieces he created in that position, smear and Popcorn Superhet Receiver,
which will have its U.S. concert premiere this January when Greenwood appears at the Wordless Music Series in New York City.
There Will Be Blood takes Anderson in a radically different direction than his celebrated earlier films, Boogie Nights and Magnolia dazzling, attention-grabbing movies marked by multiple plot lines, ensemble casts and surreal visual elements. His last project,Punch Drunk Love, was a sophisticated comedy-drama with a smart pop score by composer-producer Jon Brion, released on
Nonesuch in 2002. Anderson s new work is a stark period piece filmed on arid Texas plains; critics have likened it to the brilliantly austere work of such revered directors as Stanley Kubrick and Terence Malick (Days Of Heaven). The Hollywood Reporter called Greenwood s score captivating...greatly contributing to the sense that tectonic forces lie beneath the drama.
The soundtrack to There Will Be Blood will appeal to serious movie-music fans, who will appreciate this rare find: an intelligent, beautiful
and deeply cinematic orchestrated score performed by the BBC Orchestra and London Sinfonietta that can hold its own next to the classic work of such composers as Bernard Herrman, Elmer Bernstein and Ennio Morricone.« less
Guitarist Jonny Greenwood has composed a hauntingly dramatic instrumental score for Oscar nominated writer-director
Paul Thomas Anderson s ambitious new film, There Will Be Blood. An adaptation of the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, the movie features
Daniel Day-Lewis in what The Hollywood Reporter has described as a powerhouse performance... it s a certain awards contender.
Greenwood s remarkable compositions, written primarily for strings, have already garnered considerable praise in advance reviews.
The score resembles his rock compositions only in the level of daring and inventiveness to be found throughout these tracks and in the unsettling atmosphere he is able to conjure at key moments. Greenwood s score is more indicative of his current collaborations with the BBC Orchestra as Composer In Residence activities closely followed by Pitchfork Media and The Daily Swarm.
In fact, the score incorporates material from two orchestral pieces he created in that position, smear and Popcorn Superhet Receiver,
which will have its U.S. concert premiere this January when Greenwood appears at the Wordless Music Series in New York City.
There Will Be Blood takes Anderson in a radically different direction than his celebrated earlier films, Boogie Nights and Magnolia dazzling, attention-grabbing movies marked by multiple plot lines, ensemble casts and surreal visual elements. His last project,Punch Drunk Love, was a sophisticated comedy-drama with a smart pop score by composer-producer Jon Brion, released on
Nonesuch in 2002. Anderson s new work is a stark period piece filmed on arid Texas plains; critics have likened it to the brilliantly austere work of such revered directors as Stanley Kubrick and Terence Malick (Days Of Heaven). The Hollywood Reporter called Greenwood s score captivating...greatly contributing to the sense that tectonic forces lie beneath the drama.
The soundtrack to There Will Be Blood will appeal to serious movie-music fans, who will appreciate this rare find: an intelligent, beautiful
and deeply cinematic orchestrated score performed by the BBC Orchestra and London Sinfonietta that can hold its own next to the classic work of such composers as Bernard Herrman, Elmer Bernstein and Ennio Morricone.
Best Score and Best Use of Score in a Movie Within Memory
I. Martinez-Ybor | Miami, FL USA | 02/05/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There Will Be Blood is a great movie, a unique vision probably greater than the Upton Sinclair novel which inspired it. It would not have been as great a movie without Jonny Greenwood's music. Music deepens image, gives character to the shot, establishes the feeling. Here, dialogue is sparse; much depends on image and sound, not words. Thus this is a thoroughly cinematic movie (i.e., it shows us things, it doesn't talk us there, and in the showing, gives us meaning and feeling), the music inexorably bound in the telling, in my mind the most cinematic film of 2007. The masterful choice of the final movement of Brahms' violin concerto, used twice in the film, arguably one of the last gasps of anti-Wagner, conservative, romantic triumphalism, is perfect: "there will be blood"....... but we shall win. (For the record, Brahms didn't).
I was disturbed when I learned the Greenwood score was not nominated for an Oscar. All other nominated scores, including the very pretty, ambitious one for Atonement, sound so forgettably conventional! Subsequently I learned that Jonny's does not qualify according to Academy rules because chunks of it consist of music he had previously composed and published, never-you-mind how artfully they are worked into the film. Pity, because recognition of the highest order is obviously deserved. Director and Music Editor are also deserving of highest praise.
Greenwood is that rare breed, a thoroughly classically trained musician (and violist) who "crossed-over" to become a superb rock guitarist now perhaps coming back to his classical roots. I'm rather glad he seems to finally be firmly out of his classical closet. Jonny Greenwood deserves a statuette of some sort."
Greenwood rises from the floor of Radiohead ambience.
Joel Munyon | Joliet, Illinois - the poohole of America. | 03/25/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Greenwood, who composed the music for There Will Be Blood, is known as the fella from Radiohead who usually spends most of his time on the floor mixing sounds and adding ambience to the bands' surreal disposition. His quality is definitively effective and distinct and that same quality can be found here on the original soundtrack for There Will Be Blood.
From the start to the finish, Greenwood engulfs us in the world of the gothic and takes us across a fascinating, ethereal place where nothing is certain with one exception: that doom is fast approaching for everyone within the film.
You will feel the approaching dread as you hear the dark melody of 'Prospectors Arrive' and witness a group of eager workers flood the dusty early-morning streets of a town that doesn't stand a chance against the ravenous nature of greed and exploitation.
Greenwood hits us whether we are prepared for his outbursts of melodic darkness or not, and the result perpetuates the film's theme into our lasting consciousness long after the final credits roll past our stunned eyes. Two grand omissions stand as keeping this score from perfection. They are...
"Fratres for Violin and Piano"
by Arvö Pärt - played during the scene where H.W. loses his hearing.
"Violin Concerto in D Major (Movement III)"
Written by Brahms, played during the end credits of the film.
A solid and original piece from one of the great minds of modern music.
"
Sadly Incomplete Score
Richard Masloski | New Windsor, New York USA | 03/11/2008
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Just a quickie: when I saw the film I found the most rivetting music was that which accompanied the scene wherein the oil blows and Plainview's "son" is injured. That was my prime reason for buying the soundtrack - and I was dismayed to find that this wonderful, unique,percussive track is NOT on this CD. So for anyone else hoping for this....be forewarned. Brahms is missing, too. If anyone knows where I can find the music used in this scene, I'd be very appreciative."
Excellent Score, sprawling and suffocating.
MV | USA | 12/25/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"What a stunning score, to an equally excellent film. Greenwood's score sounds as wide as the deserts in the film. For those who have heard Greenwood's music before, you will be delighted to hear bits from "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" and "Smear". As a score it is terrifying, the forceful cellos,the steady violins; at times it is as if the orchestra were playing white noise.
One slight disappointment is that you wont find the piece "Convergence" that is played during the oil well fire.
Before the film was released I heard an interview with Greenwood and director Paul Thomas Anderson, in it Anderson states that after listening to Greenwood's music he would sometimes imagine he was still hearing it in his mind. This is exactly how I feel about this score. Watching the film it is impossible to ignore the music, and as a piece it stands on it's own as a very enjoyable listen. An instant classic."
Works even though it calls attention to itself
Craig Clarke | New England | 05/06/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"In addition to the terrific acting, there were two major plusses about There Will Be Blood. The first one is, I had no idea where the story was going. In an age where it seems that one movie is pretty much like another, this was a welcome surprise.
The second additional plus was the terrific modern-classical score from Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood (including portions of his Popcorn Superhet Receiver). It is the first in recent memory that both calls unnecessary attention to itself (mostly due to its use of dissonance during particularly dramatic scenes) and remains true to the film.
Most of the time, when I notice that I'm hearing a score, it's because it's particularly bad. A good score, most of the time, should be like a good editor: if they're doing their job, you won't notice them. But Greenwood's music outdoes itself on both fronts, making the music from There Will Be Blood also the first score since Danny Elfman's peak in the early 1990s that I am actually considering purchasing on CD."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
