2013 soundtrack album by Steven Price
Gravity: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of the 3D science fiction thriller film Gravity, written by British film composer Steven Price. The album was released in 2013 via WaterTower Music label.
Price's score was universally applauded by film critics and audiences alike, leading Price to win and receive nominations for several Best Original Score awards at ceremonies, including a BAFTA Award, a Satellite Award and an Academy Award, as well as a Golden Globe Award nomination.
Development
"We knew we needed to express silence. We didn't want the score to be descriptive, but psychological and emotional. We composed a score which is expressive of surroundings. Here the music is moving around you all the time."
—Gravity director Alfonso Cuarón, on the film's musical intent[1]
Composer Steven Price was originally called in to help out for three weeks on the music design of Gravity.[2] After having a creative discussion with director Alfonso Cuarón, Price began coming up with a template of sounds and noises that eventually led to him being hired as the film's composer.[3] As work began on the film's score, Cuarón and Price set ground rules for distancing the score from conventional Hollywood-style action scores such as omitting the use of percussion.[4] "Ordinarily in an action film you're often competing with explosions and god knows what else, whereas with this [movie] music could do things a different way," said Price. "With everything we did we would try and look beyond the normal way of doing things. [For] some of the action sequences where there are explosions, I knew that [...] those explosions had to be inherent."[5]
The score was recorded in small groups or single instruments as opposed to a collective orchestra in order for each sound to be electronically processed and mixed individually to create a layered and surrounding effect.[6]
Reception
Steven Price's score has been acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, in particular for its two final tracks, "Shenzou" and "Gravity". It was nominated for and won multiple awards in the Best Original Score category at several ceremonies: it received a nomination for Best Original Score at the 71st Golden Globe Awards and won Best Original Music at the 67th British Academy Film Awards and Best Original Score at the 86th Academy Awards.[14] James Southall of Movie Wave awarded the album five stars out of a possible five and said that "it feels like the most intelligent and most satisfying score for a science fiction movie since Ennio Morricone's stunning, dishearteningly lambasted Mission to Mars."[10]
Accolades
Track listing
Notes
- "Airlock" is actually not played during the film. The beginning of "Aningaaq" is instead used in the scene it was intended for.
- "Shenzou" includes a spelling mistake as the spacecraft is called Shenzhou.
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic and from the liner notes of Gravity: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.[15]
- Performers and musicians
- Philip Collin – organ
- Katherine Ellis – vocals
- Haley Glennie-Smith – vocals
- Lisa Hannigan – vocals
- Alasdair Malloy – glass harmonica
- Metro Voices – choir
- Will Schofield – cello soloist
- Vicci Wardman – principal viola
- Technical personnel
- Geoff Alexander – conductor
- Robin Baynton – assistant music editor
- Christopher Benstead – music editor
- Paul Broucek – executive in charge of music
- David Butterworth – orchestration
- Gareth Cousins – score mixer, recording engineer
- Alfonso Cuarón – producer
- George Drakoulias – music supervisor
- Andrew Dudman – engineer
- Isobel Griffiths – orchestra contractor
- David Heyman – executive producer
- Martin Hollis – assistant engineer
- Toby Hulbert – assistant engineer
- Lewis Jones – assistant engineer
- Matt Jones – assistant engineer
- Joe Kearns – assistant
- Jason Linn – executive in charge of music
- Lisa Margolis - music business affairs
- Charlotte Matthews – orchestra contractor
- Everton Nelson – orchestra leader
- Jenny O'Grady – choir master
- Sam Okell – engineer
- Steven Price – composer, primary artist, producer
- Nicki Sherrod – executive in charge of music
- Sandeep Sriram – art direction
- Jill Streater – music preparation
- Christian Wright – mastering
References
- ^ Singh, Suhani (October 3, 2013). "I didn't want Gravity to be a sci-fi or a fantasy film, says director Alfonso Cuaron". India Today. Living Media. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
- ^ Lindsey Bahr (February 21, 2014). "Oscars 2014: How Steven Price created a 3-D score for 'Gravity'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ Schweiger, Daniel (September 30, 2013). "Interview with Steven Price". Film Music Magazine. Global Media Online, Inc. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
- ^ Rosen, Christopher (October 4, 2013). "'Gravity' Composer Steven Price On The Film's Incredible Soundtrack". The Huffington Post. AOL. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
- ^ Watercutter, Angela (October 7, 2013). "The Sound of Silence: How Gravity Created a Terrifying Score for Outer Space". Wired. Condé Nast Publishing. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
- ^ Girkout, Alexa (October 3, 2013). "How Do You Score Outer Space? Silence and 'Overwhelming' Sound, Says 'Gravity' Composer". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
- ^ Graydon, Danny. Review: Gravity. Empire. Retrieved on 2014-03-10.
- ^ Clemmensen, Christian. Review: Gravity. Filmtracks. Retrieved on 2014-03-10.
- ^ Trate, Robert T. "Gravity Soundtrack Review". Mania. Archived from the original on 2014-03-30. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
- ^ a b Southall, James (7 December 2013). "Gravity soundtrack review". Movie Wave.
- ^ Napier, Jim (18 September 2013). "GRAVITY Soundtrack Review - Steven Price's Score is Out of this World". Screen Invasion.
- ^ Scroer, Brendan. Review: Gravity. Sputnikmusic. Retrieved on 2014-03-10.
- ^ Simons, Pete (5 October 2013). "Gravity (Steven Price)". Synchrotones.
- ^ "The 86th Academy Awards | 2014".
- ^ "Gravity [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] - Steven Price | Credits". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
