Cloud Atlas (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2012 film Cloud Atlas directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, who co-composed the score with Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek. The film contains approximately two hours of original music. WaterTower Music and Sony Classical Records released the soundtrack album via digital download on 23 October 2012 and CD on 13 November 2012. It was further nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
Development The film's co-director Tom Tykwer contributed music to the film along with his longtime collaborators Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek. Both Klimek and Tykwer contributed additional music to Don Davis' score for The Matrix Revolutions (2003) directed by Wachowskis and shared a rapport with the directors. According to Tykwer, music became a character for the film that supported several elements of the film.
The score was written even before the film began production. The music was recorded in Leipzig, Germany with the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Radio Chorus, and Gene Pritsker served as the orchestrator.Pritsker, Gene (2014): Composing Cloud Atlas Symphony. In: Stoppe, Sebastian (ed.), Film in Concert: Film Scores and their Relation to Classical Concert Music, pp. 145–160. ISBN 9783864880605. doi:10.25969/mediarep/16802 He further adapted the score into a stand-alone six-movement symphony for the orchestra, called "The Cloud Atlas Sextet", written by one of the film's main characters, ambitious composer Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) along with a group of six musicians. Tykwer described it as a melody that begins from "a simple string line to a riff in a 1970s rock piece, to a jazz sextet playing in the background at the Cavendish party" along with a group of subjective voices. The piece was the eventual motif of the film's musical palette as it demanded something beautiful and malleable enough to take the audiences through five centuries.
Reception The Cloud Atlas soundtrack received critical acclaim. Film Music Magazine critic Daniel Schweiger described the soundtrack as "a singular piece of multi-themed astonishment", and selected it as one of the best soundtracks of 2012. Filmtracks.com gave a mixed review, describing it as "a score that may sound superficially impressive in its ambition but is revealed to be a lifeless zombie in search for its soul." Danny Bowes of Reactor wrote " The music, as it should be with one whole storyline being about the composition of the "Cloud Atlas sextet," is wonderful." James Christopher Monger of AllMusic wrote "Tykwer, Klimek and Heil could have tried to take on Cloud Atlas' immensity head on, utilizing the kind of explosive, heavy artillery that has become the norm for big spectacle films (which is what many composers would have done after feasting their eyes on the film's epic, sumptuous visuals), but by choosing a more nuanced discipline, they've not only helped to illuminate the film's emotional core, they've gone and unearthed it."
Track listing
Accolades +List of awards and nominationsOrganizationAward categoryNominee(s)ResultAustin Film Critics Association Awards Best Score Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer and Reinhold Heil Central Ohio Film Critics Association Best Score rowspan="4" CinEuphoria Awards Best Original Music – International CompetitionGerman Film Awards Best Film Music Golden Globe Awards Best Original ScoreHouston Film Critics Society Awards Best Original Score International Film Music Critics Association AwardsFilm Score of the Year rowspan="4" Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror FilmFilm Music Composition of the YearJohnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer and Reinhold Heil for "The Cloud Atlas Sextet for Orchestra"St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Music Score/Soundtrack Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer and Reinhold Heil
Personnel Credits adapted from CD liner notes:
Music composed, produced, arranged and edited by – Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil, Tom Tykwer Programming and mixing – Gabriel Isaac Mounsey Additional programming – Jordan Balagot, Justin Bell Recording – Max Knoth, Olaf Dix Additional recording – Thomas Wieber Mastering – Patricia Sullivan Music consultant – Charlotte Goltermann, Tina Funk Cover artwork Booklet editing and design – WLP Ltd. Liner notes – Tom Tykwer Management Music business and legal affairs – Marcellus Puhlemann Head of music management and ADR – Carsten Dufner Licensing – Mark Cavell Product development – Isabelle Tulliez Orchestra and choir Orchestra – MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Choir – MDR Leipzig Radio Choir Orchestrator – Justin Bell Lead orchestrators – Gene Pritsker Additional orchestrators – Charles Coleman, Max Knoth, Vincent Oppido Conductor – Kristjan Järvi Assistant conductor – Torodd Wigum Concertmaster – Waltraud Wächter Choir director – Howard Arman Orchestra manager – Matthias Winkler Orchestra recording and mixing – Matthias Sachers, Robert Baldowski Assistant engineers – Guido Thomaschinski, Mathias Metzner Copyist – Vincent Oppido Soloists Clarinet – Michyo Suzuki Piano – Ragna Schirmer, Taka Kigawa
References