The First Grader (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score to the 2010 film The First Grader directed by Justin Chadwick. The film score is composed by Alex Heffes and released through Varèse Sarabande on June 14, 2011. For his work, Heffes received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score and World Soundtrack Award for Discovery of the Year.
Development Alex Heffes collaborated with Chadwick for the first time in The First Grader. The score was written quickly as he was really inspired by the film after watching a rought cut. When Chadwick met him at the studio regarding any ideas, he revealed on writing half of the film's music as he liked it much owing to the story, and wrote more music afterwards. He recalled that Justin listened the film's music with producer David Thompson and both of them liked their work, adding "When you really feel something, you do your best work". Besides the score, much of the original music featured in the film were recorded live.
Track listing
Reception Peter Debruge of Variety, Tim Grierson of Screen International and Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter called the score, "moving", "inspirational" and "emotional". Richard Propes of The Independent Critic wrote "The music by Alex Heffes largely companions the film's more dramatic story arc, yet does little to capture the wonder and heart that the film's title and trailer would indicate."
Accolades Besides the following awards, the score was considered to be in contention for the Best Original Score category at the 84th Academy Awards.
Award Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Black Reel AwardsOutstanding Original ScoreAlex Heffes Ivor Novello AwardsBest Original Film ScoreAlex Heffes NAACP Image AwardsOutstanding Soundtrack AlbumAlex Heffes World Soundtrack AwardsDiscovery of the YearAlex Heffes
Personnel Credits adapted from production notes:
Music composer, producer and conductor: Alex Heffes Orchestrator: Julian Kershaw Recording: Geoff Foster at Abbey Road Studios, London; Sam Bisaso at Black Smith Studios, London Recording assistance: Lewis Jones, Pete Hutchings Mixing: Nick Taylor at Air-Edel Recording Studios, London Mixing assistance: Tom Bullen Music supervisor: Maggie Redford Music supervising assistant: Helen Yates Composer's assistant: Lewis Morrison Music preparation services: Cutting Edge Music preparation executive producer: Phil Hope Conductor: Alex Heffes Musicians' coordinator: Hillary Skewes, Clarissa Faran Featured vocalists: Kawesa, Sona Jobarteh Kora: Tunde Jegede Guitars: Leo Abrahams Solo woodwinds: Dirk Cambell Gospel choir: Beverley Skeet, Sara-Jane Skeele, Ricci P Washington, Andy Caine
References