Cloud Atlas (soundtrack)

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Cloud Atlas (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by
Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer and Reinhold Heil
Released23 October 2012 (digital)
13 November 2012 (physical)
Recorded2012
GenreFilm score
Length77:25
Label
Producer
Johnny Klimek chronology
Killer Elite
(2012) 		Cloud Atlas
(2012) 		Open Heart
(2012)
Tom Tykwer chronology
Nairobi Half Life
(2012) 		Cloud Atlas
(2012) 		Pink Children
(2012)
Reinhold Heil chronology
Awake
(2012) 		Cloud Atlas
(2012) 		Haunt
(2013)

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[edit]

The film's co-director Tom Tykwer contributed music to the film along with his longtime collaborators Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek. Both Kilmek 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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3][4] 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.[3]

Reception[edit]

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.[5][6] 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."[7] 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."[8] 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."[9]

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleFeaturing artistLength
1."Prelude: The Atlas March" 1:15
2."Cloud Atlas Opening Title" 3:47
3."Travel to Edinburgh" 1:42
4."Luisa's Birthmark" 3:00
5."Cavendish In Distress" 1:23
6."Papa Song" 4:15
7."Sloosha's Hollow"Gabriel Mounsey2:59
8."Sonmi-451 Meets Chang" 3:34
9."Won't Let Go" 4:09
10."Kesselring" 1:54
11."The Escape" 5:43
12."Temple Of Sacrifice" 2:03
13."Catacombs" 1:35
14."Adieu" 4:15
15."New Direction" 1:46
16."All Boundaries Are Conventions" 2:38
17."The Message" 2:13
18."Chasing Luisa Rey" 4:53
19."Sonmi's Discovery" 3:23
20."Death Is Only A Door" 3:48
21."Cloud Atlas Finale" 4:17
22."The Cloud Atlas Sextet for Orchestra"Gene Pritsker4:57
23."Cloud Atlas End Title"Gene Pritsker7:56
Total length:77:25

Accolades[edit]

List of awards and nominations
Organization Award category Nominee(s) Result
Austin Film Critics Association Awards[10] Best Score Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer and Reinhold Heil Won
Central Ohio Film Critics Association[11] Best Score Nominated
CinEuphoria Awards[12] Best Original Music – International Competition
German Film Awards[13][14] Best Film Music
Golden Globe Awards[15] Best Original Score
Houston Film Critics Society Awards[16][17][18] Best Original Score Won
International Film Music Critics Association Awards[19][20] Film Score of the Year Nominated
Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film
Film Music Composition of the Year Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer and Reinhold Heil for "The Cloud Atlas Sextet for Orchestra"
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association[21][22][23] Best Music Score/Soundtrack Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer and Reinhold Heil

Personnel[edit]

Credits adapted from CD liner notes:[24]

  • 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[edit]

  1. ^ Radish, Christina (22 October 2012). "Andy & Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer CLOUD ATLAS Interview". Collider. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b Schou, Solvej (18 October 2012). "'Cloud Atlas' score co-composed by director Tom Tykwer". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  4. ^ Lowder, J. Bryan (29 October 2012). "What Would the Cloud Atlas Sextet Really Sound Like?". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  5. ^ Schweiger, Daniel. "On the Score with Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil and Tom Tykwer". Film Music Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  6. ^ Schweiger, Daniel. "The Best Scores of 2012". Film Music Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 December 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  7. ^ "Cloud Atlas (Tom Tykwer/Johnny Klimek/Reinhold Heil)". Filmtracks.com. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  8. ^ Bowes, Danny (29 October 2012). "The Music From My Dream: Cloud Atlas". Reactor. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  9. ^ Monger, James Christopher. "Review: Cloud Atlas [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Austin Film Critics Association Awards". Austin Film Critics. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  11. ^ "Awards 2012". Central Ohio Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  12. ^ "CinEuphoria Awards 2013". MUBI. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  13. ^ "German Film Awards". Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  14. ^ "German Film Awards 2". IMDb. Archived from the original on 6 June 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  15. ^ "Nominations 2013 — Golden Globe Awards". Golden Globes. 13 December 2012. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  16. ^ Dansby, Andrew (17 December 2012). "Houston Film Critics Society announces its nominees". Chron. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  17. ^ Knegt, Peter (6 January 2013). "'Argo' Leads Houston Film Critics' Society Awards". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  18. ^ Leydon, Joe (5 January 2013). "Houston critics fete 'Argo'". Variety. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  19. ^ "IFMCA Nominations 2012". International Film Music Critics Association. 7 February 2013. Archived from the original on 14 February 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  20. ^ "IFMCA Winners 2012". International Film Music Critics Association. 21 February 2013. Archived from the original on 25 February 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  21. ^ "'Django Unchained' lands eight St. Louis film critics nods". Uproxx. HitFix. 11 December 2012. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  22. ^ "2012 StLFCA Annual Awards Winners". St. Louis Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  23. ^ Knegt, Peter (17 December 2012). "St. Louis Critics Announce 2012 Award Winners". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  24. ^ "Cloud Atlas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". WaterTower Music. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
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