Jump to content

There Will Be Blood Extended Score


Henry B

Recommended Posts

In case anyone is interested in knowing, I've compiled an extended version of Jonny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood. This score got almost no attention around here, but I think people would like it if they knew it. Track list:

1. Open Spaces

2. Future Markets

3. Prospectors Arrive

4. Stranded the Line

5. Detuned Quartet

6. Arvo Pärt: Fratres for Cello & Piano

7. Prospectors Quartet

8. Proven Lands (Extended)**

9. Henry Plainview

10. HW / Hope of New Fields (unused in film)

11. Oil

12. Eat Him by His Own Light (Extended)**

13. Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 - 3. Poco Piu Presto

14. There Will Be Blood

15. Future Markets (Chamber Version)**

16. HW / Hope of New Fields (Orchestral Version)*

17. Prospectors Quartet (Orchestral Version)*

* Nonesuch Records digital bonus track

** ripped from DVD documentaries

I didn't include the concert pieces Greenwood infamously borrowed from because his adaptations were not direct. Everything here is an original recording from the film (or the appropriate licensed track). It's mostly in chronological order, except where I didn't like the sequencing ("Prospector's Quartet" followed by "Prospector's Quartet (Orchestral Version"). I think the highlight is the material added to "Proven Lands." Boiling strings, I call it. There's unfortunately more such music that remains unreleased. Anyway, as per the rules of the forum, I'm simply... saying that I've put this CD together for my own listening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I recall (from the movie, haven't listened separately), it sounds a lot like Giacchino's Lost. Or rather Lost sounds a lot like There Will Be Blood? Not sure which came first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 15/10/2009 at 4:54 AM, Chuck McKnight said:

As I recall (from the movie, haven't listened separately), it sounds a lot like Giacchino's Lost.

Wow, I wonder what makes you say that. If one glissando makes up the basis of your judgement, then it's an incredible superficial conclusion to make. TWBB sounds like contemporary classical music. Lost sounds ordinary like TV or film music.

Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TWBB sounds like contemporay classical music. Lost sounds ordinary like TV or film music.

Close, but no cigar. TWBB sounds like contemporary noise; Lost sounds gratifyingly out-of-the-ordinary among TV and film music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TWBB sounds like contemporary noise;

It's not Disney, that's for sure! ;)

Yes, the music of TWBB is a little bit hard on the ear (close to dissonance so a lot of people don't find that pleasant) but that doesn't mean it is just "noise". It's the only soundtrack I bought in years.

Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In all fairness, I don't own the album, and it's possible I'd enjoy the music if I gave it a lot of listens. I don't have anything inherently against "noise." Heck, a big part of why I like Lost is the fact that it so frequently embraces such fun dissonances. All I know is that when I saw the film, the score seemed innovative but not a terribly good match to the film, nor a listening experience I was too eager to have again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

there's a lot more to this score than "noise" or dissonance. But frankly if you guys aren't open to it than so be it. I also won't recommend Prokofiev's 3rd Symphony either because of those icky dissonance's either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In all fairness, I don't own the album, and it's possible I'd enjoy the music if I gave it a lot of listens. I don't have anything inherently against "noise." Heck, a big part of why I like Lost is the fact that it so frequently embraces such fun dissonances. All I know is that when I saw the film, the score seemed innovative but not a terribly good match to the film, nor a listening experience I was too eager to have again.

I trust this is more to your liking, then? Or this, or this, or

, or any other track on the album besides the two dissonant ones you're probably referring to.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cannot get the extra cues because Nonsuch won't take non-US orders even when it's the MP3 download version. That stinks. I love this score. "Future Markets" is probably up there with my fave cues from the last 10 years. It rocks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, the bonus tracks aren't too interesting. They're just different versions of the same music. "Detuned Quartet" is more interesting than its "tuned" counterpart, and it's the version that was used in the trailer and film, but the two orchestral tracks are just the same as their album counterparts only with more string voices. Considering the volume of unreleased music from the film, especially the amazing material for the beach and whorehouse scenes with Daniel and Henry, I'm disappointed that these were the bonus tracks.

But anyway, there are alternative means of "buying" the bonus tracks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TWBB sounds like contemporay classical music. Lost sounds ordinary like TV or film music.

Close, but no cigar. TWBB sounds like contemporary noise; Lost sounds gratifyingly out-of-the-ordinary among TV and film music.

That is your opinion but I would like to clarify that none of the techniques Giacchino uses are out of the ordinary in the concert hall. These technqiues and compositional ideas were pioneered by Varese, Penderecki, Ligeti and George Crumb 40 years ago. Film composers like Jerry Goldsmith, Alex North, Leonard Rosenman, and John Corigliano applied them to film 30 years ago. And frankly, writing glissandi up or down for brass after a scary scene is not what I would call innovative. It's actually predictable. The only think that has any merit to Giacchino's approach is that mainstream TV audiences have not been exposed to this style of writing.

Greenwood's application of the same techniques (and I would offer more developed and deft) towards a period American drama is much more unusual and uncompromising. The whole point of some of the abrasive cues is to underline the monster that Henry Plainview is. It's a horror film without the goul. That is its brilliance (I offer it's the best film of the 2000s by a long shot, especially in its film technique and acting).

It doesn't bother me that many dismiss it because most of it was intended to disgust, not to delight. But there are several introspective tracks that are hypnotic, beautiful, and just damn cool (Future Markets). But to each his/her own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I trust this is more to your liking, then? Or this, or this, or

, or any other track on the album besides the two dissonant ones you're probably referring to.

No, I actually prefer the more dissonant material...but I must be honest, I have no memory whatsoever of those tracks in the film. My memory must be going. =/

And Fiery Angel...reducing the music of Lost to a few trombone glissandi is as pathetic as I've just discovered reducing TWBB to nothing but dissonance to be. ;) There's a lot more to it than that, and while there's certainly very few individual elements in it that are truly new, I'd argue that Giacchino put them all together to form a sound that is wholly innovative and unlike anything I personally have heard - which doesn't make it inherently good, but I happen to love it. As I've said to Joey many times, I'd be happy to be proven wrong with concrete examples of how the scores to Lost derive their characteristic sound from other sources, but I suppose that's not really what this thread is about.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Datameister, I did not mean to imply Giacchino was a bad composer- I own all 4 seasons of LOST soundtracks as well as various other Gia scores. I think he's quite talented and a skilled technician. But not much of what I have heard, as much as I love it, for LOST screams unique or innovative in its scoring approach. It's fairly reflexive scoring in my books. Doesn't make it bad, just not cutting edge and frankly, I don't think the composer is given the same latitude for network TV as Greenwood was given by PT Anderson for a feature film. It's not really even necessary to compare both.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I trust this is more to your liking, then? Or this, or this, or

, or any other track on the album besides the two dissonant ones you're probably referring to.

No, I actually prefer the more dissonant material...but I must be honest, I have no memory whatsoever of those tracks in the film. My memory must be going. =/

"Contemporary noise," though? Dissonance is, of course, in the ear of the beholder, but much of the score is very melodic and occasionally triadic. That seems to me like a springboard for accessibility. This is not Milton Babbitt's dodecaphonic super arrays we're talking about here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Again, I had no recollection of that material whatsoever. I can't figure it out, but somehow my memory of that film's score got massively screwed up. My comments...essentially referred to a score that does not exist, so I retract them, though I still have no fondness for the score.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome, There Will Be Blood is one of the most fresh and innovative film scores this whole decade.

And Lost, while not quite so innovative, is still a pretty fresh and atypical way to score a TV show. And is probably the best scored TV show out there, with it's wonderful peusdo-minimalist style, I would not expect something too different in form, if say John Adams had scored it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't say I have listened to this music on its own outside the film. But in the film it sounded extremely prententious to my ears, drawing attention to itself as an element in the film, shouting "Hey look at me! I am intellectual film music. Look how strange and against the grain I am!" instead of blending with the film. To each his own, I do not comment on the quality of the music as independent composition as I have not listened to it long enough to form opinion but I criticize the style and usage. I found it extremely annoying to the point I became actually quite angry with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't say I have listened to this music on its own outside the film. But in the film it sounded extremely prententious to my ears, drawing attention to itself as an element in the film, shouting "Hey look at me! I am intellectual film music. Look how strange and against the grain I am!"

Don't try to be different? Be just like everyone else? No thanks!

... instead of blending with the film

I thought it had a fascinating effect on the images. Most film music today is so plain and ordinary that it makes me fall asleep from boredom.

To each his own, I do not comment on the quality of the music but the style. I found it extremely annoying to the point I became actually quite angry with it.

From the very first second, the score filled my heart with joy. Finally someone who dares to challenge the audience. Yes, I believe art shouldn't be afraid of the audience. Most movies and their scores are solely made to please the taste of the general public, so much so that it has become tame and predictable. With There Will Be Blood, I felt cinema was freed from its straitjacket. I especially enjoyed it because I know moments like these don't come by very often. The fact that it made some people angry only shows we heard a score which was very different from the norm.

Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was angry because the music does not offer me anything that elevates the film in my eyes or ears, not because it was different. I mean it was so blantantly different and was showing it off that made me angry. It was to my ears just making an empty point, different for the sake of different without any other purpose. To be hoity toity intellectual makes us all feel a little better but if this music could not add anything to the film but distraction then it was not very fantastic in my opinion.

Most likely Greenwood does not have pretentious goals with the music, writing what he feels is right, but I certainly heard this music as so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't try to be different? Be just like everyone else? No thanks!

Not making a conscious attempt to be different does not necessarily result in being just like everyone else. I prefer music that tries to be excellent, not different, and naturally becomes different from the non-excellent norm as a result.

But at the end of the day, you find TWBB to be excellent regardless of what it attempts to do, and I don't, and that's that. The great thing about music is we don't have to agree...if we did, there wouldn't be any film score fans. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't say I have listened to this music on its own outside the film. But in the film it sounded extremely prententious to my ears, drawing attention to itself as an element in the film, shouting "Hey look at me! I am intellectual film music. Look how strange and against the grain I am!" instead of blending with the film.

Can't disagree more, my reaction was similar to Alexcremers.

Also.

"Movie music, like stage music, has to be functional. People argue that the only good screen music is music the audience is not conscious of hearing. I don't agree. Music has a power emotional influence and should be part of the whole film. After all, music is to be listened to, not ignored." Alex North

Music should not just let the film over power it and try to remain unnoticed, it's music it deserves a lot better than that. It should be as much a part of the film experience as the actors performance is, or music might as well not be there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't say I have listened to this music on its own outside the film. But in the film it sounded extremely prententious to my ears, drawing attention to itself as an element in the film, shouting "Hey look at me! I am intellectual film music. Look how strange and against the grain I am!" instead of blending with the film.

Can't disagree more, my reaction was similar to Alexcremers.

Also.

"Movie music, like stage music, has to be functional. People argue that the only good screen music is music the audience is not conscious of hearing. I don't agree. Music has a power emotional influence and should be part of the whole film. After all, music is to be listened to, not ignored." Alex North

Music should not just let the film over power it and try to remain unnoticed, it's music it deserves a lot better than that. It should be as much a part of the film experience as the actors performance is, or music might as well not be there.

I am not asking that music blends unnoticed to the background. Music can make a statement and should make one. We all react to that statement in different ways. You found TWBB god-sent flash of brilliance, I found it contrived and annoying. You can't really argue in favour of any approach to film scoring as all solutions have a chance to succeed just as well. Overly different, "traditional", world music, noise, sound design. I might be happy with similar music as TWBB in a film I thought it made more sense to me. All is relative and dependant on views and ways of seeing and hearing. It all forms emotional-intellectual whole. It even happens to coincide with views of others once in a while.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't try to be different? Be just like everyone else? No thanks!

Not making a conscious attempt to be different does not necessarily result in being just like everyone else. I prefer music that tries to be excellent, not different, and naturally becomes different from the non-excellent norm as a result.

But at the end of the day, you find TWBB to be excellent regardless of what it attempts to do, and I don't, and that's that. The great thing about music is we don't have to agree...if we did, there wouldn't be any film score fans. ;)

If this film was scored by an oridinary audience pleaser, like say Hans Zimmer, the roles would be reversed. You would be happy and I would mourn.

I can't say I have listened to this music on its own outside the film. But in the film it sounded extremely prententious to my ears, drawing attention to itself as an element in the film, shouting "Hey look at me! I am intellectual film music. Look how strange and against the grain I am!" instead of blending with the film.

Can't disagree more, my reaction was similar to Alexcremers.

Also.

"Movie music, like stage music, has to be functional. People argue that the only good screen music is music the audience is not conscious of hearing. I don't agree. Music has a power emotional influence and should be part of the whole film. After all, music is to be listened to, not ignored." Alex North

Music should not just let the film over power it and try to remain unnoticed, it's music it deserves a lot better than that. It should be as much a part of the film experience as the actors performance is, or music might as well not be there.

I am not asking that music blends unnoticed to the background. Music can make a statement and should make one. We all react to that statement in different ways. You found TWBB god-sent flash of brilliance, I found it contrived and annoying. You can't really argue in favour of any approach to film scoring as all solutions have a chance to succeed just as well. Overly different, "traditional", world music, noise, sound design. I might be happy with similar music as TWBB in a film I thought it made more sense to me. All is relative and dependant on views and ways of seeing and hearing. It all forms emotional-intellectual whole. It even happens to coincide with views of others once in a while.

Wait until you too will get tired of the norm.

Music should not just let the film over power it and try to remain unnoticed, it's music it deserves a lot better than that. It should be as much a part of the film experience as the actors performance is, or music might as well not be there.

I agree. I love it when music does something different then merely enhance the emotion of the images. It creates another dimension that keeps me intrigued and interested.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I enjoy one track from TWBB - Open Spaces. While the rest was conveying a sense of alienation or something 'alternative' and it sort of worked in the film, it doesn't work for me as a listening experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this is a good thread and I appreciate all of the different view points. As I mentioned in the previous post, sometimes the aesthetic affect of music should be to irritate, not to please. This was clearly the role in parts of TWBB. Also remember that PT Anderson likes to mix his scores very loudly. There are parts of Magnolia where Jon Brion's "Schindler's List" styled minimalist track actually mars the dialogue and is also mixed with some Aimee Mann songs, basically Anderson operating in full music-montage (gotta love a guy who actually KNOWS the usage of visual and musical montage a la Eisenstein).

Like Alex, I love the application of the score in TWBB. I don't listen to all of the tracks on their often because they can be off-putting. But I would submit that I don't think Greenwood nor Anderson are looking down at their audience- I think both RESPECT their audience enough to throw these curve balls at them. It's far more insulting to me when someone chucks out something predictable and easy. Someone like Michael Giacchino respects his audience too and believes in creativity and wants to give his listeners the best he can do. His methodology is a little different but the end result is that he's not simply towing the line as so many other composers do either because they lack the balls, imagination or capability to do something different. Same goes for John Williams. What composer writes a fugue for some dudes putting a cage together? Or a baroque inspired piece accompanying a montage of hapless humans that could be a predator's feast in the upcoming chapters of the film? Or even fusing jazz with BArtok harmonies in a little '60s piece about a guy who impersonates other people?

Greenwood might not have delivered something pleasing to the ear in all cues, nor did he pioneer these techniques, but the marriage of his stylistic choice with the narrative was just about the ballsiest thing I have seen in mainstream cinema....ever.

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greenwood might not have delivered something pleasing to the ear in all cues, nor did he pioneer these techniques, but the marriage of his stylistic choice with the narrative was just about the ballsiest thing I have seen in mainstream cinema....ever.

Yes, it is, after 2001: A Space Odyssey

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The movie TWBB is #1 in my Top 10 from 2000 list. And it's in with my all time top 10 best films:

  1. Seven Samurai
  2. Alexander Nevsky
  3. Ran
  4. Vertigo
  5. Citizen Kane
  6. There Will be Blood
  7. Schindler's List
  8. Goodfellas
  9. Saving Private Ryan
  10. Ivan the Terrible Pt 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If this film was scored by an oridinary audience pleaser, like say Hans Zimmer, the roles would be reversed. You would be happy and I would mourn.

An interesting comment. (Accusation?) I can't say whether or not I'd like Zimmer's approach...I admit I enjoy some of his work, despite all my issues with it, but I've heard plenty of Zimmer scores that I have no interest in. Somehow, I doubt he would have produced something for this film that I really enjoyed. Actually, I doubt any composer would have produced something for this film that I really enjoyed...I wasn't particularly captivated by the film, and I didn't see many opportunities for a composer to create the many sorts of music I tend to enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Once again, some film's aim is not to please but to edify and cause discussion. TWBB is that kind of film. If you want escapism, there are plenty of movies that fit the bill. I would not expect to go into a movie like TWBB with the idea that I would be entertained. Nothing in the trailers would suggest that and in fact, the music I heard in the trailers WAS Greenwood's original score (another bold move).

Why must everything be happy and saccharine?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Once again, some film's aim is not to please but to edify and cause discussion. TWBB is that kind of film. If you want escapism, there are plenty of movies that fit the bill. I would not expect to go into a movie like TWBB with the idea that I would be entertained. Nothing in the trailers would suggest that and in fact, the music I heard in the trailers WAS Greenwood's original score (another bold move).

::shrug:: I saw the film with no knowledge about it. I hadn't seen the trailers or heard much of anything about it, except that it was good. I had an opportunity to see it for a very low price, so I took it. But yes, I primarily expect to be entertained by films, though I usually vastly prefer so-called "intelligent" entertainment - a film that entertains can also be a film that provokes serious thought.

Why must everything be happy and saccharine?

Why must everything be black and white for you folks? Why must a movie whose sole intent is not to "edify and cause discussion" be "happy and saccharine"? I prefer more moderation, personally.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Different stroke for different folks. No problem Data. I'm sure there's a few films we do agree that are great. I once had an argument with a director I was scoring a short film for over whether Jaws was a better film than Schindler's List. I said it actually probably was in terms of cinematic technique and that pissed her off. She also hated John Williams' music. No surprise that I got kicked off of the film shortly after.

C'est la vie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Once again, some film's aim is not to please but to edify and cause discussion. TWBB is that kind of film. If you want escapism, there are plenty of movies that fit the bill. I would not expect to go into a movie like TWBB with the idea that I would be entertained.

Why must everything be happy and saccharine?

I must say, David, I do not agree with this post. TWBB is entertainment just like any other movie. It may not be Datameister's entertainment but I'm definitely entertained by it. All the films of Paul Thomas Anderson entertain me. TWBB was one of the few films that entertained me last year. Yes, it helped me "escape" for 258 minutes.

Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All films that I like entertain me to a certain degree. It's a very broad term, but I think it's mostly used to describe films that simply entertain and give you a good time at the theaters (like summer blockbusters). It's not commonly used to describe more artsy and intelligence Oscar-type films.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All films that I like entertain me to a certain degree. It's a very broad term, but I think it's mostly used to describe films that simply entertain and give you a good time at the theaters (like summer blockbusters). It's not commonly used to describe more artsy and intelligence Oscar-type films.

Well, if it doesn't entertain me, then what precisely does it do? To use it only for blockbusters is wrong simply for the reason that many people aren't entertained by them. It's a misconception that 'entertaining' has nothing to do with using your mind. In fact, it has everything to do with the mind.

Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, if it doesn't entertain me, then what precisely does it do? Alex

It brings to your attention what is wrong with you. It acts as a mirror.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All films that I like entertain me to a certain degree. It's a very broad term, but I think it's mostly used to describe films that simply entertain and give you a good time at the theaters (like summer blockbusters). It's not commonly used to describe more artsy and intelligence Oscar-type films.

Well, if it doesn't entertain me, then what precisely does it do? To use it only for blockbusters is wrong simply for the reason that many people aren't entertained by them. It's a misconception that 'entertaining' has nothing to do with using your mind. In fact, it has everything to do with the mind.

I know, I'm just saying that seems like the more common way of using the word these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found TWBB quite engaging but then again I don't have ADD or ADHD. :)

Seriously though, I was weened on films that had a deliberate pace to them and respected their audience enough to unfold at a leisurely pace. Today, I really worry that shit directors like Michael Bay are actually contributing to the attention problems in our young children by bombarding them with images so fast. I mean, advertisers would employ these means of manipulation because they had 20 second or 60 second time slots to brainwash their target audience. But when a filmmaker implements the same rapidity of images and information for 2 hours, it's agonizing and punishing to those who aren't used to that bombardment of stimuli.

Anyhow, that's a little off topic but I do believe some people just were not able to sit still for Anderson's drawn out film style because they have become accustomed to the Michael Bay style of cinema (if one could even call it that).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't find anything inherently wrong with a film that has slower pacing. It just needs to have an interesting story that really draws me in. For whatever reason, this film failed to do that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't find anything inherently wrong with a film that has slower pacing. It just needs to have an interesting story that really draws me in. For whatever reason, this film failed to do that.

I'm curious- what exactly failed to draw you in? I didn't mean to suggest that you have a poor attention span BTW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm curious- what exactly failed to draw you in? I didn't mean to suggest that you have a poor attention span BTW.

I wish I knew...I guess I just had trouble tracking what the characters' motivations and intentions were, mostly. And I don't recall there being any truly sympathetic characters, which tends to turn me off. :) I don't remember the details of the film all that well, though, to be honest. After seeing the film, I hadn't given it much thought again till this thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.