Howard Shore - The Pale Blue Eye (2022)

[Jay 37,322]

Howard Shore Scoring Scott Cooper’s ‘The Pale Blue Eye’

Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silence of the Lambs, The Aviator, Hugo, Mrs. Doubtfire, Big) has composed the original music for the upcoming Netflix original film The Pale Blue Eye. The movie is written and directed by Scott Cooper (Black Mass, Hostiles) and stars Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Toby Jones, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Harry Lawtey, Hadley Robinson, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall and Robert Duvall. The thriller based on the novel by Louis Bayard is set in West Point, 1830 and follows a detective who is hired to investigate the gruesome murder of a cadet and enlists one of their own to help unravel the case – a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allan Poe. Cooper and Bale are also producing the project with John Lesher (Birdman, End of Watch) and Tyler Thompson (The Trial of the Chicago 7, American Made) of Cross Creek Pictures. The Pale Blue Eye will be released in select theaters on December 23, 2022 before premiering on January 6, 2023 on Netlix.

 

http://filmmusicreporter.com/2022/10/31/howard-shore-scoring-scott-coopers-the-pale-blue-eye/

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

This movie ticks so many boxes for me in terms of my tastes and interests, can't wait.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Agreed this look really promising

[Jay 37,322]

I look forward to watching this motion picture

[crocodile 7,990]

Looks like the kind of a project Shore excels at.

 

Karol

[leeallen01 2,134]

Not sure where to post this, but just finished my oil painting of Howard Shore and thought I'd share it. 

 

I actually decided to open a separate artwork dedicated thread in 'other topics' for anyone to share their artwork.

[Jay 37,322]

Poster is out

 

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

Wooow. What a cast. This looks terrific.

 

 

[DangerMotif 1,037]

 

[crocodile 7,990]

I like this.

 

Karol

[TolkienSS 405]

Aside from Zimmer and Williams, I don't think there's a film composer alive whose music is as instantly recognizable as his as Howard Shore's.

 

I think I could pick out his music out of a hundred.

[Mr. Who 919]

2 hours ago, Gibster said:

 

This sounds great! I like the "Hobbit-sound"!

[Faleel 5,340]

If the rest is as good as this or better, it might be my pick for score of the year.

[Incanus 5,713]

Oooh sounds promising and oh so very Howard Shore.  

[Jay 37,322]

The score album is now out in any country where it is already Friday

 

 

1. The Pale Blue Eye (0:52)
2. West Point (1:46)
3. The Investigation (2:27)
4. Deciphering the Letter (2:06)
5. Hospital Ward (2:23)
6. Mattie (1:43)
7. Professor Jean Pépé (3:03)
8. Augustus Landor’s Library (1:19)
9. Attack on the Road (1:50)
10. The Mystery Unravels (2:56)
11. La Divine Patsy (2:18)
12. Edgar A. Poe (3:55)
13. The Icehouse (4:48)
14. A Stay of Execution (2:44)
15. Poe Recounts the Truth (3:08)
16. Tightening the Noose (7:06)
17. Everything Will Be All Right (1:18)
18. The Academy (2:27)

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-pale-blue-eye-soundtrack-from-the-netflix-film/1654909775

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-pale-blue-eye-soundtrack-from-the-netflix-film/1658414349

 

I have no idea why its on NZ iTunes twice

[Jay 37,322]

Anybody listen to this today?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I’m going to wait and watch the movie first.

[TolkienSS 405]

A lot more accessible than other Shore scores of this kind.

[artguy360 1,843]

I'm looking forward to listening to this soon.

[TolkienSS 405]

The Icehouse 3:15

A wild Necromancer has appeared!

[WampaRat 1,105]

Listened to it today. Haunting. Melancholy. Lovely. A great little score. And yes there’s a few action bursts that sound like they could be taking place in Middle Earth. 

45 minutes well spent. 

[crocodile 7,990]

I heard some of it and really like it. Yet another nice film score surprise and that says something as this year was full of them.

 

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

Very static LOTR, meaning i vastly prefer his more varied Cornenberg/Crimes of the Future writitng.

[filmmusic 1,823]

Haven't listened to it yet, but have heard from a couple of friends that listen to A LOT of soundtracks, that it's a soundtrack without identity and character.

[Stark 312]

This is Horner levels of self-plagiarism (mostly from the Hobbit), but I did enjoy it.

[Chen G. 3,944]

On 17/12/2022 at 1:38 PM, publicist said:

Very static LOTR, meaning i vastly prefer his more varied Cornenberg/Crimes of the Future writitng.

 

That's okay, until my eventual election as king of the world, being wrong is not yet punishable by death...

[crocodile 7,990]

I really like it. Yes, it sounds very much like The Desolation of Smaug meeting The Silence of the Lambs. But that's fine by me.

 

Karol

[artguy360 1,843]

Listened to the OST two times through. I love Shore's general sound here which is in the LOTR/Hobbit ball park. It's like a more subdued, more bland LOTR score with a more consistent dark vibe. Not remarkable, but nice.

[TolkienSS 405]

9 hours ago, Stark said:

This is Horner levels of self-plagiarism (mostly from the Hobbit), but I did enjoy it.

 

Can you point at tracks that you think contain Hobbit references? I didn't spot them.

[Richard Penna 3,675]

On 18/12/2022 at 5:32 PM, artguy360 said:

Listened to the OST two times through. I love Shore's general sound here which is in the LOTR/Hobbit ball park. It's like a more subdued, more bland LOTR score with a more consistent dark vibe. Not remarkable, but nice.

 

I played the first few tracks and yep, this is the sort of vibe I got. It's a bit like listening to some Hobbit alternates with all the themes taken out, and a slightly darker, and tad more modern sound.

 

I do rather like more subdued, textural scores so I might end up liking it, but I don't think it's going to turn out to be anything remarkable.

[Stark 312]

11 hours ago, TolkienSS said:

 

Can you point at tracks that you think contain Hobbit references? I didn't spot them.

I’d have to listen again and also have the Hobbit scores on the side to figure out exactly which moments are getting referenced - but like Richard said it really does sound like almost all Hobbit styles with the themes run through a blender.

[TolkienSS 405]

6 hours ago, Stark said:

I’d have to listen again and also have the Hobbit scores on the side to figure out exactly which moments are getting referenced - but like Richard said it really does sound like almost all Hobbit styles with the themes run through a blender.

 

I think you're just referring to Howard Shore's particular orchestral approach and compositional idioms. 

I don't hear The Hobbit in this. Except that Necromancer moment mentiones above.

[Alex Shore 83]

Its like a beautiful returning to Middle Earth with some of the 90's thriller music.

[Jay 37,322]

We watched the film last night, which is pretty good.  Not great, but certainly worth watching

 

The score fit the film like a glove!  Most of the time I was engaged enough with the film that I didn't specifically notice the score or what it was doing.  But occasionally my score antennae tuned into it, and my thought was always that it was really supporting the film very well.

 

I haven't listened to the score album yet, but remember checking out a few passages in the past and hearing some Hobbit-ness in them.  I will say when watching the actual movie, there wasn't a time at all when I specifically noticed anything Hobbit-y.  So now I'm curious to listen to the album and see what I think!

 

Anybody else watch the movie yet?  (It's on Netflix)

[Trope 520]

I genuinely loved the film, and highly recommend it! I went in with an expectation level of 0, and found it to be quite thrilling - I did not predict any of the story twists! Jay is right: the score suits the film perfectly, adding to an already strong atmosphere. I also didn't notice much of the music watching first-time through (as I was wrapped up in the plot and characters), but I thought the spotting was well done, leaving several moments without score to heighten the effect when the music enters. Upon my second viewing, I enjoyed the film even more and picked up on a couple of musical themes. I like Shore in thriller mode: lots of dark orchestral colours and several beautiful moments too (for one character in particular).

[Jay 37,322]

4 hours ago, Trope said:

the score suits the film perfectly, adding to an already strong atmosphere. I also didn't notice much of the music watching first-time through (as I was wrapped up in the plot and characters), but I thought the spotting was well done, leaving several moments without score to heighten the effect when the music enters.

 

I agree with all this! 

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

Just saw the film. I thought it was very very good. I saw the first 'twist' coming. But that 2nd one was beautiful and unexpected.

 

Spoiler

I love how they cut back to the opening shot of Bale at the river and it made sense what he was doing there.

I also loved how the ending was left open to interpretation. Did he jump off the cliff as well or not.

 

And as said above Shore's music is tremendous and really elevates the film. It's never in your face and truly helps bring you fully in the world of the film, which I loved.

I also appreciate the score on album a lot more now and especially the different themes. Wonderful stuff

[thestat 348]

Loved the score in the film - I thought it had great presence. The orchestral colours shine through magnificently. From the opening credits to the final despair, wonderful Shoreian bleakness.

 

As Doug Adams has suggested the film uses some of the rejected King Kong score, I wonder if this piece was the love theme for the Jackson epic. It would not sound out of place (and most of the other material is familiar - but still suitably dissimilar - from Silence of the Lambs, Smaug, The Score - however, I cannot place this theme elsewhere in Shore's catalogue):

 

[TolkienSS 405]

It MAY be from his rejected Kong score. But is it inconceivable to you that Shore may have written, well, original music?

[thestat 348]

No. I love Shore's work. What is your problem?

 

It's clearly all original as I made explicit in my original post. There are hints of SOTL, Score and other scores. It's still clearly a very idiosyncratic Shore composition. That is what all composers do. They have a style. A Goldsmith Rambo theme may end up resembling something from Rudy.

 

I rank this as probably my top 2 composition of all time for its unrelenting bleakness and the unusual gestures Shore does with orchestra:

 

Where do you place it in yours?

TolkienSS - where do you place this Shore score in your lineage of music (this one is wholly original so no need to suggest I am accusing Shore of plagiarism, no one has done music like this before):

 

[Trope 520]

4 hours ago, thestat said:

As Doug Adams has suggested the film uses some of the rejected King Kong score, I wonder if this piece was the love theme for the Jackson epic. It would not sound out of place (and most of the other material is familiar - but still suitably dissimilar - from Silence of the Lambs, Smaug, The Score - however, I cannot place this theme elsewhere in Shore's catalogue):

 

This theme always had an air of familiarity to it. The opening shape of the melody certainly reminded me of this from 2:02 (not from Shore, but a similar musical line!):

 

 

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

I had that exact same thing in my head. That it sounded like Corpse Bride!

[Doug Adams 494]

On 10/1/2023 at 5:29 PM, thestat said:

Loved the score in the film - I thought it had great presence. The orchestral colours shine through magnificently. From the opening credits to the final despair, wonderful Shoreian bleakness.

 

As Doug Adams has suggested the film uses some of the rejected King Kong score, I wonder if this piece was the love theme for the Jackson epic. It would not sound out of place (and most of the other material is familiar - but still suitably dissimilar - from Silence of the Lambs, Smaug, The Score - however, I cannot place this theme elsewhere in Shore's catalogue):

 

I'm afraid that nothing in Pale Blue Eye has any relation (articulated or otherwise) to Shore's KONG score. I don't remember making that suggestion, but I apologize if I said something misleading. 

[Jay 37,322]

The Pale Blue Eye is a really cool score  

[thestat 348]

Fair enough Doug but give my best to Shore for this track (it's an obsessive one - both beautiful and typically disturbing)

 

[Trope 520]

3 hours ago, thestat said:

Fair enough Doug but give my best to Shore for this track (it's an obsessive one - both beautiful and typically disturbing)

 

That section from about 1:00-2:00 where the main theme is augmented with the evocative string (and later brass) effects/dissonances is incredible. Those subtle changes in colour and orchestration between thematic statements add so much to the drama of this scene in particular.