Bridge of Spies (soundtrack)

Last updated

Bridge of Spies (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film score by
Thomas Newman
ReleasedOctober 16, 2015 (2015-10-16)
Studio
Genre Film score
Length48:25
Label Hollywood
Producer
  • Thomas Newman
  • Bill Bernstein
Thomas Newman chronology
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
(2015)		Bridge of Spies
(2015)		 Spectre
(2015)

Bridge of Spies (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the Steven Spielberg-directed historical drama film Bridge of Spies, released by Hollywood Records, alongside the film on October 16, 2015. [1] It is the second Spielberg film not to be scored by John Williams after The Color Purple (1985). The film was scored by Thomas Newman, who replaced Williams in March 2015, due to health complications. [2] The score was critically acclaimed and received nominations for Academy Award for Best Original Score and BAFTA Award for Best Film Music in 2016.

Contents

Background

In March 2015, Spielberg's regular collaborator John Williams was set to compose the score for the film. [3] However, Williams exited from the project two weeks later, citing health issues, [4] [5] and was replaced by Thomas Newman; [2] John Williams would however score for The BFG. [6]

While Newman worked with several directors in his two-decade long career, he felt working with Spielberg was a "little intimidating" and further said "You sit with him in a room, and you're playing something — a piece of music. And you trust how he responds. And so I would just try to get those feelings that evoked that in him. His instincts are pretty unerring. It was very clear, but it was never doctrinaire, it was never dogmatic at all. I think he was very interested in getting into the creative heart of anyone he collaborates with." [7]

The score consisted of piano cues layered with string motifs, implementing many of his previous scores, but also met Spielberg's aesthetic on its own terms, favoring "big, unembarrassed emotions and moments of uncynical beauty". [7]

Critical reception

James Southall of Movie Wave wrote "Bridge of Spies is the third of Newman’s four scores this year.  It’s a diverse bunch – a gentle comedy, a moving documentary, a political thriller and a Bond movie.  They’re all very good but for my money this is the pick of them.  It’s got real life to it and, while Newman employs a number of familiar techniques, he manages to keep everything sounding fresh and always engaging.  It’s already been announced that John Williams will return for Spielberg’s next movie, The BFG, but when the time does eventually come to choose his successor, the director need look no further." [8] Jonathan Broxton stated "Thankfully, Newman did not try to write a John Williams score for this film – it would have served no-one if Newman failed at being Williams, while simultaneously failing at being himself. It bears all his personal idiosyncratic compositional hallmarks, many of which will be over-familiar to some listeners, and as such may elicit accusations of Newman writing the same old score again." and concluded "Whether Thomas Newman will go on to be Steven Spielberg’s regular collaborator in the future is unclear, but if Bridge of Spies tells us one thing, it’s that the legacy of John Williams will be in good hands if he does." [9]

Mfiles.com wrote "In an era of so much mass-produced, homogenous film music, it's a bracing joy to know that unique talents like Thomas Newman are being utilised on superb films like Bridge of Spies. He's a rare composer with a truly, almost defiantly singular voice, a keen dramatist who carefully builds a sense of mood across each of his soundtracks before richly rewarding the listeners in the home stretch." [10] Filmtracks.com wrote "Depending on your mood for this type of introspective thriller music with a wholesome bent, Bridge of Spies could be a three-star or four-star effort, though given its smart match for the film, the latter rating is fairer for the patient listener." [11]

The Guardian 's Mark Kermode called Newman's score as "surprisingly understated". [12] Anthony Lane of The New Yorker opined "while Spielberg has shifted in his choice of composer, from John Williams to Thomas Newman, the shift is not far enough. He should have taken his cue from Otto Preminger, who leavened Anatomy of a Murder his courtroom masterwork of 1959, with the music of Duke Ellington. We even saw the Duke onscreen, playing piano with Jimmy Stewart. The lilt and the kick of the soundtrack didn’t compromise that movie. They gave it cool." [13]

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef.
Academy Awards February 28, 2016 Best Original Score Thomas Newman Nominated [14]
[15]
British Academy Film Awards February 14, 2016 Best Film Music Thomas Newman Nominated [16]

Track listing

All music is composed by Thomas Newman.

No.TitleLength
1."Hall of Trade Unions, Moscow"0:43
2."Sunlit Silence"4:04
3."Ejection Protocol"1:56
4."Standing Man"2:11
5."Rain"1:21
6."Lt. Francis Gary Powers"3:04
7."The Article"1:36
8."The Wall"2:14
9."Private Citizen"1:35
10."The Impatient Plan"1:35
11."West Berlin"1:12
12."Friedrichstrasse Station"1:20
13."Glienicke Bridge"10:51
14."Homecoming"7:46
15."Bridge of Spies (End Title)"6:57
Total length:48:25

Personnel

Credits adapted from CD liner notes [17]

Instruments
Orchestra

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Spielberg</span> American filmmaker

Steven Allan Spielberg is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spielberg is the recipient of various accolades, including three Academy Awards, a Kennedy Center honor, a Cecil B. DeMille Award, and an AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2013, Time listed him as one of the 100 most influential people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Williams</span> American composer, conductor, and pianist (born 1932)

John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor and pianist. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history. Williams has won 25 Grammy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. With 52 Academy Award nominations, he is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. His compositions are considered the epitome of film music and he is considered among the greatest composers in the history of cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Newman</span> American composer

Thomas Montgomery Newman is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including The Player, The Shawshank Redemption, Cinderella Man, American Beauty, The Green Mile, In the Bedroom, Angels in America, Finding Nemo, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, WALL-E, the James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre, Finding Dory and 1917. Throughout his career, he has collaborated extensively with directors such as Sam Mendes, Frank Darabont, Steven Soderbergh, John Madden and John Lee Hancock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Spielberg filmography</span> Filmography of American filmmaker Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era, as well as one of the most popular directors and producers in film history. He is also one of the co-founders of Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Studios.

<i>Saving Private Ryan</i> (soundtrack) 1998 film score by John Williams

Saving Private Ryan: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album for the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg. The album was produced by composer John Williams and distributed by DreamWorks Records. Recorded in Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, the scores were performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with two of the ten compositions featuring vocals from the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. The soundtrack runs for just over an hour, while the film itself lasts over two hours.

The World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year is one of the three main prizes given by the World Soundtrack Academy to honour the best movie soundtracks and the people who work on them.

<i>The BFG</i> (2016 film) 2016 film by Steven Spielberg

The BFG is a 2016 fantasy adventure film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and based on Roald Dahl's 1982 novel of the same name. The film stars Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall and Bill Hader. In the film, a 10-year-old orphaned girl named Sophie befriends a benevolent giant dubbed the "Big Friendly Giant", who takes her to Giant Country, where they attempt to stop the man-eating giants that are invading the human world.

<i>Bridge of Spies</i> (film) 2015 film by Steven Spielberg

Bridge of Spies is a 2015 historical drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, written by Matt Charman and the Coen brothers, and starring Tom Hanks in the lead role, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, and Alan Alda. Set during the Cold War, the film tells the story of lawyer James B. Donovan, who is entrusted with negotiating the release of Francis Gary Powers—a U.S. Air Force convicted pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960—in exchange for Rudolf Abel, a convicted Soviet KGB spy held by the United States, whom Donovan represented at trial. The name of the film refers to the Glienicke Bridge, which connects Potsdam with Berlin, where the prisoner exchange took place. The film was an international co-production of the United States and Germany.

The Wolverine is the soundtrack album to the 2013 superhero film of the same name, directed by James Mangold. Featuring the Marvel Comics character Wolverine, the film is the sixth installment in the X-Men film series, the second installment in the trilogy of Wolverine films after X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and a spin-off/sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). The film's musical score is composed by Marco Beltrami, who previously scored Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma (2007).

Music from the Motion Picture: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is the soundtrack for the 2011 computer-animated action/adventure film The Adventures of Tintin directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, based on Belgian cartoonist Hergé's comic book series of the same name. The film score is composed by John Williams, which is the first time he had composed the score of a film since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) as well as his first score for an animated film. The score was released on 21 October 2011 by Sony Classical Records. Williams received a nomination for Best Original Score at the 84th Academy Awards for his work in the film.

Lincoln is the score album to the 2012 biographical historical drama film Lincoln, based on the Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 biography Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, a semi-biographical novel that covers the final four months of United States President Abraham Lincoln's life. The film is directed by Steven Spielberg, from a screenplay written by Tony Kushner and featured musical score composed by John Williams, Spielberg's frequent collaborator. The orchestral score was recorded at Symphony Center, Chicago by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Chorus. It was released by Sony Classical on November 2, 2012.

War Horse is the score album to the 2011 film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg's norm collaborator John Williams composed and conducted the score for the film, the second score composed the same year by Williams for Spielberg after The Adventures of Tintin. The score featured a 90-piece orchestra performing the orchestral music and was recorded during March and April 2011. It was released on 21 December 2011 by Sony Classical Records, four days prior to the film's release. The soundtrack was also released in German in February 2012, to accompany with the dubbed release of Gefährten in Germany.

Minority Report is the score album to the 2002 film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg. The music was released on June 18, 2002 by DreamWorks Records in CD, vinyl and cassettes. The score was composed and conducted by Spielberg's regular collaborator John Williams, with orchestration done by John Neufeld, Conrad Pope, Eddie Karam and Miriam A. Mayer, and vocal harmonies by Deborah Dietrich.

The Peanuts Movie is the soundtrack album to the 2015 animated film The Peanuts Movie, directed by Steve Martino and produced by Blue Sky Studios. Based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts, it is the fifth full-length Peanuts film, and the first in 35 years. The original score is composed by Christophe Beck, with contributions from jazz pianist David Benoit and Meghan Trainor, who performed an original song titled "Better When I'm Dancin', released as a single on October 14, 2015. The soundtrack was digitally released by Epic Records and Fox Music on October 23, 2015.

<i>Maleficent</i> (soundtrack) 2014 film score by James Newton Howard

Maleficent is the score album composed by James Newton Howard for the 2014 film Maleficent, based on the Disney villain character Maleficent from the animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959). The film is a live-action spin-off of Sleeping Beauty, and is loosely inspired from Charles Perrault's original fairy tale. Directed by Robert Stromberg, the film stars Angelina Jolie in the titular character.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is the score album to the 2011 film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The fourth instalment in the Mission: Impossible film series, starring Tom Cruise, the film is directed by Brad Bird and featured musical score composed by Michael Giacchino, who scored for Mission: Impossible III (2006), and also for Bird's previous animated films, The Incredibles (2004) and Ratatouille (2007). Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack on December 13, 2011.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is the score album to the 2008 film of the same name composed and conducted by James Horner. The album featured 15 tracks from Horner's score and was released on February 12, 2008 by Lakeshore Records. The film featured an original song, a rendition of the nursery rhyme "London Bridge Is Falling Down" performed by Jordy Benattar, that was not included in the soundtrack. The score received positive reviews.

The BFG is the score album for the 2016 film of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg. It featured a musical score composed by Spielberg's regular collaborator John Williams and was released on July 1, 2016 by Walt Disney Records.

The Post is the score album to the 2017 film of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg. The film's musical score is composed by Spielberg's regular collaborator John Williams, in his twenty-eighth collaboration with the director, and is a combination of traditional instrumentation and orchestration. The album was released digitally by Sony Classical Records on December 22, 2017, and was released in CDs on January 12, 2018, coinciding with the film's limited and wide theatrical release in the United States. The album received positive reviews and earned several nominations at award ceremonies, including Critics' Choice Movie Award and Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Score".

Ready Player One is a 2018 American science fiction action film based on Ernest Cline's novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Zak Penn and Cline. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance.

References

  1. ↑ "'Bridge of Spies' Soundtrack Details". Film Music Reporter. September 30, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Goldberg, Matt (March 18, 2015). "Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies to Be Scored by Thomas Newman". Collider. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Spielberg/Hanks Cold War Thriller Officially Titled 'Bridge of Spies', John Williams to Score". ComingSoon.net. March 4, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  4. ↑ Lussier, Germain (March 18, 2015). "John Williams Out For Steven Spielberg's 'Bridge Of Spies,' See A New Image". SlashFilm.com. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  5. ↑ Agar, Chris (March 18, 2015). "Spielberg's 'Bridge of Spies' Gets a Synopsis; John Williams Not Composing the Score". ScreenRant. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  6. ↑ Jagernauth, Kevin (March 18, 2015). "Thomas Newman To Score Steven Spielberg's 'Bridge Of Spies,' John Williams Will Tune Up 'The B.F.G'". IndieWire. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  7. 1 2 "When John Williams Can't Go, Whom Does Spielberg Call? Thomas Newman". NPR.org. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Bridge of Spies soundtrack review | Thomas Newman | movie-wave.net". November 5, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  9. ↑ "BRIDGE OF SPIES – Thomas Newman". MOVIE MUSIC UK. October 20, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  10. ↑ "Bridge of Spies - Film Soundtrack by Thomas Newman". www.mfiles.co.uk. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Filmtracks: Bridge of Spies (Thomas Newman)". www.filmtracks.com. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Bridge of Spies review – cold war, warm wit". the Guardian. November 29, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Steven Spielberg's Cold War". The New Yorker. October 19, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Oscars 2016: Winners list in full". BBC News. February 28, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Oscars 2016: Nominations list". BBC News. January 14, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Bafta Film Awards 2016: Winners". BBC News. February 14, 2016. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  17. ↑ Bridge of Spies [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] - Thomas Newman | Credits | AllMusic , retrieved August 30, 2022
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.