Free Solo (soundtrack)

Free Solo (National Geographic Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film score by Marco Beltrami
Released	November 9, 2018
Genre	Film score
Length	39:57
Label	Node Records
Producer	Marco Beltrami
Marco Beltrami chronology
A Quiet Place (2018) Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

Free Solo (National Geographic Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2018 National Geographic documentary film Free Solo directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, that profiles rock climber Alex Honnold on his quest to perform the first-ever free solo climb of a route on El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park in California, in June 2017. ^{[1] [2]} Marco Beltrami composed the film score and was released through Node Records on November 9, 2018.

Development

Marco Beltrami composed the score, who found the documentary to be " the most petrifying project of his career in the unlikeliest of places". ^[3] He found Honnold's story to be gripping and putting in his shoes, being just insane. ^[3] Describing Honnold as an "interesting character" who gets all of his life from climbing, which is also the thing that could kill him. this was the "yin and yang thing that's perpetually going through the movie" and wanted it to represent musically. ^[4]

Beltrami who treated each film as a puzzle needed to be cracked, in terms of film scoring, considered it a mysterious process and in the case of Free Solo, two keys unlocked the puzzle. One was to summon the majesty El Capitan and the other, to dwell into the complexity of Honnold rendering the basic paradox of his resistance in the musical form. ^[3]

Tim McGraw performed the song "Gravity" which he shared writing credits with Lori McKenna. ^{[5] [6]} The song was released under the Sony Music Entertainment label on November 1, 2018. ^{[7] [8]}

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Main Title & Yosemite Valley"	4:41
2.	"Freerider"	3:27
3.	"The L Word"	2:05
4.	"The Sanni Challenge"	2:14
5.	"Morocco"	2:03
6.	"Too Many Deaths"	1:20
7.	"Tommy Caldwell"	1:14
8.	"Teflon Corner"	2:11
9.	"Working The Boulder Problem"	1:53
10.	"Free Haircut"	1:13
11.	"Mental Climbing"	1:52
12.	"Alex & Sanni"	1:27
13.	"Home Shopping"	1:17
14.	"Warrior Mentality"	1:29
15.	"Ueli Dies"	3:48
16.	"Sayonara Sanni"	1:30
17.	"June 3rd, 2017"	3:39
18.	"Huge Stones"	6:47
19.	"7,573'"	5:49
Total length:		49:59

Reception

Peter Debruge of Variety and Keith Uhlich of The Hollywood Reporter called it "pulse-quickening" and "soaring". ^{[9] [10]} Peter Travers of Rolling Stone noted "pumped by Marco Beltrami's score and your own adrenaline, you feel every spectacular moment." ^[11] Katherine Laidlaw of The Globe and Mail wrote "You could pause here to consider this, if Marco Beltrami's deft scoring would allow you to take a rest. Instead, the music keeps our emotions moving at a steady pace, winding through moods at turns thrilling, inspiring, fearful, fretful and frustrating." ^[12]

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s) and nominee(s)	Result	Ref(s)
Hollywood Music in Media Awards	November 14, 2018	Original Score – Documentary	Marco Beltrami	Nominated	[13] [14]
		Original Song – Documentary	"Gravity" – Tim McGraw and Lori McKenna	Nominated
Cinema Eye Honors	January 10, 2019	Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score	Marco Beltrami	Nominated	[15]
Primetime Emmy Awards	September 14, 2019	Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score)	Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts	Won	[16] [17]

References

1. Wilkinson, Alissa (22 February 2019). "A guide to this year's exceptionally good Oscar-nominated documentaries". Vox . Vox Media. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
2. Mallenbaum, Carly (3 October 2018). "'Free Solo': How filmmakers avoided kill Alex Honnold as he climbed". USA Today . Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
3. Grobar, Matt (9 August 2019). "'Free Solo' Composer Marco Beltrami Taps Into The Light & Darkness Within History-Making Climber — Production Value Video Series". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
4. Beachum, Chris; Laws, Zach (29 May 2019). "Marco Beltrami ('Free Solo' composer) reveals he didn't need to provide adrenaline to heart-pounding documentary [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW]". GoldDerby . Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
5. Newman, Melinda (14 November 2018). "Tim McGraw on Writing 'Gravity' For Nat Geo Doc 'Free Solo': 'Right Off the Bat, I Was Hooked'". Billboard . Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
6. Willman, Chris (29 November 2018). "Tim McGraw on Defining 'Gravity' for 'Free Solo' Theme Song". Variety . Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
7. Grobar, Matt (29 November 2018). "Writing Original Song "Gravity" For 'Free Solo', Tim McGraw Reflects On Personal Career Summit — Production Value Video Series". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
8. McVey, Ciara (23 November 2018). "Tim McGraw on What Sparked His "Change of Heart" to Create 'Free Solo' Theme Song". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
9. Debruge, Peter (1 September 2018). "Film Review: 'Free Solo'". Variety . Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
10. Uhlich, Keith (31 August 2018). "'Free Solo': Film Review | Telluride 2018". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
11. Travers, Peter (27 September 2018). "Alex Honnold Documentary 'Free Solo' Is as Extreme as the Man". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 1 July 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
12. Laidlaw, Katherine (11 October 2018). "Review: Free Solo climbs new, terrifying documentary heights". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
13. Xu, Linda (17 October 2018). "'A Star Is Born,' 'Black Panther' Lead Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
14. Yang, Rachel (16 October 2018). "'Black Panther,' 'A Star Is Born' Lead 2018 Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominees". Variety . Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
15. Tapley, Kristopher (8 November 2018). "Hulu's 'Minding the Gap' Ties Cinema Eye Honors All-Time Nominations Record". Variety . Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
16. "2019 Primetime Emmy Awards – Nomination Press Release" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
17. 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards:
    • "First Night of 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Winners Announced" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 14 September 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
    • "Second Night of 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Winners Announced" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 15 September 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2022.