James Horner composed the film score which was recorded at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage in Studio City, Los Angeles, and Horner conducted the complete orchestra from the Hollywood Studio Symphony which was orchestrated by J. A. C. Redford and Randy Kerber.[3] The score was written in around six weeks. Describing the process on balancing the emotional moments and comedic overtones, Horner said "It's like being a tightrope walker with one foot in the air at all times. My feeling is that the funniness is going to come through whatever, so I tend to err on the side of making things emotive."[3]
For the recording sessions, Horner's crew members decorated the place with Christmas tree stands for the musicians to know that they are working on this film. Horner utilized tangles of cellos and electronic synthesizers and twisted plastic hoses which was created by Horner's team to make the odd sounds coming from the baroque-meets-dali instruments curated by Dr. Seuss for the Whoville town band. The instruments produced a vibrating honk like sound which was "plaintive and hostile". One instrument that had a slide, similar to a trombone had two people work on it.[4]
The recording for the climactic sequence was held on August 2000 with Howard supervising the final day of recording, discussing of how the music worked with the dialogue and Carrey's performance.[3]
Critical reception
Heather Phares of AllMusic wrote "Though a more typically quirky composer like Danny Elfman would have been a more obvious choice to score an off-kilter fantasy like this, Horner's compositions manage to strike a good balance between edgy humor and sentimentality" with the songs adding "an appropriately eclectic, whimsical touch to the soundtrack".[5] Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks wrote "How the Grinch Stole Christmas relies solely on the majesty of its final, lovely cues to reach your heart."[6]Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it "gimmickry, saccharine music".[7]Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote "Musical elements are diverse, ranging from James Horner's decent original score to several songs new and old."[8] Benjamin Hathaway of MovieWeb called it "one of his most diverse scores, and he does a marvelous job of incorporating sound in a way that seems as if it genuinely could have come from some wacky Whoville musical instrument".[9]
Track listing
All music is composed by James Horner, except where noted.
Music editors – Allan Ramsay, Christopher Landen, Paul Baily
Project manager – Frank K. DeWald
Music coordinator – Julyce Monbleaux
Music preparation – Bob Bornstein
Additional music preparation – Randy Kerber
Copyist – Alan L. Silva, Andrew J. Kinney, David A. Izzard, David Horne, David Wells, Emmet Estren, Howard J. Segurson, Jeffrey Hoyt Jones, Joseph McGuire, Kendall Roclord, Kirby Furlong, Margaret J. Maryatt, Robert Meurer, Stephen A. Cartotto, Steven Juliani, Victor Sagerquist
Additional orchestration – J. Eric Schmidt, Joseph Alfuso, Richard Stone, Steven J. Bernstein
Orchestra contractor – Sandy DeCrescent
Scoring staff – Andy Bass, Jay Selvester, Kirsten Smith, Marc Gebauer
Choir
Vocal contractor – Luana Jackman
Choir – Amick Byram, Augie Castagnola, Bob Joyce, Bobbi Page, Caitlin Gorfaine, Clydene Jackson-Edwards, Cord Jackman, D.J. Harper, Emily Horner, Geoff Koch, Johnnie Hall, Jon Joyce, Karen Harper, Kevin Dorsey, Linda Harmon, Luana Jackman, Mollie Hall, Randy Crenshaw, Rick Logan, Roger Freedland, Sally Stevens, Susan Boyd, Susan Stevens Logan, Terry Wood
Instruments
Accordion – Frank Marocco
Bass – Bruce P. Morgenthaler, Christian C. Kollgaard, Charles Domanico, Drew D. Dembowski, Edward Meares, Michael Valerio, Nico C. Abondolo, Oscar Hidalgo, Richard Feves, Steve Edelman, Susan A. Ranney
Bassoon – Kenneth E. Munday, Michael R. O'Donovan
Cello – Armen Ksajikian, Cecilia Tsan, Christine Ermacoff, Dane R. Little, David Low, David Speltz, Dennis Karmazyn, Douglas L. Davis, John A. Walz, Matthew Cooker, Paul A. Cohen, Paula Hochhalter, Roger Lebow, Rowena Hammill, Sebastian Toettcher, Stephen P. Erdody, Steve Richards, Timothy E. Landauer
Clarinet – Daniel L. Higgins, Emily Bernstein, Gary S. Bovyer, James M. Kanter, Steven A. Roberts, Thomas Scott
Flute – Geraldine Rotella, Louise M. DiTullio, Sheridon W. Stokes
French Horn – Brian D. A. O'Connor, Daniel P. Kelley, James W. Thatcher, John A. Reynolds, Kristy Morrell, Kurt G. Snyder, Phillip E. Yao, Richard J. Todd, Steven B. Becknell, Todd L. Miller
Harp – Gayle Levant, Jo Ann Turovsky
Keyboards – Ian R. Underwood, Randy M. Kerber
Oboe – Barbara Northcutt, Thomas G. Boyd
Percussion – Robert J. Zimmitti, Daniel L. Greco, Donald J. Williams, Gregory Goodall, Michael Fisher, Peter Limonick, Steven Schaeffer, Thomas D. Raney
Trombone – Alan L. Kaplan, Andrew T. Malloy, Robert F. Sanders, George B. Thatcher, Loren Marsteller, Michael M. Hoffman, Phillip Teele, William C. Booth
Trumpet – David W. Washburn, Jon Lewis, Timothy G. Morrison
Tuba – James M. Self
Viola – Andrew Picken, Carolyn Riley, Carrie Holzman-Little, Dan Lionel Neufeld, Darrin E. McCann, David F. Walther Jr., Denyse N. Buffum, Janet Lakatos, John Scanlon, Karie L. Prescott, Marlow G. Fisher, Matthew J. Funes, Michael Nowak, Michael Ramos, Mihail Zinovyev, Pamela Goldsmith, Piotr T. Jandula, Rick Gerding, Robert L. Becker, Robin R. Ross, Roland Kato, Ron Strauss, Simon Oswell, Steven A. Gordon
Violin – Aimee Kreston, Alan H. Grunfeld, Amy Hershberger, Anatoly Rosinsky, Armen Garabedian, Berj Garabedian, Bruce Dukov, Clayton Haslop, Connie Kupka Speltz, Darius Campo, Dimitrie Leivici, Endre Granat, Eun-Mee Ahn, Franklyn D'Antonio, Galina Golovin Zherdev, Haim Shtrum, Harris Goldman, Jacqueline I. Brand, Julie Ann Gigante, Karen Elaine Bakunin, Karen Jones, Kathleen Lenski, Katia K. Popov, Kenneth Yerke, Liane Mautner Reynolds, Lisa M. Sutton Johnson, Mario DeLeon, Mark D. Robertson, Miran Haig Kojian, Miwako Watanabe, Natalie Leggett, Patricia Johnson, Phillip Levy, Polly H. Sweeney, Rafael Rishik, Rene M. Mandel, Richard L. Altenbach, Robert L. Brosseau, Robin Olson, Roger D. Wilkie, Sid Page, Tamara L. Hatwan Chang
Management
Music business affairs for Universal Music Enterprises – Sean Roderick
Production coordinator for Universal Music Enterprises – Paul Hall
Music business and legal affairs for Universal Pictures – Michael Dyson, Tanya Perara
Executive in charge of music for Universal Pictures – Mike Knobloch
Music publishing executive for Universal Pictures – Eric Polin
Soundtrack marketing and coordination for Universal Pictures – Nikki Walsh, Zach Grossman
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.
