Live Free or Die Hard (soundtrack)

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Live Free or Die Hard: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by
Marco Beltrami
ReleasedJuly 2, 2007
Recorded2007
StudioNewman Scoring Stage, 20th Century Fox Studios, Los Angeles
Genre Film score
Length63:06
Label Varèse Sarabande
Producer
Die Hard soundtracks chronology
Die Hard with a Vengeance
(1995)		Live Free or Die Hard: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2007)		 A Good Day to Die Hard
(2013)
Marco Beltrami chronology
The Invisible
(2007)		Live Free or Die Hard
(2007)		 Captivity
(2007)

Live Free or Die Hard: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film score soundtrack to the 2007 film Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth instalment in the Die Hard film series. The film score is composed by Marco Beltrami who incorporates the compositions by Michael Kamen for the predecessors. The soundtrack was released under the Varèse Sarabande label on July 2, 2007.

Contents

Development

Michael Kamen, the principal composer who scored the previous instalments in the Die Hard series, died on November 18, 2003. [1] The score for Live Free or Die Hard was composed by Marco Beltrami who incorporated Kamen's thematic material into his score. [2] Beltrami and Len Wiseman thought that the score should pay homage to Kamen's work from the predecessors, but the studio wanted a score that sounded modern. To achieve this, he used the chord voices in the brass and the motifs and string figures that scored the film in a modern setting but used them throughout the film as recurrent motifs. The orchestration and musical construction of violins and brass, both melodically and rhythmically mimics Kamen's orchestral style. [1]

Reception

Thomas Glorieux of Maintitles.net wrote "It isn't music that makes a large impression, and mostly it's based on stuff we heard of the composer before. The Kamen influence is nice from a fan's point of view, but really not that important. And for the rest, we receive exquisite action material from a technical point of view, but hardly memorable as well." [3] A reviewer from Film Music Central wrote "Marco Beltrami’s score is relatively simplistic but it serves the needs of the film, which is a big plus given how bad most of the film was." [4] Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks.com wrote "Given the disappointment with the adaptation work in Terminator 3 , this is a definite step in the right direction. But in the end, the Live Free or Die Hard score, like the movie, simply goes through familiar moves that may or may not be enough to sustain your interest." [5]

Eric Lichtenfeld, reviewing from Soundtrack.net , said of the film score: "Live Free or Die Hard has a handful of cues you may well want to crank up. It just doesn't have many you will want to hum afterwards. Or remember for very long." [6] James Leonard of AllMusic reviewed, "As a piece of pure music, the score for Live Free Or Die Hard is pretty negligible. As a soundtrack for a Bruce Willis picture, however, it doesn't get any better." [7] Kaya Savas of MovieWeb wrote "Moving onto the score this brings up Marco Beltrami. I can state here that I am not a Marco Beltrami fan. The only score of his that I liked was his score to The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada . I always feel like he never does anything thematic at all and which is why I was worried when he was selected to fill Michael Kamen's shoes. Michael Kamen was the composer of the first three Die Hard films, but sadly he passed away in 2003. He was a greatly respected composer and his work on the first three Die Hards were iconic. Thankfully Marco Beltrami rose to the occasion and did a wonderful tribute with his score to Live Free Or Die Hard. He touches on some themes that Kamen wrote and gives it that Die Hard feel and atmosphere." [8]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Out of Bullets"1:06
2."Shootout"3:40
3."Leaving the Apartment"2:08
4."Dead Hackers"1:31
5."Traffic Jam"4:12
6."It's a Fire Sale"2:56
7."The Break-In"2:27
8."Farrell to D.C."4:35
9."Copter Chase"4:41
10."Blackout"2:03
11."Illegal Broadcast"3:47
12."Hurry Up!"1:22
13."The Power Plant"2:01
14."Landing"2:27
15."Cold Cuts"1:59
16."Yippee Ki Yay"4:42
17."Break a Neck"2:47
18."Farrell is In"4:22
19."The F-35"4:12
20."Aftermath"3:12
21."Live Free or Die Hard"2:56
Total length:63:06

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes [9]

Orchestra
Instruments

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References

  1. 1 2 A. Koran, David (January 21, 2008). "Marco Beltrami – Interview". Soundtrack.net. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  2. ↑ Marco Beltrami – Die Hard 4.0. Magic Sounds and Music. May 20, 2008. Archived from the original on January 19, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2024– via YouTube.
  3. ↑ Glorieux, Thomas. "Marco Beltrami: Live Free or Die Hard". Maintitles.net. Archived from the original on October 25, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  4. ↑ Central, Film Music (March 28, 2018). "My thoughts on: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)". Film Music Central. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  5. ↑ Clemmensen, Christian (July 5, 2007). "Live Free or Die Hard (Marco Beltrami)". Filmtracks.com. Archived from the original on February 14, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  6. ↑ Lichtenfeld, Eric (September 24, 2007). "Live Free or Die Hard". SoundtrackNet. Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  7. ↑ Leonard, James. "Review: Live Free or Die Hard [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]". AllMusic. RhythmOne. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  8. ↑ Savas, Kaya (June 27, 2007). "Live Free or Die Hard Review". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on August 26, 2024. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  9. ↑ Marco Beltrami. Live Free or Die Hard (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Media notes). Varèse Sarabande.
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