The Phoenician Scheme (soundtrack)

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The Phoenician Scheme (Original Soundtrack)
The Phoenician Scheme (soundtrack).jpg
Soundtrack album by
various artists
ReleasedMay 30, 2025
Studio
Genre
Length44:31
Label ABKCO
Producer
Wes Anderson film soundtrack chronology
Asteroid City (Original Soundtrack)
(2023)
The Phoenician Scheme (Original Soundtrack)
(2025)

The Phoenician Scheme (Original Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2025 film The Phoenician Scheme directed by Wes Anderson. The film score is composed by Alexandre Desplat, and its soundtrack accompanied seven cues from his score with the remainder of them consisting of classical pieces composed by Igor Stravinsky, Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach amongst others; it was produced by Anderson along with his usual music supervisor Randall Poster. The album was released through ABKCO Records on May 30, 2025, and a vinyl edition set for release on July 11, 2025.

Contents

Development

Frequent Anderson collaborator Alexandre Desplat worked on the score, as with another collaborator of the director, Randall Poster, also worked as the music supervisor and compiled and produced the soundtrack. [1] Desplat's score incorporates the compositions of Igor Stravinsky, with a piece from his ballet The Firebird (1910) served as the "seed of the score" with a short melody which he twisted and expanded, to create a leitmotif serving as the film's musical anchor. On playing the piece, Desplat "thought about what Stravinsky had done, and tried to stay in Stravinsky’s world". [2] Variations of that piece play over the transition cards, that indicates the events happening throughout the film. [2]

Besides "The Firebird", the film also featured several works by the composer, including "Apotheosis" from Apollo amongst others, along with other works from Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, along with jazz arrangements by Gene Krupa, Gerry Mulligan and Glenn Miller. [3] [4] Desplat aimed to "slalom around" these pieces while writing the score, as "there are too many things happening, and I just can’t musically link them [...] So I have to avoid them and let them play, and then find a flourish of mine — and another. These songs, these pieces, keep going along, and I just jump around." [2] Desplat pointed that the only music the characters hear comes directly from tracks by other artists, which were played through radios, bands and turntables which were considered diegetic music. [2] The non-diegetic music, which was the score, had to be connected with the diegetic music which goes in and out the image. Despite the film's ensemble cast, he did not want to compose music for the individual characters, instead crafted melodies that enriched the film's atmosphere that served as "a Rubik's Cube to give colors to every character". [2] Desplat used a toolbox—consisted of glockenspiel, the choir, the mandolin, the banjo, recorders—which he had since their maiden association with Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and used the piano and drums from that toolbox to provide the musical palette for the score. [2]

Reception

Amy Nicholson of Los Angeles Times called it a "thrilling ticking time bomb of a score". [5] David Ehrlich of IndieWire described it as "breezy". [6] Tim Grierson of Screen International called it a "lilting orchestral score, supplemented by selections from Stravinsky and Beethoven". [7] Peter Debruge of Variety noted that Desplat's score infuses "a dose of Lalo Schifrin-esque suspense". [8] Jason Gorber of Paste wrote "Composer Alexandre Desplat adds in another dose of Francophilic exuberance". [9] Siddhant Adlakha of Inverse wrote "Despite Alexandre Desplat's propulsive score in the vein of The French Dispatch , the images here never quite feel as exciting as the music." [10] Robert Kojder of Flickering Myth called Desplat's score "a combination of propulsive thrust and farcical silliness". [11] Tara Brady of The Irish Times wrote "Alexandre Desplat’s effective score sounds awfully like the one before." [12]

Track listing

No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Airplane Crash #1" Alexandre Desplat 3:54
2."Stravinsky: Apollon musagète (1947 Version) / Second Tableau"3:47
3."A.Z.K Land & Sea"Alexandre Desplat0:36
4."Palazzo Korda"Alexandre Desplat4:12
5."Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Op. 2 IV Rondo"
1:58
6."Stravinsky: Petrouchka, 1947 Version: "Tableau 1, The Shrovetide Fair""5:10
7."The Gap Explodes"Alexandre Desplat1:31
8."The Trans-Mountain Locomotive Tunnel"Alexandre Desplat1:36
9."Drum Boogie" Gene Krupa 3:10
10."Mud Bug"Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq Sextet1:22
11."The Jungle Unit of the Intercontinental Radical Freedom Militia Corps"Alexandre Desplat2:02
12."J. S. Bach: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, Cantata BWV 147 / Pt. 2: Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Chorale)"3:31
13."Hach Baregel"
  • Ahuva Tsadok
  • Nachum Nardi
2:31
14."Heaven #5 (Dost Thou Not Fear God)"Alexandre Desplat0:58
15."A String of Pearls" Glenn Miller and his Orchestra 3:16
16."Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Orch. Ravel) (Modeste Moussorgski): IX. The Hut on Fowl's Legs "Baba-Yaga" (Recorded 1966)"1:52
17."Stravinsky: L'Oiseau de Feu (The Firebird) "Introduction"/ "Le Jardin enchanté de Kachtchei"/"Disparition du palais et des sortilèges de Kachtchei, animation des chevaliers pétrifiés, allégresse générale""Igor Stravinsky3:05
Total length:44:31

Personnel credits

Credits adapted from liner notes: [13]

London Symphony Orchestra
Scottish Digital Arts Orchestra
London Voices

Release history

Release dates and formats for The Phoenician Scheme (Original Soundtrack)Release history and formats for Asteroid City (Original Soundtrack)
RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref.
VariousMay 30, 2025 ABKCO [14]
July 11, 2025 Vinyl

References

  1. Tonet, Aureliano (May 23, 2025). "Composer Alexandre Desplat at Cannes: 'People picture me in LA with a pink Lamborghini'". Le Monde . Archived from the original on May 29, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Zee, Michaela (June 9, 2025). "How Alexandre Desplat Crafted the Score for Wes Anderson's 'The Phoenician Scheme' — With a Nod to Stravinsky". Variety . Archived from the original on June 10, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  3. Edwards, Chris (May 26, 2025). "Here's every song on 'The Phoenician Scheme' soundtrack". NME . Archived from the original on May 29, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  4. Pentreath, Rosie (May 28, 2025). "New Wes Anderson film 'The Phoenician Scheme' is scored with Stravinsky's music". Classic FM . Archived from the original on May 30, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  5. Nicholson, Amy (May 29, 2025). "Review: A delightful capitalist in this economy? Only in Wes Anderson's 'The Phoenician Scheme'". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on May 31, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  6. Ehrlich, David (May 18, 2025). "'The Phoenician Scheme' Review: Wes Anderson's Plans Go Awry in a Spirited but Shallow Caper". IndieWire . Archived from the original on May 19, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  7. Grierson, Tim (May 18, 2025). "'The Phoenician Scheme' review: Benicio del Toro and Wes Anderson unite for espionage comedy-drama". Screen International . Archived from the original on May 23, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  8. Debruge, Peter (May 18, 2025). "'The Phoenician Scheme' Review: Wes Anderson Weighs In on the Art of the Deal and Assorted Other Funny Business". Variety . Archived from the original on May 20, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  9. Gorber, Jason (May 18, 2025). "The Phoenician Scheme Is Another Sublime Wes Anderson Fantasy". Paste . Archived from the original on May 31, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  10. Adlakha, Siddhant (May 21, 2025). "'The Phoenician Scheme' Reveals The Limits Of Wes Anderson's Style". Inverse . Archived from the original on June 1, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  11. Kojder, Robert (June 7, 2025). "The Phoenician Scheme (2025) - Movie Review". Flickering Myth. Archived from the original on June 30, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  12. Brady, Tara (May 18, 2025). "The Phoenician Scheme review: Beautiful to look at, but like a museum vase – pretty, pristine and hollow". The Irish Times . Archived from the original on May 24, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  13. "Music Team Credits: The Phoenician Scheme". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on May 18, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
  14. "Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme (Original Soundtrack) Out Digitally, Vinyl Release Set For July 11". ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. May 30, 2025. Archived from the original on June 3, 2025. Retrieved June 30, 2025.