I’ve been waiting for quite a long time for the release of Darren Aronofsky’s biblical disaster epic. Now that it’s finally here it also means a new film score from Aronofsky’s collaborator Clint Mansell.
The soundtrack to Noah is definitely on par with past Mansell scored Aronofsky films going all the way back to Pi. It’s a soundtrack that’s both epic, majestic and more than just a tad apocalyptic. One of my favorite tracks from the soundtrack comes at a moment of triumph early on in the film which creates a sense of hope in the face of the approaching divine apocalypse.
“Make Thee An Ark” starts off slowly. Layers on layers build within the string work by the Kronos Quartet who have worked with two Mansell on past Aronofsky films. The track actually has a nice musical throwback to Mansell’s work on The Fountain. It’s probably the influence of that past film which made the Noah soundtrack appeal to me more than the previous ones for Black Swan and The Wrestler.
Just a little under a year ago I had chosen a particular favorite song as the latest “Song of the Day”. This song was Clint Mansell’s “Together We Will Live Forever”which was part of his exceptional film score for Darren Aronofsky’s 2006 scifi love story, The Fountain. I’ve decided to finally bookend that choice by choosing what has to be the best song in that film’s soundtrack and one of the best piece of film score ever composed: Mansell’s “Death Is the Road to Awe”.
While I’ve given Mansell with the final credit for the creation of this epic song (not just in tone and execution but in length), he had help from frequent collaborator Kronos Quartet and Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. “Death Is the Road to Awe” takes the entirety of Mansell’s film scoring for The Fountain and distills them into a mixture of classical, post-rock and ambient dissonance which seems to all work so well together despite their very differing musical styles.
The Fountain was (still is) a film which brings out either love and admiration for it or utter hate for what some think was a pretentious, jumbled mess. Whether one loved or hated the film (rarely is there one who falls in the middle in their reaction to this film) the reaction most have had for the soundtrack has been mostly positive. I, for one, truly believe it to be one of the greatest film scores ever composed for any film. This song is the ultimate culmination of Mansell’s work for this film and just shows that classical, rock and electronic could co-exist side-by-side to create something truly unique and one-of-a-kind.
Clint Mansell is part of the new group of film composers (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Javier Navarrette) who have composed some of the best film scores of the past decade. Their background in music usually doesn’t follow the usual classical training like their older contemporaries like John Williams, James Horner and Hans Zimmer. Most started as members of rock bands and through the years branched out to other musical genres until finally breaking into the film composing side of the art.
Mansell has been linked with film director Darren Aronofsky. He’s scored every Aronofsky film going back to the filmmaker’s very first feature-lenght film, Pi. He finally entered the consciousness of film score fans everywhere when he composed and arranged the eclectic and haunting score for Aronofsky’s second film, Requiem for a Dream. That particular film score has become a cult classic that it’s main theme, Lux Aeterna, has become one of the go-to pieces of music for film trailers.
Aronofsky’s third film, The Fountain, once again has Mansell composing and arranging the musical score. What he came up with for the film has become the favorite of many music lovers everywhere. The score for the film was a progressive and impressionistic marvel as Mansell collaborates with the Kronos Quartet and the post-rock Scottish band Mogwai. Mos of the score uses the progressive influences of Bowie and Mogwai with the classical sound of Kronos, but it was the final song in the film which I found to be my favorite of all of them: Together We Shall Live Forever.
Originally composed to be an electronic piece with vocals, but at the last minute Mansell decided that wasn’t the appropriate way to end the film. Instead he took the same music he had already composed and played it as a haunting piano solo. The song perfectly defines the central theme of the film: love and death. It is really difficult not to listen to this song and not reflec back on one’s own loves gained and lost. While it is not what one might call “Valentine’s Day” music it is one for people whose experiences with love and death have had a profound impact on them.
Through the Shattered Lens 