Saltburn (Original Motion Picture Score) is the soundtrack to the 2023 film of the same name directed by Emerald Fennell and stars Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, and Archie Madekwe. The score is composed by Anthony Willis (composer), who previously scored Fennell's Promising Young Woman (2020) and also M3GAN (2022), and featured 18 cues from his score released by Milan Records on the same date as its international release, November 17, 2023.

Background

At the Deadline Hollywood's Sound and Screen film event, Willis wanted the score to navigate the audiences through Oliver's (Keoghan) journey at University of Oxford, as he undergoes a wide range of emotions like loneliness, romance and lust.^[1] He also praised Fennell on her collaborative effort in making the score, that included use of "dirty synth", "gothic orchestral" and "electronic" sounds which mostly describes the world Oliver fits in and he does not.^[2]

Apart from the score, the film used pop music as needle drops in subsequent scenes, so that it could drive the storyline; Fennell accompanied the use of needle drops in Promising Young Woman.^[3] One such song that played in the beginning of the film is the British coronation anthem "Zadok the Priest" as it felt like the "absolute apex of Brexit Britain" that provided "jingoistic" stuff. In discussion with Willis, she wanted the song to guide the film—playing in the beginning as well as in the end—so viewers would understand that it is a coronation.^[4]Willis recorded the acoustic music at the Temple Church in London, as "the Templar knights are buried there!".^[1] The London Contemporary Orchestra further performed the score.^[2]

Track listing

Reception

Sonya Alexander of Script Magazine wrote "Anthony Willis’s lugubrious score underscores the vibrant pinings of each character".^[5] Amy Nicholson of Los Angeles Times wrote Willis' score featuring "tizzy of violins" paired the first glimpse of Oliver's life.^[6]

Accolades

References