The Fountain (soundtrack)
Encyclopedia
The Fountain: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack album
to the 2006 film The Fountain
directed by Darren Aronofsky
. Released on November 27, 2006, through Nonesuch Records
, the album is a collaboration between contemporary classical composer and frequent Aronofsky collaborator Clint Mansell
, classical string quartet
the Kronos Quartet
, and post-rock
band Mogwai
. The score received positive reviews from critics and was nominated for several awards.
—the composer for Aronofsky's previous films Pi
and Requiem for a Dream—reprised his role for The Fountain. The San Francisco-based string quartet Kronos Quartet
—who previously performed for the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack—and Scottish post-rock
band Mogwai
also contributed to the film score. Darren Aronofsky hoped that David Bowie
—whose song "Space Oddity" helped influence the film's space traveler storyline—would record a song when the musical artist worked briefly with composer Clint Mansell during production. Aronofsky planned for Bowie to rework pieces of the score and to vocalize them, but the plan was unsuccessful. After the score was completed, Nonesuch Records
, the home of The Fountain musical contributor Kronos Quartet, released the soundtrack on November 21, 2006.
Mansell researched possible scores to compose one tying together the three storylines. He sought to have an organic feeling to the score and explored implementing orchestral and electronic elements that would have "a real human element to them that breathes." Contrary to most films' scores composed in post-production, Mansell's score was composed concurrently with the film's production. He created a mood that flourished as the film progressed. The composer described the parallel process, "It's instinct and listening to what the film is telling you it needs." He drew from five to six years of writing material for The Fountain. The composer planned for the score to be pure percussion when the film was first meant to be epic in scale. Mansell, lacking classical training, collaborated with an assistant in creating the score. They deconstructed the composer's initial pieces for The Fountain and re-played them in a key so the lead melodies could harmonically play with every progression. The song "Together We Will Live Forever" was an electronic piece designed by Mansell to be the protagonist's memory theme. Antony Hegarty
, lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons
, was commissioned to create a vocal piece over "Together We Will Live Forever" for the end credits, but the director decided that the vocals would not be appropriate to end the film. The song was ultimately performed by pianist Randy Kerber
.
. Users could download freely provided audio parts from The Fountains film score, remix
the music, and upload the work onto the website to be evaluated by other users.
Mansell won the Chicago Film Critics Association
's 2006 award for Best Original Score, and he also won the World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year and Public Choice Award. He was also nominated for the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
for The Fountain, but lost to Alexandre Desplat
for The Painted Veil
. Mansell also lost a nomination for the 2006 BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Composer
to Phillip Glass for The Illusionist.
Mogwai
Additional performers
Technical personnel
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
to the 2006 film The Fountain
The Fountain
The Fountain is a 2006 American romantic drama film, which blends elements of fantasy, history, religion, and science fiction. It was directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starred Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz...
directed by Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
. Released on November 27, 2006, through Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
, the album is a collaboration between contemporary classical composer and frequent Aronofsky collaborator Clint Mansell
Clint Mansell
Clinton Darryl "Clint" Mansell, is an English musician, composer, and former lead singer and guitarist of the band Pop Will Eat Itself....
, classical string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
the Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
, and post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
band Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
. The score received positive reviews from critics and was nominated for several awards.
Recording
Clint MansellClint Mansell
Clinton Darryl "Clint" Mansell, is an English musician, composer, and former lead singer and guitarist of the band Pop Will Eat Itself....
—the composer for Aronofsky's previous films Pi
Pi (film)
Pi, also titled ,WorldCat gives the title as [Pi] and provides a note which states, "Title is the mathematical symbol for Pi." . Amazon gives the title as Pi with no notation concerning the math symbol . is a 1998 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky...
and Requiem for a Dream—reprised his role for The Fountain. The San Francisco-based string quartet Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
—who previously performed for the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack—and Scottish post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
band Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
also contributed to the film score. Darren Aronofsky hoped that David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
—whose song "Space Oddity" helped influence the film's space traveler storyline—would record a song when the musical artist worked briefly with composer Clint Mansell during production. Aronofsky planned for Bowie to rework pieces of the score and to vocalize them, but the plan was unsuccessful. After the score was completed, Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
, the home of The Fountain musical contributor Kronos Quartet, released the soundtrack on November 21, 2006.
Mansell researched possible scores to compose one tying together the three storylines. He sought to have an organic feeling to the score and explored implementing orchestral and electronic elements that would have "a real human element to them that breathes." Contrary to most films' scores composed in post-production, Mansell's score was composed concurrently with the film's production. He created a mood that flourished as the film progressed. The composer described the parallel process, "It's instinct and listening to what the film is telling you it needs." He drew from five to six years of writing material for The Fountain. The composer planned for the score to be pure percussion when the film was first meant to be epic in scale. Mansell, lacking classical training, collaborated with an assistant in creating the score. They deconstructed the composer's initial pieces for The Fountain and re-played them in a key so the lead melodies could harmonically play with every progression. The song "Together We Will Live Forever" was an electronic piece designed by Mansell to be the protagonist's memory theme. Antony Hegarty
Antony Hegarty
Antony Hegarty is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons.-Early life:...
, lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons
Antony and the Johnsons
Antony and the Johnsons is a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.-Career:British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released...
, was commissioned to create a vocal piece over "Together We Will Live Forever" for the end credits, but the director decided that the vocals would not be appropriate to end the film. The song was ultimately performed by pianist Randy Kerber
Randy Kerber
Randy Kerber is a composer, orchestrator, keyboard player, born September 25, 1958 in Encino, California, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema...
.
Marketing and reception
The content and research agency Ramp Industry launched The Fountain Remixed, an official website driven by user-generated contentUser-generated content
User generated content covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media content production circles...
. Users could download freely provided audio parts from The Fountains film score, remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
the music, and upload the work onto the website to be evaluated by other users.
Mansell won the Chicago Film Critics Association
Chicago Film Critics Association
The Chicago Film Critics Association is an American film critic association.-Members:Current members include:*Sarah Knight Adamson*Zbigniew Banas*Shelley Cameron*Dave Canfield*Vittorio Carli*Erik Childress*Camerin Courtney*Bonnie DeShong...
's 2006 award for Best Original Score, and he also won the World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year and Public Choice Award. He was also nominated for the 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association , an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications outside North America, since its institution in 1947...
for The Fountain, but lost to Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat is a French film composer. He has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, winning a Golden Globe for his work on The Painted Veil in 2006, and two Grammy nominations. In 2011, Desplat won his first British...
for The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil (2006 film)
The Painted Veil is a 2006 Chinese-American drama film directed by John Curran. The screenplay by Ron Nyswaner is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham...
. Mansell also lost a nomination for the 2006 BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Composer
BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Composer
The Critics' Choice Award for Best Composer is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.-List of winners:*1998: John Williams - Saving Private Ryan...
to Phillip Glass for The Illusionist.
Track listing
All songs composed by Clint MansellClint Mansell
Clinton Darryl "Clint" Mansell, is an English musician, composer, and former lead singer and guitarist of the band Pop Will Eat Itself....
- "The Last Man" – 6:09
- "Holy Dread!" – 3:52
- "Tree of LifeTree of LifeThe tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
" – 3:45 - "Stay with Me" – 3:36
- "Death Is a Disease" – 2:34
- "XibalbaXibalbaXibalba , roughly translated as "place of fear", is the name of the underworld in Maya mythology, ruled by the Maya death gods and their helpers. In 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a cave in the vicinity of Cobán, Guatemala. According to some of the...
" – 5:23 - "First Snow" – 3:09
- "Finish It" – 4:25
- "Death Is the Road to Awe" – 8:26
- "Together We Will Live Forever" – 5:02
Personnel
Kronos Quartet- Hank Dutt – violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and stringString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
arrangementArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents... - David Harrington – violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and string arrangement - John Sherba – violin and string arrangement
- Jeffrey Zeigler – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and string arrangement
Mogwai
- Dominic AitchisonDominic AitchisonDominic Aitchison is a Scottish bassist. He is best known as the bassist and founding member of post-rock band Mogwai. Aside from Mogwai, he also plays bass guitar in Crippled Black Phoenix and Stage Blood....
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Stuart BraithwaiteStuart BraithwaiteStuart Leslie Braithwaite is a Scottish guitarist, bassist, drummer, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of post rock band Mogwai, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums.-Early life :...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Martin BullochMartin BullochMartin Bulloch is a Scottish musician, best known for being a member of Mogwai.-Early life:Bulloch was born in Bellshill, South Lanarkshire. He was once a cook at a Chinese Restaurant in Glasgow.-Mogwai:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Barry BurnsBarry BurnsBarry Burns is a Scottish musician best known for his work with post-rock band Mogwai.-Early life:Burns went to Cardinal Newman High School in Bellshill before enrolling with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, taking up a Bachelor of Education degree in teaching music. He did...
– pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - John CummingsJohn CummingsJohn Scott Cummings is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Easington from 1987 until 2010.-Early life:...
– guitar
Additional performers
- James Bagwell – piano
- Martin Doner – tenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
- Misa Iwama – contraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
- Melissa Kelly – sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
- Randy KerberRandy KerberRandy Kerber is a composer, orchestrator, keyboard player, born September 25, 1958 in Encino, California, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema...
– piano - Karen Krueger – contralto
- Drew Martin – tenor
- Christopher Roselli – bass singingBass (voice type)A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
- Justin Skomarovsky – celestaCelestaThe celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
, film scoreFilm scoreA film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
arrangement, glockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
, and programming - Charles Sprawls – bass singing
- Kathy Theil – soprano
Technical personnel
- Ameoba Proteus – design
- Tony Doogan – productionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and engineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
for Mogwai - Geoff Foster – engineering, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
, production, and sequencingMusic sequencerThe music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
for choir - Scott Fraser – production and engineering for Kronos Quartet
- Bob LudwigBob LudwigBob Ludwig is an American mastering engineer.He is a well known and respected figure within the music industry. His name is credited on the covers of albums released across the world, and he has won numerous awards....
– masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
at Gateway Mastering Studios, PortlandPortland, MainePortland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, MaineMaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, United States - Clint MansellClint MansellClinton Darryl "Clint" Mansell, is an English musician, composer, and former lead singer and guitarist of the band Pop Will Eat Itself....
– production - Dawn Thompson – assistant engineering for Kronos Quartet
- André Zeers – editing for Kronos Quartet
External links
- Homepage for the album from Nonesuch RecordsNonesuch RecordsNonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
- The Fountain: Music from the Motion Picture from Allmusic