Revolutionary Road is the soundtrack album to the 2008 film of the same name directed by Sam Mendes and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The album featured 12 tracks from the film score composed by Thomas Newman and three popular covers of 20th century songs. The album was released through Nonesuch Records on December 23, 2008.
Contents
Background and development
The score for Revolutionary Road is composed by Thomas Newman, a recurrent collaborator of Mendes' since American Beauty (1999). Newman received the offer to score the film while he was working on WALL-E which he began since 2005 and wanted to finish that film so that Newman would work with Revolutionary Road. He considered the music to be psychological and not periodic even though it takes place in the 1950s, and much similar to The Shawshank Redemption (1994) where it had utilized a symphonic orchestra played it in a different manner so that it dwells in a psychological aspect more than the classical aspect. Newman added that they went ahead with a proscenium approach to the orchestra to provide a timeless quality.
Besides the orchestra, the piano served as another instrument of melody. Newman provided a darker approach to the piano, as he brainstormed while finding the score and went through numerous iterations that came in default and less through conceptual design. Newman further appreciated Sam's creative personality which provided a symbiotic approach in multiple ways, and this provided them for an identifiiable theme that would make the audiences aware. As the film was nearly dialogue-driven, Newman used less music to make it more effective.
Because of the psychological and intimate aspect of the story, Newman initially began working with a small group of players to provide the aspect and then work with an orchestra for overdubs. Eventually he began recording the score for the film during September 2008 and worked on the orchestra during the third week of September while the mixing was done during early-October.
Reception
Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK said "despite Revolutionary Road containing a great deal of generally quite nice music [...] it seems a rather insubstantial score [from Thomas Newman]; agreeable and diverting, but ultimately rather forgettable." James Southall of Movie Wave praised Newman's ability to "create such a hypnotic atmosphere with this ensemble" and felt "it's a joy to hear" despite the familiarity. He called it as one of the most accomplished scores of 2008. Michael Quinn of BBC reviewed it as "another characteristically subtle essay in dislocating musical ambiguity."
Dan Mecca of The Film Stage considered it to be "simple and effective". Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote "Thomas Newman's score, defined as it is by very simple three-note progressions, plays into the desired mood but grows repetitive." Steve Babish of Tiny Mix Tapes wrote "A pensive, minimalist score by frequent Mendes collaborator Thomas Newman consistently underlines the script's emotional peaks and valleys". Jonathan Romney of The Independent called it a "leadenly compassionate score". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times noted that Newman's score has the "pounding monotony". Dave Calhoun of Time Out wrote "Thomas Newman's forceful, repetitive score doesn't help either; its refrain becomes more annoying the more you hear it." Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times stated that Newman's score "seems to [echo the characters'] heartbeats".
Personnel
Credits adapted from Nonesuch Records: