The Hunger Games: Original Motion Picture Score

The Hunger Games: Original Motion Picture Score is the soundtrack to the 2012 film The Hunger Games, based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins, and it is the first installment in The Hunger Games film series. The score was initially intended to be composed by Danny Elfman in his collaboration with T Bone Burnett, however, James Newton Howard replaced Elfman as the composer. It was released by Universal Republic Records on March 26, 2012.

Development

In June 2011, Lionsgate originally announced that Danny Elfman and T-Bone Burnett would score The Hunger Games, with Burnett also acting as the film's executive music producer to produce songs for the soundtrack. Due to scheduling conflicts, Elfman was replaced by James Newton Howard.

Arcade Fire also contributed to the movie's original score. The group composed the fascistic-inspired Panem national anthem, entitled "Horn of Plenty", a leitmotif appearing throughout the film. "We were interested in making music that would be more integral in the movie, just as a mental exercise," Butler, who co-wrote the song with Chassagne, explained. "And there's an anthem that runs throughout the books, the national anthem of the fascist Capitol. So as a thought experiment, we tried to write what that might sound like. It's like the Capitol's idea of itself, basically." He further added that "it's not a pop song or anything. More of an anthem that could be playing at a big sporting event like the [Hunger] Games. So we did a structure for that, and then James Newton Howard made a movie-score version of it that happens in several places in the film." According to Spin, "'Horn of Plenty' pulls off the neat feat of sounding both exactly like Arcade Fire and exactly like a futuristic anthem. It still has one foot in the band's uncorrupted neighborhoods, but another is up on the podium at the end of Star Wars accepting an Olympic gold medal or something. Horns blare, a choir booms, strings swell, the martial percussion steals the show, and we just realized how much we love Big Brother."

The film also features an obscure analog track from the 1970s, titled "Sediment", composed by Laurie Spiegel for its "cornucopia scene", as well as music by Steve Reich, Ólafur Arnalds, and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. These do not appear on the soundtrack or score releases.

Track listing

Reception

Filmtracks.com wrote "Like most decent Howard scores, there are individual moments of melodrama or intriguing percussion employment that will merit repeat attention. As a whole, however, don't be surprised if you find a large number of non-concept enthusiasts writing The Hunger Games off as a disappointment. Regardless of where you exist in this spectrum of opinion, it's difficult not to ponder what Elfman would have conjured for this franchise." Heather Phares of AllMusic gave four out of five stars, saying "Newton's score is one more fine piece of The Hunger Games experience, even if it's not the showiest one". Brad Kamminga of Film Score Reviews rated three stars out of five, calling it as "a very simple and subtle score that connects you very personally to the main character, Katniss. The use of ethnic instruments throughout the score instill in you the feeling of being in a foreign place."

Sean Wilson of MFiles wrote "The Hunger Games is a score that will likely confound many expectations [...] Howard's subtlety and restraint might come as a shock. It's certainly not the bombastic, in your face, action-laden score many people will have expected but that's entirely to its credit. In truth, an overbearing score would likely have proved detrimental to director Gary Ross' vision, and Howard deserves much praise for imbuing his largely quiet score with just enough emotion and instrumental textures to keep it interesting." James Southall of Movie Wave wrote "The Hunger Games is very impressive, featuring some real creativity and most importantly some fine music – you have to experience it on album rather than in the film to realise that, which is a bit of a pity, but on its own terms this is probably the finest collection of music from this composer since 1999’s Snow Falling on Cedars."

David Edelstein of Vulture called that Howard's score "manages to be at once thrilling and plaintive". Natalie Zutter of Tor.com wrote "James Newton Howard’s score evokes the space opera with its simple strains, soaring against the bleakness of District 12 and almost brittle as they clashes with the Capitol, a city so shiny it almost hurts to look at." Keertana Sastry of Business Insider wrote "From the beautifully ominous humming in the opening scenes to the triumphant sounds of the Capitol, the score by James Newton Howard was hands down one of the biggest pluses of the movie. The best pieces from the score would have to the be in the scenes where Katniss is hunting or searching for Peeta as well as the scene where Katniss shoots an arrow at the Gamekeeper during her practice before the games." R. Kurt Osenlund of Slant Magazine wrote "the score by T-Bone Burnett and James Newton Howard, which nicely steps in for the bloodcurdling screams of dying teens perhaps too terrible for the target YA audience."

Credits

Credits adapted from CD liner notes:

References