There Will Be Strident Microtonal Glissandi

"There Will Be Blood" has an amazing soundtrack, most of it composed in an avant-garde vein for string orchestra by Jonny Greenwood, the lead guitarist from Radiohead. Long stretches of the beginning of the film are nearly dialogue-free expanses of 1890ish prospecting and derrick-building scenes, underscored by sliding or churning strings. If you like atonal music, this will warm your soul.

The NY Times ran a couple of recent articles about Greenwood's string music, which showed up in concert a week or so ago in the guise of a work called Popcorn Superhet Receiver. The reviews say it's the real thing; I'd say the Blood soundtrack backs that up. Greenwood seems to have a straw reaching across the room into Krzyzstof Penderecki's milkshake.

Why is this not nominated for a Best Soundtrack Oscar? Who knows?

Some savvy orchestra should program Greenwood's piece with Arvo Part's "Fratres" and the Brahms Violin Concerto, both of which also make prominent appearances on the soundtrack. Actually, I'm curious to see whether this music gets picked up into circulation at all.

Oh, the movie itself. Yeah, that's really good. Didn't, ah, see that ending coming.

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My college friend Dan, who's a musicology student at the University of Michigan, has started a blog called ThoughtLights about music, film, and culture. Apparently, speaking of the current Best Picture contenders, "Atonement" has an interesting soundtrack, too.