The Awakening (Daniel Pemberton)

Starring Rebecca Hall and Dominic West and opening in UK theatres on November 11, Nick Murphy’s supernatural thriller The Awakening created a lot of buzz during the Toronto Film Festival where Studiocanal sold the US distribution rights to Cohen Media Group for “a seven-figure sum” according to Variety. The film takes place in 1921 England and is a ghost story where the storytelling and visuals is beautifully underlined by a large, gothic orchestral score composed by Daniel Pemberton, who won the 2010 Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Soundtrack (Desperate Romantics). Dark orchestral sonorities, haunting vocals and elements of almost operatic choir writing form the backbone of the this thorouoghly elegant and engaging score. Particularly memorable is “The Awakening Theme” which is used throughout the score, an instantly memorable arpeggio motif that has the same effective ‘hook’ as many of the most famous horror scores in the history of film music. First edition of the CD is limited to 1000 copies.

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CD from SAE

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

“Murphy hooks the audience from the get-go with Edward Grau’s lush cinematography and Daniel Pemberton’s beautifully melancholy score.” - Collider.com

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

“You’ll need a really good score. Music is so important in this genre”. This was the helpful and revelatory advice offered during the writing and shooting of The Awakening. I filed this advice alongside “Don’t throw yourself in front of moving traffic” and “Don’t believe anything anyone tells you in Hollywood” – well meaning but pretty obvious. But they were right, although not for the reasons they might expect.

Of course score in a film like this is vital in the creation of atmosphere, mood, tension and,
yes, fear but it is also crucial, in this genre as much as any other, that it never cheats. From the outset Daniel and I wanted to make sure his music for The Awakening didn’t cheat. It mustn’t manipulate the audience but rather enhance and enrich the tension and emotion that was already there. This may seem like semantics but that clarity of purpose and direction is essential if one is to create a great anything: film, novel, painting and indeed score. And this is a great score. An honest, moving, beautiful and truly original score.

I love its symphonic shape. When so many scores just bang out whatever tune fits the sequence at hand, Daniel prefers to take us on a shaped journey. I love that is uses school recorders and even hyper distorted flutes and whistles. I love the signals it gives during the unfolding musical narrative that are delivered in full during the stunning, climactic “Chorus de Susticatio”. And I love the way it is infused throughout with the silent pain of grief – which in post Great War Britain, afflicts all the characters and drives their ability, even their need, to see ghosts. This score is evocative, disturbing and truly beautiful. Everything I wanted the film itself to be. But don’t tell him I said so. He’ll be unbearable.

Nick Murphy (writer & director, The Awakening)

TRACK LISTING
  1. Seeing Through Ghosts (Theme from The Awakening) 1:46
  2. The Séance 2:07
  3. ‘Oh, Coccinelle’/Deep Breaths 2:22
  4. High Over Cumbria 0:56
  5. Empty Classrooms 2:15
  6. Florence Cathcart 1:55
  7. Arrival at Rookford 1:18
  8. Semper Veritas 1:32
  9. Preparations 1:49
  10. Chasing Footprints 3:22
  11. Lock the House 1:26
  12. The Hallway 1:04
  13. Scars 1:07
  14. There Is Nothing 0:58
  15. Don’t Go Away 1:00
  16. The Dollshouse 2:31
  17. No Walls or Floors 1:43
  18. Damaged People 1:08
  19. Patience 3:08
  20. Florence Vanishing 1:29
  21. The East Bedroom 3:33
  22. Don’t Tell Tom 2:39
  23. Chorus de Susticatio (Chorus from The Awakening) 1:57
  24. A Death Remembered 1:18
  25. Be Still My Soul 4:16
  26. Florence Is Free 2:57
  27. The Awakening (Credits) 3:20
  28. Reprise (Theme from The Awakening) 2:31
ALBUM INFO
  • Title: The Awakening (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
  • Composer: Daniel Pemberton
  • Catalogue no: Screamworks SWR11008
  • Release date: November 15, 2011 (CD only)