Blumberg, Daniel - The Brutalist - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Original Score, and shot in the glorious, vintage VistaVision format, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist stands as a monumental achievement in filmmaking. Opening with a mesmerizing and continuous 10-minute overture, composer Daniel Blumberg’s music sets the stage for the film’s epic narrative, which spans multiple decades and follows fictional Hungarian architect László Toth (played by Adrien Brody) as he rebuilds his life in post-war America.

Encompassing large-scale brass orchestrations, intimately lyrical piano melodies and freewheeling, improvisational jazz, The Brutalist’s score is as ambitious and broad in scope as the film itself. Envisioning the score as slabs of sound – rich and resonating while also measured and restrained – the music developed into the sonic embodiment of the Brutalist design aesthetic, where imposing scale and raw textures meet values of simplicity and economy. To craft its singular sound, Blumberg worked with a cast of boundary-pushing musicians and improvisers, traveling across the UK and Europe with a custom-built remote recording setup to capture his players on location. Exploiting the tension between the fluidity of improvised music and the meticulous precision of film scoring, Blumberg coaxed out beautifully rich and resonant performances from his collaborators, including avant-garde innovators Axel Dörner (trumpet), Evan Parker (saxophone), Sophie Agnel (piano), and John Tilbury (piano), to name a few.

For the film's frenetic and intoxicating jazz club scene, Blumberg assembled a jazz quartet (comprised of Pierre Borel on saxophone, Simon Sieger on piano, Joel Grip on bass, and Antonin Gerbal on drums) to perform improvised versions of his themes live on set, resulting in one of the film’s most electrifying numbers, as well as additional period-specific pieces that appear throughout the soundtrack. For the film’s 1980s-set Epilogue, Blumberg traveled to New York to work with synth-pop pioneer Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Erasure), deconstructing and rebuilding the film’s main theme into a redemptive, synth and drum machine-driven dance track befitting of the new era.

The score was mixed and co-produced by longtime Scott Walker collaborator Peter Walsh, who also worked on Blumberg’s past three records.

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl, the 2-LP release from Milan Records features printed sleeves housed in a gatefold package designed by The Brutalist title designer Sebastian Pardo in close collaboration with Daniel Blumberg.

Disc 1
1    Overture (Ship)
2    Overture (László)
3    Overture (Bus)
4    Chair
5    Van Buren’s Estate
6    Library
7    Jazz Club
8    Porn
9    Monologue
10    Up the Hill
11    Pennsylvania
12    Bicycle
13    Steel
14    Intermission
Disc 2
1    Erzsébet
2    Handjob
3    Bath
4    Building Site
5    Ribbon Cutting
6    Picnic by the Lake
7    Gordon’s Dinner
8    Looking at You
9    Vidui
10    New York
11    Stairs
12    Carrara
13    Marble
14    Tunnel
15    Construction
16    Heroin
17    Search Party
18    Epilogue (Venice)