You’d be forgiven for wondering why, at this current moment in time, we’re looking forward to the release of Hollywood’s latest blockbuster about a crisis engulfing the world… The reason for our enthusiasm is that the Wells Cathedral Choristers feature prominently and wonderfully in the movie’s soundtrack!
Hollywood composer and former Wells Chorister, David Buckley flew in from LA just before the first lockdown in March 2020 to record the Choristers’ tracks with Director of Music, Jeremy Cole conducting (see here).
The Choristers provide what Buckley describes as the ‘choral theme’ in the film, and you can hear that theme here in this track from the score:
David explains: ‘The choral theme was intended to provide a sense of innocence lost. All parents want to shield their children from danger, but this becomes impossible when you have a comet hurtling towards earth; parents become as helpless as children, governments become as helpless as parents. Wealth and power buy you nothing. Catastrophic events such as those in Greenland are massive levelers to society – no one is immune from the fallout. So I wanted this theme to have a universal feel to it which can sound like the voice of one small child or the whole of mankind.’
David’s connection to Wells stems from his time here as a chorister himself. In a recent interview for The Film Music Institute, David explained: ‘I recorded Wells Cathedral Choir, a group which has been in existence with only a few interruptions (one of them being now, during this pandemic) since the early 10th century. I sang in the choir as a boy chorister.’
Greenland was originally supposed to hit cinemas back on June 12th, 2020 but like many other movies was a casualty of the current pandemic, instead releasing on streaming services. The film will be available in the UK soon (see https://www.greenlandfilm.co.uk for more details).
The soundtrack to the film is now available.
Hollywood composer and former Wells Chorister, David Buckley