Road to Perdition [Music from the Motion Picture]

by Thomas Newman

Overview

Thomas Newman has a talent for composing disquieting little motifs played on unusual instruments (think of his theme music for the television series Six Feet Under), and he puts it to use in his score for the Depression-era gangster film Road to Perdition. Director Sam Mendes, who called Newman in to work on American Beauty, which earned him an Academy Award nomination, brings him back for a similar role here. Even discounting the inclusion of period (Fletcher Henderson's "Queer Notions," the Chicago Rhythm Kings' "There'll Be Some Changes Made") and period-sounding ("Someday Sweetheart" by the Charleston Chasers) source music, this is a long soundtrack, but it is one consisting of small and subtle effects. Newman likes dissonance, but he places it unobtrusively within quiet passages, so that it creates odd and comic tones. He is also capable of writing more conventional cues, such as "Dirty Money," with its martial percussion and contrasting sections carried by strings and brass, but it is the dark, slow-paced pieces that dominate this score. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	06/25/2002
Label:	Decca / Universal Distribution
UPC:	0044001716720

Tracks

1. Road to Perdition, film score~Rock Island, 1931
2. Road to Perdition, film score~Wake
3. Road to Perdition, film score~Just The Feller
4. Road to Perdition, film score~Mr. Rance
5. Road to Perdition, film score~Bit Borrowers
6. Road to Perdition, film score~Murder (in four parts)
7. Road to Perdition, film score~Road To Chicago
8. Road to Perdition, film score~Reading Room
9. Someday Sweetheart
10. Road to Perdition, film score~Meet Maguire
11. Road to Perdition, film score~Blood Dog
12. Road to Perdition, film score~Finn McGovern
13. Road to Perdition, film score~The Farm
14. Road to Perdition, film score~Dirty Money
15. Road to Perdition, film score~Rain Hammers
16. Road to Perdition, film score~A Blind Eye
17. Road to Perdition, film score~Nothing To Trade
18. Queer Notions
19. Road to Perdition, film score~Virgin Mary
20. Road to Perdition, film score~Shoot The Dead
21. Road to Perdition, film score~Grave Drive
22. Road to Perdition, film score~Cathedral (Includes excerpt from Alma Redemptoris Mater)
23. There'll be some changes made
24. Road to Perdition, film score~Ghosts
25. Road to Perdition, film score~Lexington Hotel, Room 1432
26. Road to Perdition, film score~Road to Perdition
27. Perdition, piano duet (for the film Road to Perdition)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Thomas Newman   Primary Artist,Piano,Conductor,Stroviola
Paul Newman   Primary Artist,Primary Artist,Piano
The Charleston Chasers   Primary Artist,Ensemble
Tom Hanks   Primary Artist
Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra   Primary Artist
Chicago Rhythm Kings   Primary Artist
King's College Choir of Cambridge   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus
Steve Kujala   Flute,Flute (Alto)
Steve Tavaglione   EWI,Clarinet
Nico Abondolo   Double Bass
Jon Clarke   Oboe,Penny Whistle
Bill Bernstein   Mandolin,Hurdygurdy
Eric Rigler   Low Whistle,Uillean Pipes,Whistle (Human)
Rick Cox   Glass,Guitar,Maracas,Bowed Instrument,Metal Percussion
Michael Fisher   Bodhran,Timpani,Glockenspiel,Metal Percussion
George Doering   Drums,Bouzouki
Jo Clarke   Oboe d'amore,Penny Whistle
Chas Smith   Pedal Steel

Technical Credits

Penny Bennett   Package Direction,Creative Director
Billy Higgins   Composer
Tommy Vicari   Mixing,Engineer
Bill Bernstein   Producer,Music Editor
Coleman Hawkins   Composer
Michael Zainer   Assistant Music Editor
Meredith Friedman   Soundtrack Coordination
Chicago Rhythm Kings   Performer
Joe Gastwirt   Mastering
Benjamin Franklin Spikes   Composer
Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra   Performer
Dave Marquette   Assistant Engineer
W. Benton Overstreet   Composer
John Spikes   Composer
Peter Doell   Assistant Engineer
Kathy Nelson   Executive
Michael Fisher   Objects
Tom Hardisty   Assistant Engineer
Armin Steiner   Engineer
Tom Hanks   Performer
King's College Choir of Cambridge   Performer
Thomas Pasatieri   Orchestration
Carla Leighton   Design,Art Direction
Leah M. Panlilio   Soundtrack Coordination
Thanne Tangel   Package Coordinator
Laura A. A. Johnson   Package Coordinator
Julie Butchko   Music Clearance
Julian Bratolyubov   Music Preparation
David Marquette   Assistant Engineer
Thomas Newman   Composer,Producer
Paul Wertheimer   Assistant Engineer
John Rodd   Assistant Engineer
George Budd   Music Consultant
Francois Duhamel   Photography
Mike Zainer   Music Editor
Todd Homme   Executive,Executive in Charge of Music
Leslie Morris   Music Contractor