Max Richter has released the physical editions of his original soundtrack for Chloé Zhao’s forthcoming feature film Hamnet. The soundtrack is now available to purchase.
Upon its release, the score received widespread critical acclaim, earning nominations for the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globe Awards, as well as a shortlist placement for the Academy Awards.
From Academy Award-winning writer and director Chloé Zhao, Hamnet tells a story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The film stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal and has received significant recognition, including the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Buckley most recently won the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress.
Discussing his work on the soundtrack, Richter explained that he drew on Elizabethan musical practice, including period instrumentation and sensibilities, while applying these elements in ways shaped directly by the psychology of the story. Having read the script prior to filming, Richter created musical sketches responding to themes of familial love and loss, the natural world and Agnes’ interior journey, some of which were incorporated during shooting and into the final edit.
Richter describes Agnes as the film’s fulcrum and developed a choral language for her character that underpins much of the score. Women’s voices are used both in ways recognisable to Elizabethan composers and as expressive colour emerging from the psychology of each moment.
One of the most influential composers of his generation, Max Richter is known for blending traditional orchestration with modern electronic elements. His catalogue has amassed over three billion streams worldwide, and Hamnet marks one of more than 50 film projects he has scored.
Max Richter's Hamnet score is out now on LP, CD & Digitally, listen here.
