MAX RICHTER RELEASES PHYSICAL EDITIONS OF HIS ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK FOR HAMNET
09 JANUARY 2025 (TORONTO, ON) — Max Richter today has released the physical editions of his original soundtrack for Chloé Zhao’s forthcoming acclaimed feature film ‘Hamnet’.
You can purchase the soundtrack HERE.
Upon its release, the score was met with widespread critical acclaim, earning nominations for both the Critics Choice 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 powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet. Featuring acclaimed performances from Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, the film has already garnered significant recognition, including the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, with Buckley most recently taking home the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress.
His contribution to the film has been lauded by the cast and crew, with Buckley saying, “He helped to transcend to another plane. And to be able to do that, whether you're just listening to on your own or in a concert hall with a thousand people that you've never met and actually feel like you're all going to someplace else, that is an extraordinary feeling."
Discussing his work on the soundtrack, Richter explained: “In composing the score for Hamnet, I decided to use the basic atoms of Elizabethan musical practice; the period instrumentation, grammar and sensibility of the time, but to apply these materials in a way that springs directly from the psychology of the story.
Having read the script prior to the shoot, I made some sketches responding to the overarching themes of familial love and loss, our place in the greater natural world, Agnes’ interior journey. Chloe used some of these when she was shooting and they also found their way into the edit in places, giving us a starting point for the overall musical architecture.
The character of Agnes is the fulcrum of the film, and I spent some time developing a choral language for her that underpins a lot of the story. The women’s voices are used both in ways and Elizabethan composer would recognise and also as pure colour, emanating from the psychology of the moment. It was really a joy working on this movie. Hamnet is a remarkable work of art by an extraordinary creative team, and I’m so pleased to have been able to play a part in it.”
One the most influential composers of his generation, Richter is known for his ability to seamlessly blend traditional orchestrations with modern electronic elements, a hallmark that runs throughout the sweeping and powerful Hamnet score. His unparalleled ability to translate profound human experiences into musical compositions has earned him a dedicated global following, with his catalogue amassing over three billion streams to date. Hamnet marks one of more than 50 projects that Richter has scored, following collaborations with acclaimed directors such as Denis Villeneuve, Martin Scorsese, and Ari Folman in previous years.
Richter is co-founder of Studio Richter Mahr alongside his partner, visual artist Yulia Mahr. Set in the English countryside in Oxfordshire, Max and Yulia built the multimedia production studio inside a former farmhouse and have powered it with cutting-edge solar and heat-pump technology. Located within 31 acres of woodland, the duo have a huge passion for using the land to farm and provide a sustainable working environment, serving as a space where both emerging and established creatives can come to develop their work
‘Hamnet’ Official Soundtrack Tracklist:
1. Of Agnes
2. Of Orpheus
3. See things that others don’t
4. Look at me
5. In all my philosophy
6. Of earth and heaven
7. An abysm of time
8. Of the heart
9. Of remembrance
10. Of the sky
11. I was the more deceived
12. Inward
13. Who are you looking for?
14. The great globe itself
15. Of a ghost
16. On The Nature Of Daylight
17. My Robin to the greenwood did go
18. Of the undiscovered country