To anyone that says director Wes Anderson doesn’t change, we say, take a closer look. Yes, his distinctive style is well, yes, very Wes Anderson, but he has been slowly shedding and disposing of some of his more well-known stylistic trademarks. Gone are the slow-motion shot at the end, the future font (replaced with cursive and other non-standard fonts) and the use of modern music. Anderson used to arguably feature wall-to-wall pop songs in his films, but that changed around the time of “The Darjeeling Limited” (which featured a Rolling Stones and three Kinks songs, but was largely dominated by the original music of director/writer/composer Satyajit Ray).
That trend continued with “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” a film featuring some Stones, The Beach Boys, et al, but largely defined musically by its Alexandre Desplat-penned score. The same applied for “Moonrise Kingdom” (some Francoise Hardy and Hank Williams, but mostly Desplat and or the music of Leonard Berstein). Pop music has taken a back seat and score and classical music has moved to the foreground.
This trend continues with the soundtrack to Anderson’s upcoming film, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” which contains no pop music whatsoever. As we wrote earlier in the year, “From what we’ve been hearing the film will be a strictly scored affair by Alexandre Desplat and has been highly influenced by Russian folk music as can be heard in the trailer.” It appears our sources were correct.
Aside from some European and Russian folk composers (Öse Schuppel, Siegfried Behrend, Vitaly Gnutov), the score is all Desplat and it’s a long 32-track score (which sounds like every music cue in the film). So yes, Anderson’s changed, although it’s been a slow, easy-to-miss transition. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” soundtrack arrives on March 4, 2014 via ABKCO Records (his soundtrack home since “The Darjeeling Limited”). The movie itself will premiere at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival and stars Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and arrives in theaters on March 7. Tracklist below along with songs via Moviefone and Rolling Stone. [Film Music Reporter]
“The Grand Budapest Hotel” Soundtrack
01. s’Rothe-Zäuerli – Öse Schuppel
02. The Alpine Sudetenwaltz- Alexandre Desplat
03. Mr. Moustafa- Alexandre Desplat
04. Overture: M. Gustave H- Alexandre Desplat
05. A Prayer for Madame D- Alexandre Desplat
06. The New Lobby Boy- Alexandre Desplat
07. Concerto for Lute and Plucked Strings I. Moderato Siegfried Behrend & DZO Chamber Orchestra
08. Daylight Express to Lutz- Alexandre Desplat
09. Schloss Lutz Overture- Alexandre Desplat
10. The Family Desgoffe und Taxis- Alexandre Desplat
11. Last Will and Testament- Alexandre Desplat
12. Up the Stairs/Down the Hall- Alexandre Desplat
13. Night Train to Nebelsbad- Alexandre Desplat
14. The Lutz Police Militia- Alexandre Desplat
15. Check Point 19 Criminal Internment Camp Overture- Alexandre Desplat
16. The Linden Tree Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra, Vitaly Gnutov
17. J.G. Jopling, Private Inquiry Agent- Alexandre Desplat
18. A Dash of Salt (Ludwig’s Theme) – Alexandre Desplat
19. The Cold-Blooded Murder of Deputy Vilmos Kovacs- Alexandre Desplat
20. Escape Concerto- Alexandre Desplat
21. The War (Zero’s Theme) – Alexandre Desplat
22. No Safe-House- Alexandre Desplat
23. The Society of the Crossed Keys- Alexandre Desplat
24. M. Ivan- Alexandre Desplat
25. Lot 117- Alexandre Desplat
26. Third Class Carriage- Alexandre Desplat
27. Canto at Gabelmeister’s Peak- Alexandre Desplat
28. A Troops Barracks (Requiem for the Grand Budapest)- Alexandre Desplat
29. Cleared of All Charges- Alexandre Desplat
30. The Mystical Union- Alexandre Desplat
31. Kamarinskaya Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra, Vitaly Gnutov
32. Traditional Arrangement: Moonshine- Alexandre Desplat