Jóhann Jóhannsson – The Theory Of Everything: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Acclaimed Icelandic Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson has recently completed the score for Focus Features’ upcoming film The Theory of Everything. Jóhannsson’s intricate compositions provide a stunning backdrop to the romantic drama about Stephen and Jane Hawking, portrayed in the film by Eddie Redmayne (Les Misérables) and Felicity Jones (The Amazing Spider-Man 2). The film is directed by Academy Award winner James Marsh (Man on Wire). The Theory of Everything premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month to rave reviews, and will be released in select cities beginning November 7th and in more cities throughout November. The Theory of Everything premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, and will be released in the UK on 1st January 2015.

Jóhannsson’s The Theory of Everything: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be released on digital and CD formats, with a vinyl edition to follow. The film is out January 1st 2015.

“I met James Marsh briefly in 2010 while writing the music for a documentary which he was a consultant for. We both lived in Copenhagen at that time. When he got in touch about The Theory of Everything a few years later, I was immediately very interested,” Jóhannsson recalls. “I’m a big fan of James as director – ever since I saw Man on Wire years ago – and I have also always been fascinated by Stephen Hawking, both as a writer and theorist as well as a human being. I approached the music very much on emotional terms.”

“It’s a film about an astrophysicist, but it’s in essence a love story. The music stems in a way from the tension between Hawking the man and Hawking the scientist. Most of the score is derived from very simple elements that are announced in the first frames of the film – a four-note piano ostinato which then slowly expands into more complex forms and appears and re-appears evolved, deconstructed and re-assembled in various renderings throughout the film.”

Jóhannsson wrote a powerful score last year for the Warners Bros. film PRISONERS, which was praised by critics. Jóhann has released several solo albums on the labels 4AD and Touch and is equally at home writing commissioned works for contemporary ensembles such as Bang on a Can and Theatre of Voices as he is collaborating with artists like Barry Adamson; Finnish electro band Pan Sonic, Marc Almond, The Hafler Trio, the nom de musique of English avant garde composer Andrew M. McKenzie, CAN drummer Jaki Liebezeit and Stephen O’Malley of the drone metal band Sunn O))).

“I like to get out of my own studio and work with other people. Being in a room with someone who has a different approach inspires me. Feeding off of each other’s musicality always produces interesting results.”