The Young Victoria (soundtrack)
| The Young Victoria (Music from the Motion Picture) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Film score by | ||||
| Released | 10 March 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2008–2009 | |||
| Studio | Abbey Road Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Film score | |||
| Length | 51:34 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Producer | Steve McLaughlin | |||
| Ilan Eshkeri chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Young Victoria (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack to the 2009 film The Young Victoria directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, starring Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Harriet Walter, Mark Strong, and Jim Broadbent among a large ensemble cast. The album contains the film score composed by Ilan Eshkeri and an original song "Only You" performed by Sinéad O'Connor. The album was released through EMI Music on 10 March 2009.
Development
Director Vallée used his background as a DJ to "create a structure for a film using music with the right rhythm and balance" as well as combining "classical pieces with a rock spirit".[1] During filming Vallée often played rock music, such as the Rolling Stones and Sigur Rós, to create the right "mood" before a scene and also gave each actor a particular song to listen as a preparation for the role, such as Cat Stevens' "Trouble" for Victoria (Emily Blunt). Co-producer Dennis O'Sullivan found Vallée's ear for music for "terrific" where the sequences "are connected and carried through by music so deftly that you forget you’re watching a period film".[1]
"There is a stretch early on that’s about nine minutes long, all one piece of music, that covers numerous scenes and plot points—it’s incredible because as we were prepping the film, Jean-Marc already had found this piece of classical music and was basically shooting with that in mind. The result is seamless. The combination of Jean-Marc’s musical bent and Jill Bilcock’s experience on films like Moulin Rouge! made for an amazing chemistry that really works well with Ilan’s score. The whole movie has a pace and rhythm that comes from a very musical place. It’s a great help in telling this story where so many of the emotions are sometimes repressed."
— Dennis O'Sullivan[1]
Executive producer Colin Vaines knew composer Ilan Eshkeri and hired him for the film. One of the first pieces the producers heard from Eshkeri was his interpretation of Franz Schubert's "Swan Song" which played a key role in the film. O'Sullivan added, "Ilan saw how Jean-Marc and Jill had structured these two intercutting scenes—one between Victoria and a manipulative Melbourne, the other between lovelorn Albert and his brother—and he just tied these scenes together so beautifully with this one piece of music, it was a revelation".[1] Both Vallée and Eshkeri wanted the music to be fluid to that a piece can subtly shift and became a musical cue and vice versa, knowing that this unusual approach to music would keep the viewers engaged. At certain instances, a piece of source music is referenced later in the score as an emotional touchstone for the audience.[1]
Vallée talked to Eshkeri and his music producer Steve McLaughlin about the traditional to unique rock pieces transitioning throughout the film, where he wanted the score to have an "energy and heart" unlike other period films that accompany traditional instruments.[1] Sinéad O'Connor performed "Only You," which O'Sullivan described as "very much in line with one of the overriding aims of the film, which was to be hopeful and tell people that these amazing love stories really can happen, it's not just a fairy tale."[1]
Release
The soundtrack was released through EMI Music on 10 March 2009.[2]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Childhood" | 3:09 |
| 2. | "Go To England, Make Her Smile (Albert's Theme)" | 1:08 |
| 3. | "Down The Stairs (Victoria's Theme)" | 0:57 |
| 4. | "The King's Birthday" | 6:00 |
| 5. | "Swan Song" | 2:26 |
| 6. | "The King Is Dead" | 3:07 |
| 7. | "Buckingham Palace" | 1:06 |
| 8. | "Lord Melbourne (Antonín Dvořák)" | 1:07 |
| 9. | "Albert Returns" | 1:55 |
| 10. | "Archery" | 1:19 |
| 11. | "The First Waltz" | 1:45 |
| 12. | "Rainy Gazebo" | 1:59 |
| 13. | "Letters From Victoria" | 1:17 |
| 14. | "Constitutional Crisis" | 2:20 |
| 15. | "Riot" | 1:38 |
| 16. | "Letters From Albert" | 1:18 |
| 17. | "Marriage Proposal" | 3:55 |
| 18. | "Honeymoon" | 2:18 |
| 19. | "Assassin" | 4:02 |
| 20. | "Victoria And Albert" | 3:32 |
| 21. | "Only You – Sinéad O'Connor" | 5:17 |
Reception
Danny Graydon of Empire rated four stars out of five saying "composer Ilan Eshkeri capitalises on the ideal opportunity to bestow the customary pomp and circumstance material".[3] Reviewer based at Gramophone wrote "One can’t help wishing that the producers, including Martin Scorsese, had commissioned a new piece of work for the screen, especially as Eshkeri’s original work fits the bill well enough; but what we have is likely to appeal at the very least to all those who have seen the film."[4] Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote "The Young Victoria really is the absolute antithesis of Eshkeri’s other 2009 score, Ninja Assassin, and as much as the two scores highlight the composer’s versatility and talent across multiple genres and styles, I much prefer the music heard here."[5] Derek Elly of Variety called it a "copious score" which in turn "lacks any strong musical motifs, but its classical, vamp-’til-ready style lends both dignity and romance to the material."[6]
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter and Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the musical score both "pompous" and "soaring".[7][8] Fionnualla Halligan of Screen International wrote "The score doesn’t help. Handel’s swelling, omnipresent Coronation Anthem of Zadok the Priest is only matched by the bizarre addition of Sinead O’Connor on the end credits warbling a song called Only You - Love Theme From The YoungVictoria."[9] Orlando Sentinel and Roger Moore of East Bay Times wrote "composer Ilan Eshkeri scores such scenes with music so thrilling you’ll feel you’ve got a front-row seat to the real thing."[10]
Accolades
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivor Novello Awards[11] | October 2010 | Best Original Score | Ilan Eshkeri | Nominated |
Personnel credits
Credits adapted from liner notes:[1]
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References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The Young Victoria production notes" (PDF). Cinematic Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- ^ "The Young Victoria (Music from the Motion Picture)". Apple Music. 10 March 2009. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- ^ Graydon, Danny. "Empire's The Young Victoria". Empire. Archived from the original on 22 November 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ^ "Eshkeri Young Victoria OST". Gramophone. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- ^ Broxton, Jonathan (19 December 2009). "THE YOUNG VICTORIA – Ilan Eshkeri". Movie Music UK. Archived from the original on 6 February 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- ^ Elley, Derek (5 February 2009). "The Young Victoria". Variety. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- ^ Honeycutt, Kirk (6 February 2009). "FIlm Review: The Young Victoria". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- ^ Dargis, Manohla (17 December 2009). "Poor Little Royal Girl: A Melancholy Monarch". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- ^ Halligan, Fionnuala (7 February 2009). "The Young Victoria". Screen International. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- ^ Sentinel, Orlando; Moore, Roger (16 December 2009). "Review: 'The Young Victoria' is a first-rate period piece". East Bay Times. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- ^ Levine, Nick (20 April 2010). "In full: Ivor Novello Awards nominations". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2011.