November 14, 2019
Variety: Ludwig Göransson on Scoring THE MANDALORIAN
In an article posted to Variety yesterday, film music journalist Jon Burlingame interviews composer Ludwig Göransson about his score for the new STAR WARS spin-off series, THE MANDALORIAN.
“The four hours of music he penned for the eight episodes constitute the longest score he has written to date, and the longest time he’s ever spent on a single project, having begun last November with those initial ideas, then composed and recorded from April to September,” wrote Burlingame.
Because THE MANDALORIAN tells a new story with a new set of characters and its own unique setting, executive producer Jon Favreau felt “the romantic strains of John Williams’ score would not sit well against the imagery that we have.” Thus Göransson decided to focus his score on an alien soundscape largely created via unusual woodwinds, drums, guitars, piano, percussion; but incorporating a 70-piece orchestra when the more traditional STAR WARS touch is needed. “It still has the soul of STAR WARS,” Göransson said. “It’s a very original, distinct, lonely sound that follows this gunslinger on his journey.”
As Burlingame noted, the music provides “the facial expressions” that we never see, as the Mandalorian never removes his helmet — which, along with his armor, further inspired the composer to add “metal sounds” throughout the score.
Unusually, Disney Music Group will be releasing a mini-album of Göransson’s work after each episode, the first of which came out digitally in day of the show’s first episode (Nov. 12th).
Read the Variety article here
