“Hamnet,” the motion picture score by Max Richter

Sensitive souls, pain and gain

“Hamnet: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack,” composed by Max Richter (Decca Records)

by Bondo Wyszpolski

We’re in the final hours before the winners of this year’s Academy Awards are announced, and among the Best Picture nominees is Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet.” I’ve seen the film and I’ve also been listening to the soundtrack, composed by Max Richter and available from Decca Records. The format I have is the two-disc LP, a handsome package all in all (although I wish it had extensive liner notes and the running times of each track), and it showcases one of the contenders for Best Original Score. Zhao’s “Nomad,” to remind those who’ve forgotten, won the Best Picture Oscar in 2021.

Max Richter has not only composed other soundtracks (“Ad Astra,” “The Veil,” etc.), his solo albums (“Exiles,” “The Blue Notebooks”) have done quite well, and anyone who follows his work should be alerted to this release.

“Hamnet,” the film (and the novel by Maggie O’Farrell on which it’s based), takes place in Elizabethan times and conjures up a story about the young Shakespeare, his wife and children, among the latter a vivacious boy named Hamnet who comes to an untimely end but, apparently, inspires “Hamlet,” one of the Bard’s most famous tragedies. For me, that’s a bit of a stretch, but since little of Shakespeare’s personal life is known one can enjoy a field day by envisioning what it must have or could have been like.

“Of Agnes” is the first cut, lofty voices and a somber undertone, at once holy and ominous, like two layers gliding or hovering above one another. This audible effect will be employed throughout the film, and let me note that in addition to the orchestra there’s a sizable chorus. Richter, along with Dave Foster, did the arrangements, and — which explains the emphasis on the string instruments — there’s a high string leader (Everton Nelson) and a low string leader (Ian Burdge).

The second track, “Of Orpheus,” begins with a stark, solo piano, after which a kind of sonic shadow becomes audible, then prominent, and creates a more tonal effect. There’s a sense of something being explored or questioned.

These two selections are followed by three others that are brief and seem more like transitional pieces, backing up the scenes they accompany.

“Of Earth And Heaven” is a longer track, and by now one realizes that the composer has been generous with his inclusion of the cello, of which there are several. If all we had to go on was this music, I don’t think many of us would have associated it with Shakespeare, but rather a film about the aftermath of war or other devastation.

As we keep listening, the sensation can range from suspenseful to melancholic. No one’s dancing a jig or singing beerhall tunes, and on “Of The Sky” the low notes go really low. Agnes, filmgoers may recall, is a peculiar woman with her roots deep in the rich, fertile soil.

In “I Was The More Deceived,” the cellos sound like they’re coming up through the floorboards. The music builds, becomes somber, then cools down, and the piano comes in to lead us out of the track, that is, if songs are like separate rooms.

“The Great Globe Itself” accompanies our visual introduction to the theater which we commonly associate with Shakespeare, and we can feel the awe and wonder. This is followed by “Of A Ghost” and perhaps this is when Agnes — who seems not to have known what her playwright husband was capable of — has pushed her way to the front of the audience and stands at the lip of the stage. It’s an extended, ethereal track, with a depth of emotion subtly conveyed.

Now we come to an interesting point. The closing sequence of “Hamnet” is fairly intense, with a no-holds-barred performance by Jessie Buckley that certainly helped elevate her to a Best Actress nomination. And if any scene required a lift from the score it is certainly this one.

As I understand it, Richter had written “Of The Undiscovered Country,” which is transcendental and earthy, moody but seemingly hopeful, as the story’s closing number. But then I believe it was both Buckley and Zhao who zeroed in on what may be Richter’s most famous composition, the previously released “On The Nature Of Daylight,” which has the same feel as “Of The Undiscovered Country,” but more so. Therefore, it became the selection of choice to conclude the film.

If you’ve thrilled to Górecki’s “Symphony No. 3” you’ll respond to “Daylight,” which gently but wistfully soars. It captures or highlights the cathartic moment, although it’s a bit lush and perhaps pushes the sentiment meter a couple of notches to the right. Something similarly uplifting, but more fragile, would be Roger Eno’s title track from “The Turning Year”.

In other words, whether a bit forcefully or not, “On The Nature of Daylight” propels “Hamnet” across the finish line. It’s one long crescendo and swell of emotion.

The soundtrack is all of a piece, atmospheric and brooding throughout, the one exception a brief ditty, like an old English folk tune, performed with period instruments, pleasant and light, with lyrics by Maggie O’Farrell.

As director Zhao puts it in the liner notes: Descend. Descend. Descend.

The score helps us descend into the minds and hearts (perhaps spirit and soul) of its characters.

Judged apart from the film, I don’t consider this a memorable soundtrack. There isn’t quite enough contrast and variation. Recommended mostly for fans of Max Richter and as a souvenir of the well done, emotion-filled film.

And the Oscar goes to… ER