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Stories   >   Soundtrack to the natural history landmark sequel: 'Frozen Planet II' set for October 2022 release / Review Graveyard

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Soundtrack to the natural history landmark sequel: 'Frozen Planet II' set for October 2022 release / Review Graveyard

Posted: October 1, 2022 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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The 2-CD soundtrack to the natural history landmark sequel Frozen Planet II will be released on Jan 27, 2023 in the US. Frozen Planet II premieres Saturday, January 28th at 8pm ET/7pm C on BBC America and AMC+.

The Emmy and BAFTA nominated Bleeding Fingers Music team, headed by Hans Zimmer, deliver an ethereal and powerful soundtrack featuring the vocals of AURORA and backed by the Reykjavík Recording Choir and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The 3-note leitmotif from the opening theme is slowly varied and carried by the waves of shifting harmonies supported by crystalline strings, metallic percussion, and contemplative brass. On the second album the sound becomes more defined with the themes establishing themselves whilst the swirling and pulsating orchestral sound intermittently supports and drowns them.

AURORA champions various environmental awareness movements. She has explored these topics through her songs ‘Apple Tree’, ‘The Seed’, and ‘Soulless Creatures’ and now she blends her vocals with the soaring orchestral sounds of the Frozen Planet II soundtrack. She comments "Our world and our environment has always been a heart matter for me. I’ve believed that communicating her beauty, and her importance through art, music, and film is what touches us the most. It shows us what it is that is worth saving, it stirs our natural instinct."

Hans Zimmer is one of the most prolific and acclaimed film score composers, with over 150 scores to his credit. He is the winner of four Grammy Awards, three Classical Brit Awards, two Golden Globes and two Academy Awards. His long-standing working relationship with BBC Earth has seen an incredible body of music including previous Silva Screen releases, Seven Worlds One Planet, Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II.

Adam Lukas is an EMMY-winning composer for Film & TV, located in Los Angeles, and part of the next-generation composer collective Bleeding Fingers. His recent credits include the BBC One 3-part documentary Primates, NatGeo’s Being The Queen (both awarded a News and Doc EMMY nomination in 2021, with Primates winning the category), and Netflix' Roman Empire II.

British composer and producer James Everingham discovered a passion for film and music in his early teens. At 19, James scored his first feature film at Abbey Road Studios in London, and in 2018 first collaborated with Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers Music on the National Geographic Documentary Film Apollo: Missions to the Moon. His recent work includes Motorsport Network’s first major feature film commission Heroes, National Geographic’s The Real Right Stuff, and NBC’s Super Bowl LVI show open.

Frozen Planet II will air on BBC1 and iPlayer weekly as six 60-minute episodes. Frozen Planet II is a BBC Studios Natural History Unit production, co-produced by BBC America and The Open University. The Executive Producer is Mark Brownlow and the Series Producer is Elizabeth White.

Previously, Silva Screen Records has successfully partnered with BBC Studios on several releases, including Blue Planet II, Planet Earth II, Seven Worlds One Planet, Dynasties, Primates, The Green Planet and the first series of Frozen Planet.

Review Graveyard writes…..The soundtrack to the natural history landmark sequel Frozen Planet II will be digitally released on 07 October 2022, followed by a 2 CD physical release on 21 October and triple vinyl in early 2023. The Emmy and BAFTA nominated Bleeding Fingers Music team, headed by Hans Zimmer, deliver an ethereal and powerful soundtrack featuring the vocals of Aurora and backed by the Reykjavík Recording Choir and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales...

After George Fenton's incredible score for the first series of Frozen Planet, the producers decided that musically they'd change tact. While, at first I was impressed and intrigued by the new sound (who doesn't love a good Hans Zimmer theme) it soon became obvious that the main theme, while integral to tying the score together, was going to be a little intrusive.

The 3-note leitmotif from the opening theme is slowly varied and carried by the waves of shifting harmonies supported by crystalline strings, metallic percussion and contemplative brass. On the second album the sound becomes more defined with the themes establishing themselves whilst the swirling and pulsating orchestral sound intermittently supports and drowns them.

This idea works incredibly well, but probably a little better in the series than when heard in isolation. While an interesting and varied album I found there were a few too many experimental pieces, like 'Fidgety Bedfellow' that took me out of the chilled vibe that tracks like 'Giants of the Deep' brought forth.

While still an enjoyable collection of themes, I much preferred Fenton's more traditional documentary approach.

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