The soundtrack for Norwegian Wood, the new film based on Haruki Murakami’s bestselling novel , featuring a score by Jonny Greenwood, is out now. We suggest you head on over here to get it.
Nonesuch releases guitarist/composer Jonny Greenwood’s instrumental score to director Tran Anh Hung’s film Norwegian Wood on March 8. An adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s bestselling novel, the film will be released in the UK by Soda Pictures on March 11, and stars Kenichi Matsuyama, Rinko Kikuchi and Kiko Mizuhara. The score is performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra led by Robert Ziegler, and the Emperor Quartet, and is produced by Graeme Stewart. The soundtrack album also features three tracks written and performed by CAN.
Born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1949, Haruki Murakami published his first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, in 1979, earning him the Gunzou Literature Prize for budding writers. In 1987, he published Norwegian Wood, which went on to become the book that gained him a domestic and global following, with its various editions and volumes combined selling more than 10 million copies in Japan and 2.6 million overseas to date.
Tran Anh Hung’s directorial debut, The Scent of Green Papaya (1992), won the Camera d’Or at Cannes and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His second film, Cyclo (1995), won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival. His other films include The Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000) and I Come with the Rain (2009).
In addition to his work with the band Radiohead, Jonny Greenwood has made a considerable name for himself as a composer in recent years. His Grammy- and BAFTA-nominated score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 film There Will Be Blood, released on Nonesuch, won the award for Best Film Score at the Evening Standard British Film Awards and the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score. His first solo project was a soundtrack for the Simon Pummell film Bodysong in 2003, and in 2004 Greenwood became BBC Radio 3’s Composer in Residence. His work under this appointment included Popcorn Superhet Receiver, which won the BBC Radio 3 Listeners’ Award at the 2006 British Composer Awards.