Chevalier

Chevalier (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2023 film of the same name directed by Stephen Williams, based on the life of French-Caribbean musician Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, featuring original music composed by Kris Bowers, and also features classical compositions from the 18th century (some includes the own work of de Saint-Georges), reworked and produced by Michael Abels. The soundtrack was released by Hollywood Records on April 21, 2023, alongside the film, preceded by the first track "Violin Concerto in G Major, Op. 8, No. 2: I. Allegro" released as a single from the album on March 17, 2023. Development In August 2021, Michael Abels was roped in to compose music for the film, Nearly a year later, Kris Bowers recruited to score music for the film, thereby replacing Abels. It was later revealed that both Bowers and Abels had contributed original music for the film, although the former would receive the scoring credit, while the latter would provide music for the on-camera performances. Abels felt that "it was very important that the music be legitimate to Joseph [Boulogne] and the period, but also that it displayed his swagger in a way that would play to a modern audience". In the opening sequence, introducing the talents of Bologne to the French upper class with a violin showdown with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he had to begin with Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, as the character was asked to play this music, and Joseph shows up and outplays it, which intended the importance to write in the style of what Joseph had written, which was "classical and showy". During the scene evolves over, the soloists take on a modern tone of Jimi Hendrix's style, hence the music reflected that way. Bowers studied Bologne's music thereby starting with cues that were inspired by and stemmed from his music, while he could figure out how to modernize the sound, using it as a "launch pad to write themes that are very much inspired by his music" and while those themes are established he tried to limit those instrumentation to match with the traditional aesthetics of that period but finding ways to "mess with the score".