Marriage Story

Marriage Story (Original Music from the Netflix film) is the score album to the 2019 film of the same name, directed by Noah Baumbach. The score is written and composed by Randy Newman, who previously worked with Baumbach on The Meyerowitz Stories (2017). Over 14 tracks were compiled into the album, which was recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage in 20th Century Fox Studios, with a 40-piece chamber orchestra, ranging from various instruments. Newman called the score as a "rush of cool water in a moviemaking era that rarely asks for things like lyricism, or instrumental solos". The first track from the film "What I Love About Nicole" is the lead single from the album, released on November 1, 2019. Lakeshore Records marketed and released the soundtrack, digitally on November 15, and through CD on December 13. The score was positively received for Newman's composition, orchestration and diversity in the musical cues. For his score, Newman received nominations at various ceremonies including Academy Awards, Golden Globe and Satellite Awards, along with several other ceremonies hosted by critics' organisation. Composition Randy Newman composed the film's score. While reading the script, Newman thought that he "sorted of the characters (Nicole and Charlie) as heroic in a way. And their love story — on one hand it’s very human, the experience of the movie sort of mirrors qualities of real life. But also saw it in the tradition of great film love stories too, or these stories of ‘love that can’t be’ for whatever reason, but still love that is worthy of celebration". The score started with the main themes of Charlie and Nicole, which was "an overture that introduces several thematic ideas for the characters". Newman used a 40-piece chamber orchestra that featured a wide range of instruments, including, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three horns, a trumpet, a trombone, two percussions, 12 violins, four violas, four cellos, a bass, and a harp. The score was recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage during mid-2019, and was inspired by his uncle Alfred Newman's works from the 1950s and 1960s, devoid of modern classification. The cues featured dialogues from the characters, Nicole and Charlie. While scoring, Newman said in his interview to Variety, stating "I don’t care so much if people don’t notice the score and it really works. This one works, and they’re noticing it.