Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2018 film Mary Queen of Scots, directed by Josie Rourke starring Saoirse Ronan as Mary, Queen of Scots, and Margot Robbie as her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. Featuring original score by Max Richter, consisting of period and contemporary modern music, the album was recorded at the Air Studios in London, with an 100-piece orchestra and 12-member female choir performing the score. Deutsche Grammophon released the film's score on 7 December 2018. Background and development Mary Queen of Scots, being a period film set in the 16th century, Richter provided a fairly modern score that chimed in with his own musical interests, after his involvement with renaissance music. Early-music expert William Lyons called in to handle the historical material, which led Richter free to handle the dramatic score. He claimed that the director Josie Rourke gave him free reins to imagine a musical universe for the story, which consisting historical and modern music as well, and beyond that she was open to bring his vision into the story. Richter wanted the film to have women's voice as the center of the film's score to provide a psychological context, as the film was a "female-driven piece of storytelling. It’s kind of a love story; it’s multiple love stories, really. It’s the two of them navigating their relationship, and they also have love relationships with other people, and it’s about how that plays out against the historical backdrop." The world of men, according to Richter, generally associated with brutality of various kinds, and preceded with heavy drones, and orchestral music, with low-register instruments, bass instruments pulsating the score, and war drums used to propel the combatants in these various battles and skirmishes, but also propelling Mary to her execution.