![]() This is where Britell’s astute ways of combining brightness and darkness in “Succession’s” music make all the difference. The scores for both “House of Cards” and “Yellowstone” are already dark and twisty to begin with, which makes the “staining” effect harder to pull off. In order for the stain of corruption to stand out, musically and otherwise, it has to operate against a relatively clean background. And in “Yellowstone,” Tyler uses chromaticism to decorate the melody. At the end of the opening credits of “House of Cards,” you can hear it in the twang of the electric guitar. ![]() The composers also make an effort to signal corruption through momentarily dissonant chords or notes. The title theme for ‘Yellowstone,’ composed by Brian Tyler. Yet they, unlike “Succession,” have, in my view, underwhelming scores. presidency, and “ Yellowstone,” which tells the story of a Montana landowning family’s mission to ward off developers, Indigenous leaders and environmental activists, also attempt to convey a grim mood and crookedness in their music.īoth shows have rightly garnered attention and praise. Brood too much and the effect is lostįor comparison, “ House of Cards,” which follows a crooked politician’s quest for the U.S. In his very 21st-century way, Britell festoons earnest Romantic music with details that gleefully desecrate it, bringing viewers right into the psychological dynamics of the show’s protagonists: a hunger for power, accompanied by levels of self-loathing that vacillate between comedy and tragedy. This adds bounce, and a smirk, to the romantic broodiness of the chords and melody. Lastly, Britell is a hip-hop beat maker and layers the theme song with a cheesy 1990s synthesizer beat. The effect is alarming – and oddly befitting of the topic of a corrupt media conglomerate. The rhythm is littered by small dissonant accents in the upper register of the piano that sound like a fun-house version of the “low battery” sound on a cellphone. Throughout the show, there are a lot of reality-show-style pans to the faces of characters saying things like “I am excited.” This is their music. Meanwhile, the melody, which is in a high register, awkwardly tries, but ultimately fails, to squirm its way to a brighter key. However, I’d say the theme song’s soundworld is closer to the opening dance of Sergei Prokofiev’s 1935 ballet “ Romeo and Juliet” or Sergei Rachmaninov’s famous 1892 piano prelude in C Sharp minor: big romantic pieces that swing between bass notes and thick block chords like the batter of a church bell.īut Britell then adds details that work in outlandish tension with the romantic musical language he’s adopted.įor example, the piano that plays the theme song is audibly out of tune. And the theme of “Succession” does draw from a couple of unmemorable bars from Beethoven’s “ Pathétique Sonata,” slowed down and with a few changed notes. ![]() It is the composer’s skill in layering the strangeness into the music that makes the difference.īritell has described being inspired by European late-18th century music. But these days, anything sounding weird – an off-beat rhythm, an unexpected sound – can do the trick. Traditionally, this is done by adding chromaticism – the black keys of the piano keyboard – into the chords and melody, which produces a sense of darkening and dissonance. ![]() Most contemporary political dramas are about corruption, and music is great at progressively turning something seemingly wholesome into something sour. YouTube/HBO 1.42 MB (download) Corrupting classical music The theme song for ‘Succession,’ composed by Nicholas Britell. ![]()
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