# Romeo & Juliet (soundtrack)

Romeo & Juliet (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score soundtrack to the 2013 film Romeo & Juliet, directed by Carlo Carlei; an adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy and stars Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld, as the eponymous principal characters. Abel Korzeniowski composed the film's orchestral score replacing James Horner, who was originally attached to score the film. The soundtrack was released through Sony Masterworks on 1 October 2013.

## Background

In October 2012, James Horner was roped in to compose the score for the film and recorded it at the Abbey Road Studios in London. At one point, Horner's score was supposed to be released through Sony Classical Records on 22 July 2013. But during post-production, Horner's score was scrapped and Abel Korzeniowski was hired to produce a new score for the film that was recorded at the Eastwood Scoring Stage in Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles during late-June 2013 with him conducting and orchestrating the Hollywood Studio Symphony. Sony Masterworks released the soundtrack featuring Korzeniowski's score on 1 October 2013.

## Reception

In a 5-star rating, Filmtracks.com wrote "This project is proof that pure crap on screen can still inspire greatness out of the right composer." Pete Simons of Synchrotones called it as "one of this year’s very best, incidentally alongside Escape from Tomorrow by Abel Korzeniowski". Justin Chang of Variety wrote "nary a single scene is allowed to play out untainted by Abel Korzeniowski’s score, which endlessly recycles the same banal theme with only minimal variations." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "Abel Korzeniowski's constantly churning score employs heaving strings and trilling piano scales in an urgent attempt to rouse the emotions."
Tim Grierson of Screen International described it as an "earnest, sobbing score". Calling it as an "incessant score", Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph called it as "a close cousin to Nino Rota's from the 1968 Zeffirelli film, if you imagine that one melodically misremembered and plonked over important scenes seemingly at random." Sara Stewart of New York Post called it as a "melodramatic soundtrack", while Bilge Ebiri of Vulture called it as a "lush, galloping score".

## Personnel

Credits adapted from CD liner notes.
* Composer – Abel Korzeniowski
* Producer – Abel Korzeniowski, Mina Korzeniowska
* Recording and mixing – Joel Iwataki
* Assistant mixing – Phil McGowan
* Mastering – Stephen Marsh
* Score editor – Matt Shelton
* Musical assistance – Scott Starrett
* Pro-tools operator – Tom Hardisty, Vincent Cirelli
* Executive producer – Andy Spaulding, Bob Bowen, Jason Markey, Seth Kaplan
Orchestra
* Performer – The Hollywood Studio Symphony
* Orchestrator and conductor – Abel Korzeniowski
* Choir conductor and contractor – Jasper Randall
* Orchestra contractor – Peter Rotter
* Copyist – Edward Trybek, Neal Desby
Instruments
* Cello – Andrew Shulman
* Piano – Randy Kerber
* Soprano vocals – Tamara Bevard
* Viola – Andrew Duckles
* Violin – Roger Wilkie, Tereza Stanislav

## Accolades

Accolades for Romeo & Juliet (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) :
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Result | Ref. |
| International Film Music Critics Association | February 23, 2014 | Film Score of the Year | Won | [14] [15] [16] |
| International Film Music Critics Association | February 23, 2014 | Film Composer of the Year | Won | [14] [15] [16] |
| International Film Music Critics Association | February 23, 2014 | Best Original Score for a Drama Film | Won | [14] [15] [16] |