The King’s Choice
Added on Sunday, March 11, 2018 Posted by Philippe Mouchon
The latest release of MovieScore Media reunites the label with composer Johan Söderqvist. Erik Poppes film The King’s Choice is a historical drama, telling a fateful episode of Norway’s history. On the 9th of April 1940, the German war machine arrives into the fjords of Oslo with the warship Blücher. Norwegian monarch King Haakon VII faces a choice that will change his country forever. While the German invaders strongly advise the King to nominate Norwegian leader Vidkun Quisling as the prime minister, the king together with his government makes a brave choice.
The latest release of MovieScore Media reunites the label with composer Johan Söderqvist. Erik Poppes film The King’s Choice is a historical drama, telling a fateful episode of Norway’s history. On the 9th of April 1940, the German war machine arrives into the fjords of Oslo with the warship Blücher. Norwegian monarch King Haakon VII faces a choice that will change his country forever. While the German invaders strongly advise the King to nominate Norwegian leader Vidkun Quisling as the prime minister, the king together with his government makes a brave choice. Starring Jesper Christensen (recently seen as Mr. White in the James Bond movies), The King’s Choice was the official submission of Norway for the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category of the 89th Academy Awards and the score won Norway’s eminent film music award, The Amanda in 2017.
Johan Söderqvist is one of the busiest and most successful Scandinavian composers. He has collaborated on a regular basis with Danish director Susanne Bier for whom he scored Brothers (2004) the Oscar-nominated After the Wedding (2006), the Oscar-winning In a Better World (2010) and the romantic comedy Love Is All You Need (2012) – the latter two albums were released by MovieScore Media. His other credits include the Oscar-nominated Kon-Tiki (2014), the British/American horror The Limehouse Golem (2016) and the cult classic vampire film Let the Right One In (2008), another MSM release. More recently Söderqvist has been working closely with Patrik Andrén on the video game Battlefield 1.
“When I discussed the musical language of The King’s Choice with the director, Eric Poppe, we mainly focused on three things” explains composer Johan Söderqvist. “The first was the urgency – since the events take place in only three days, it was essential to get the feeling that it’s urgent, the feeling of a ticking clock. The second was the dark threat of fascism, which appears with low-register brass,electronics and low drums. The third thing we always came back to when we discussed the film was that it felt like it needed to be ”monothematic” i.e. not having too many musical themes but maybe one or two strong themes that could convey the emotional journey of the king (and the film).”
MMS18003 • THE KING’S CHOICE (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by JOHAN SÖDERQVIST
Release date (digital): March 9, 2018
Release date (CD): April, 2018 (Quartet Records)