''Up (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'' is the

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

to the 2009 Disney-Pixar film of the same name composed by

Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for films, television and video games. He has also served as a director for television. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on '' Up'' (2009), ...

. This is his third feature film for

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

after ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah ...

'' and ''

Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...

''. Giacchino wrote a character theme-based score that the filmmakers felt enhanced the story of the film. ''Up'' received positive reviews from music critics and won major awards. Despite being well regarded, ''Up'' was not released as a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

(CD) until 2011, when it became available via

Intrada Records Intrada is an American record company based in Oakland, California, owned and managed by Douglass Fake. The company specializes in movie and television soundtracks, notably those by the late Jerry Goldsmith. Intrada was founded in 1985 by owner ...

. The score album was nominated to multiple awards. It earned two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

s: Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media and

Best Instrumental Composition The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (including its previous names) has been awarded since 1960. The award is presented to the composer of an original piece of music (not an adaptation), first released during the eligibility year. I ...

for " Married Life", at the 2010 ceremony. The score also won the

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications ...

67th Golden Globe Awards The 67th Golden Globe Awards was telecasted live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 17, 2010 by NBC, from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (PST) and 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM (EST) (1:00 – 4:00; Monday, January 18 UTC) ...

, the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the

82nd Academy Awards The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2009 and took place on March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m ...

, and the

BAFTA Award for Best Film Music This is a list of winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, formerly known as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, which is presented to film composers, given out by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts si ...

. ''Up'' was the first Disney film since ''

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...

'' to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score, spanning a gap of 14 years, and the first

film to win the award. It also became one of few scores to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Grammy.

Composition

The type of compositional technique used on the score is called

thematic transformation Thematic transformation (also known as thematic metamorphosis or thematic development) is a musical technique in which a leitmotif, or theme, is developed by changing the theme by using permutation ( transposition or modulation, inversion, and retr ...

, a technique commonly used in large-scaled classical music compositions, in which more than one theme is involved and related together in a single piece of music.

Critical reception

The score received positive reviews from music critics. "Throughout the soundtrack, Giacchino keeps things fresh with his engaging melodies and variations, and ''Up'' succeeds as an old-fashioned score that doesn’t shy away from emotion or catchy tunes.", was the positive review from iTunes. Christopher Coleman, from tracksounds.com, gave the score 8 out of 10 stars, commenting: "The experience of his iacchino'soriginal score went from mediocre to marvelous with a single viewing of the film". Danny Graydon, ''Empire'' writer, declared "Giacchino's primary theme moves from the jaunty

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

flourish of the opening titles" ... "The score's emotional content is further fuelled by two similarly flexible (albeit more subtle) themes". Christian Clemmensen of

Filmtracks.com Filmtracks.com is a modern film score review website created and maintained by its sole reviewer, Christian Clemmensen. Since the launch of Filmtracks in 1996, the website has reviewed nearly two-thousand soundtracks dating as far back as 1954, t ...

awarded the score a four star rating out of five, but wrote a mixed review: "In general, the vintage jazz and Waltz combination is effective in raising the spirit of adventure specifically from the perspective of an elderly man, but this material could potentially sound geriatric to some listeners seeking only loftier fantasy elements". Regarding

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's initial decision to not release the score on

, Clemmensen went on to say "Unfortunately, with a score as dynamic in instrumental range as ''Up'', hearing it in compressed MP3 form is simply unacceptable. This format may work for headphones, but the recording sounds dull and flat on any sizable stereo system."

Track listing

Album credits

Credits from ''Up'' notes: *

– composer and additional orchestrations *Tim Simonec – orchestration and conductor *Dan Wallin – sound recorder and mixer * Peter Boyer – additional orchestrations *Jack J. Hayes – additional orchestrations *Larry Kenton – additional orchestrations *Jennifer Hammond – additional orchestrations * Hollywood Studio Symphony – performance *Stephen Davis – music editor *Mark Willsher – music editor *Reggie Wilson – orchestra contractor *Andrea Datzman – score coordinator *Luis M. Rojas – cover art design

Charts

Release history

Accolades

References

{{Authority control 2009 soundtrack albums 2000s film soundtrack albums Classical music soundtracks Pixar soundtracks

Soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

Walt Disney Records soundtracks Intrada Records soundtracks Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Michael Giacchino soundtracks