The Soundtrack for The Goldfinch is now available for digital purchase through WaterTower Music. The score for this film was composed by Trevor Gureckis, whose past scores include Brooklyn and Vice.

The Goldfinch is the film adaptation of Donna Tartt’s globally acclaimed best-selling novel, which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. In the story, Theo Decker was 13 years old when his mother was killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The tragedy changes the course of his life, sending him on a stirring odyssey of grief and guilt, reinvention and redemption, and even love. Through it all, he holds on to one tangible piece of hope from that terrible day…a painting of a tiny bird chained to its perch. The Goldfinch.

Regarding the film, Trevor Gureckis had this to say:

“Writing The Goldfinch was thrilling not only because of the huge orchestral forces at hand, but also for the opportunity to explore rich textural details with the use of electronics in service of the story. There are moments of vivid impressionism in the orchestra, as well as tapestries of glowing and burning synth textures. A real turning point in figuring out this score, was when John Crowley realized we needed The Goldfinch to appear in the music itself, not just visually in the film. It would be our North Star. So, the opening cue sets the theme that returns in many different transformations depicting anything for the painting to Theo’s traumatized state of mind, as the two are so intertwined. Just like the painting of the bird chained to its post, this theme is suspended harmonically throughout the entire score resolving only in the final moments of the film,”

The soundtrack is very beautiful. I particularly enjoy the piano melodies that appear throughout the score. Having listened to so many scores that bombard me with rich, orchestral melodies, it’s a nice change of pace to hear something more delicate, and that’s definitely what this soundtrack is. It’s delicate, it’s intricate, and surprisingly moody at times (I haven’t read the book this film is based on, so my knowledge of the story is limited). It might be a bit too simple for some people’s tastes, but as I said before, sometimes a simpler score is just the thing for a film.

I’m not sure what the movie will be like, but the music shouldn’t be a disappointment. Let me know what you think about the soundtrack for The Goldfinch in the comments below and have a great day!

1. The Goldfinch
2. Mrs. Barbour
3. Interrogation
4. Hobart and Blackwell
5. Goldfinch Reveal
6. Letter to Pippa
7. Theo’s Burden
8. Return to the Barbours
9. Lucius Reeves
10. Boris’ Father
11. Theo and Pippa
12. Las Vegas
13. Desolation
14. Civics Book
15. Amsterdam
16. The Story of the Goldfinch
17. Boris Rescues Theo
18. Beautiful Things
19. The Goldfinch Theme – Solo Piano
20. Currents – Solo Piano

See also:

Film Soundtracks A-W

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