Oppenheimer (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Ludwig Göransson (Mondo)

Mondo Music, in partnership with Universal Pictures, is proud to present Ludwig Göransson’s score to OPPENHEIMER, Christopher Nolan’s sweeping, epic thriller that delves deep into the psyche of a singular American mind: J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. 

To create the score for OPPENHEIMER, Christopher Nolan turned again to Oscar®-winning composer Ludwig Göransson (BLACK PANTHER films), who had written the music for TENET. “Ludwig’s work on the film is both deeply personal and historically expansive,” Nolan says. “It achieves the effect of building out an emotional world to accompany the visual world that Ruth De Jong designed and Hoyte van Hoytema shot, and it draws the audience into the emotional dilemmas of the characters and their interactions with the vast geopolitical situations that they’re confronting.”

Driven by an unwavering desire to capture the delicate intersection between beauty and dread, Göransson’s creative endeavors manifested in an array of captivating experiments. Techniques such as the incorporation of microtonal glissandos were deftly employed to expand the sonic palette, infusing the music with an ethereal quality. Collaborating with esteemed musicians from the Hollywood Studio Orchestra, Göransson began shaping OPPENHEIMER’s musical world with an intimate solo violin performance, capturing the essence of the character. As the story evolved, the ensemble gradually expanded to include a quartet, octet and ultimately a large ensemble of strings and brass. This progressive orchestration reflected the deepening complexity of OPPENHEIMER’s journey, enriching the musical tapestry with each new addition.