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The original soundtrack from Bradley Cooper’s film Maestro will be available on digital, CD and vinyl. It features music specifically chosen for the film by Cooper, with new recordings made by the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who worked as conducting consultant before and throughout the filmmaking process.
Directed, written, produced by, and starring Cooper in the title role, the film is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan). In its five-star review, the Financial Times called Maestro “the real deal: the rousing, complex and heartbreaking rhapsody its subject deserves.”
“Many an opera and classical album were playing in our house growing up,” recalled Cooper, who says he’s been surrounded and captivated by classical music since childhood.
“I spent hours conducting an imaginary orchestra to the best of my 8-year-old ability. There was one recording of Leonard Bernstein on heavy rotation. So the pilot light I needed to make Maestro turned on many years before I actually came across the project.”
Cooper worked closely with Bernstein’s three children, Jamie, Nina and Alexander in preparation for the filming. To make his portrayal of both the man and the artist as authentic as possible, he immersed himself in the classical world, spending hours with the New York Philharmonic and other orchestras, and learning from conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Michael Tilson Thomas and Gustavo Dudamel.
Nézet-Séguin then assisted Cooper on set, notably on location at Ely Cathedral for a magical re‑enactment of Bernstein’s famous recording of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony.
The director, who co-wrote Maestro with Josh Singer, hopes the soundtrack will inspire listeners to explore further the work of someone he considers the most influential musician of the 20th century.
“Bernstein, from a very young age and throughout his life, was all about building bridges,” says Nézet-Séguin. “While his artistic output left him unclassifiable, performing and composing for symphony orchestras, Broadway shows, film, and ballet, he constantly fought society’s urge to categorise him, to pigeonhole him into one genre or another.”
The album reflects that unique musical character, presenting excerpts from works as varied as Chichester Psalms, On the Town, West Side Story, Candide, Mass, and Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3, among others. Also, to illustrate key moments in Bernstein’s career and marriage, the soundtrack includes music by Schumann, Beethoven, Mahler, and Walton.
Dr Clemens Trautmann, President of Deutsche Grammophon (DG) which is releasing the soundtrack, says he hopes it’ll see a younger generation celebrate this musical polymath.
“Reality and fiction merge in Maestro – as do past and present – when we watch Bradley Cooper’s impressive portrayal of legendary Yellow Label artist Leonard Bernstein and listen to Yannick Nézet-Séguin, one of today’s leading conductors.
“Yannick has championed Bernstein’s works throughout his career, his recordings including a gripping interpretation of Mass with The Philadelphia Orchestra.
“In our 125th-anniversary year, we at Deutsche Grammophon feel proud to have helped shape Bernstein’s recorded legacy and to have worked with the visionary Bradley Cooper, who shows us how contemporary – timeless, even – Lenny’s music and life story are. This album reflects our ongoing passion for collaborating with filmmakers and bringing the worlds of cinema and classical music together.”
The soundtrack is released digitally on November 17, 2023, and on CD and vinyl on December 1.
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