Music
Throughout the novel, Charles Frazier repeatedly notes the significance of music:
'What the music said was that there is a right way for things to be ordered so that life might not always be just tangle and drift but have a shape, an aim. It was a powerful argument against the notion that things just happen.' – ('Cold Mountain', Ch. 12)
Throughout the movie, Minghella employs music as significantly, to narrate the
story, convey character and establish mood. The 'personality of the composer is
the most distinctive influence on the film; more so than the personality of anyone
else in the production team. It's the loudest noise apart from the screenplay
that occurs in the film', insists Minghella, himself a former musician.
The meticulous Gabriel Yared began working on the movie's symphonic orchestration
as early as April 2002, well before the project went into production. Executive
music producer, T-Bone Burnett ('O Brother, Where Art Thou?') coordinated
a medley of indigenous Appalachian Folk and Bluegrass old-time breakdowns. Deep-South
Sacred Harp vocal harmonies by Liberty Baptist Church, Alabama (recorded June 2002),
added the distinctive Shape Note Singing so characteristic of Southern Baptist praise.
The film's diverse musical offerings included:
Gabriel Yared – Anthem, Ada Plays, Ada and Inman, Love Theme
Jack White – Wayfaring Stranger, Sittin' On Top Of The World, Never Far Away, Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over, Great High Mountain
Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church – I'm Going Home, Idumea
Brendan Gleeson – Spike Driver Blues & Coo Coo Bird
Nicole Kidman – Ah, May the Red Rose Live Always (Stephen Foster, Arr. Yared)
Reeltime Travellers – Like A Songbird That Has Fallen
Tim Eriksen – Am I Born To Die?
Tim Eriksen & Riley Baugus – The Cuckoo
Tim Eriksen, Riley Baugus & Tim O'Brien – I Wish My Baby Was Born
Stuart Duncan & Dirk Powell – Ruby With The Eyes That Sparkle
Alison Krauss – The Scarlet Tide (written by Elvis Costello and Henry Burnett)
Alison Krauss & Sting – You Will Be My Ain True Love (written by Sting)
