''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 ...

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

Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino ( , ; born October 10, 1967) is an American film, television, and video game score composer. He has received many accolades for his work, including an Academy Award for ''Up (2009 film), Up'' (2009), an Emmy Award, Emmy for Lo ...

. This is his third feature film for

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

after ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer ...

'' and ''

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

''. 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 media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

(CD) until 2011, when it became available via

Intrada Records Intrada is an American record company based in Oakland, California, founded by Douglass Fake (1952-2024). The company specializes in movie and television soundtracks, notably those by the late Jerry Goldsmith. Intrada was founded in 1985 by pro ...

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

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

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 out ...

67th Golden Globe Awards The 67th Golden Globe Awards was telecasted live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it i ...

, the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by ...

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 The BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, formerly known as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, is a film award that is presented to film composers by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. It has been presented annually at the B ...

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

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

'' 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 ret ...

, 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

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. 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

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 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 referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

'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

Personnel

Credits from ''Up'' notes: *

–

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and additional orchestrations *

Tim Simonec Tim Simonec (born June 11, 1951) is a composer, orchestrator, conductor, and arranger. He is known for his work in film music, composing for movies such as '' Whiplash'' and ''Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.'' He has a long-term partnership with ...

–

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

*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 The Hollywood Studio Symphony (sometimes the Hollywood Freelance Studio Symphony) is the credited name of the symphony orchestra behind many major soundtracks, including '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', ''Suc ...

– 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 a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

Walt Disney Records soundtracks Intrada Records soundtracks Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Michael Giacchino soundtracks Scores that won the Best Original Score Academy Award