Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack

Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released December 21, 2012 (2012-12-21)
Genre Film soundtrack
Length 65:20
Label Universal Republic
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone[2]

Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film soundtrack for the Universal Pictures film Les Misérables, performed by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and other artists. It was released on December 21, 2012.[3] The music is written by Claude-Michel Schönberg; the lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer based on the French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel.

Production

In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Front Row, Tom Hooper the film's director, revealed that Claude-Michel Schönberg will be composing one new song and additional music. The director also expanded on the performers singing live on set, which he felt would eliminate the need to recapture "locked" performances and allow more creative freedom. More details of this were confirmed by Eddie Redmayne in an interview. He stated that the cast would sing to piano tracks (via earpiece) and that the orchestra would be added in post-production.[4]

In February 2012, Cameron Mackintosh announced that the title of the newly created song for the film is "Suddenly" and that it "beautifully explains what happens when Valjean takes Cosette from the inn and looks after her."[5]

The film's vocals were recorded live on set using live piano accompaniments played through earpieces as a guide, with the orchestral accompaniment recorded in post-production, rather than the traditional method where the film's musical soundtracks are usually pre-recorded and played back on set for actors to lip-sync to. Although this unique live recording method has been claimed as "a world's-first" by the creative team, several film musicals have utilized this method before, including the 1975 20th Century Fox production of At Long Last Love and most recently in the 1995 film of The Fantasticks and the 2007 film Across the Universe. On 27 August 2012, it was announced that recording sessions for Les Misérables would begin in London on 10 October and will feature a 70-piece orchestra. It was also announced that Claude-Michel Schönberg was working on writing additional music to underscore the film.[6] On 9 September 2012, Universal Studios executives were granted a viewing of the rough cut of the film without the orchestra. The cut was greeted with "extreme excitement," and Russell Crowe tweeted that he received many excited emails.[7]

Content

Unlike most soundtrack albums from stage adaptations, this album doesn't contain all musical numbers in the film, with traditional show highlights such as "Who am I?" and "A Little Fall of Rain" being omitted. The famous anthem "Do You Hear the People Sing?" does not appear on the album, however it does feature in "Epilogue." Songs included on the album are often also incomplete in comparison with the movie itself (for example, At the End of the Day on the album is missing Fantine's explanation.)

On March 19, 2013, a 2-Disc Deluxe Edition soundtrack to Les Misérables was released featuring a total of 42 tracks. Several of the missing songs not featured on the highlights album were included as well as a few instrumental pieces. However, like the highlights album, many of the songs are still cut short due to time.

Commercial performance

Upon its release, Les Misérables debuted at number thirty-three on the Billboard 200 and at number one on the Billboard Soundtracks chart, selling 43,000 copies in less than three full days of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[8] The following week, it sold 136,000 copies to jump to number two on the Billboard 200.[9] The soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 in its third week on the chart, selling 92,000 copies.[10] The total of 178,000 copies sold from the ten days of sales made it the tenth best-selling soundtrack album of 2012.[11] It sold a further 512,000 copies in the United States in 2013, making it the third best-selling soundtrack of 2013.[12] As of January 2014, it had sold a total of 690,000 copies in the US.[12]

The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number five with first-week sales of 13,844 copies,[13] before rising to number one the following week on sales of 55,954 copies.[14] The album spent four non-consecutive weeks atop the chart.[15]

In Japan, the album reached number eleven on the Japanese Albums Chart,[16] and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in March 2013, denoting shipments of 100,000 copies.[17]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, and Jean-Marc Natel; all music composed by Claude-Michel Schönberg.

No. TitleArtist(s) Length
1. "Look Down"  Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Convicts 2:21
2. "The Bishop"  Colm Wilkinson 1:34
3. "Valjean's Soliloquy"  Hugh Jackman 3:18
4. "At the End of the Day"  Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Foreman, Factory Girls and Cast of Les Misérables 4:27
5. "I Dreamed a Dream"  Anne Hathaway 4:38
6. "The Confrontation"  Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe 1:55
7. "Castle on a Cloud"  Isabelle Allen 1:11
8. "Master of the House"  Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter and Cast 4:52
9. "Suddenly"  Hugh Jackman 2:32
10. "Stars"  Russell Crowe 3:01
11. "ABC Café / Red and Black"  Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit and Students 4:21
12. "In My Life / A Heart Full of Love"  Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks 3:12
13. "On My Own"  Samantha Barks 3:11
14. "One Day More"  Cast of Les Misérables 3:39
15. "Drink with Me"  Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Huttlestone and Students 1:41
16. "Bring Him Home"  Hugh Jackman 3:37
17. "The Final Battle"  Students and Cast of Les Misérables 3:17
18. "Javert's Suicide"  Russell Crowe 3:00
19. "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"  Eddie Redmayne 3:13
20. "Epilogue"  Cast of Les Misérables 6:20

Charts

Album

Chart (2012–13) Peak
position
Argentine Albums Chart[18] 15
Australian Albums Chart[19] 2
Austrian Albums Chart[20] 3
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[21] 21
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[22] 51
Canadian Albums Chart[23] 3
Czech Albums Chart[24] 4
Danish Albums Chart[25] 16
Dutch Albums Chart[26] 14
Finnish Albums Chart[27] 18
French Albums Chart[28] 81
German Albums Chart[29] 18
Greek Albums Chart[30] 11
Hungarian Albums Chart[31] 11
Irish Albums Chart[32] 1
Italian Compilation Albums Chart[33] 7
Japanese Albums Chart[16] 11
Mexican Albums Chart[34] 3
New Zealand Albums Chart[35] 1
Norwegian Albums Chart[36] 7
Polish Albums Chart[37] 3
Scottish Albums Chart[38] 1
Slovenian Albums Chart[39] 30
South Korean Albums Chart[40] 1
Swedish Albums Chart[41] 3
Swiss Albums Chart[42] 35
UK Albums Chart[43] 1
US Billboard 200[10] 1
US Soundtracks[44] 1

Singles

Single Peak positions
UK
[45]		 US
[46]
"I Dreamed a Dream" 22 69
"On My Own" 43 97
"One Day More" 66 110

Year-end charts

Chart (2012) Position
South Korean International Albums Chart[47] 3
Chart (2013) Position
Australian Albums Chart[48] 49
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[49] 173
Hungarian Albums Chart[50] 97
Irish Albums Chart[51] 20
Japanese Albums Chart[52] 55
New Zealand Albums Chart[53] 27
South Korean International Albums Chart[54] 5
UK Albums Chart[55] 12
US Billboard 200[56] 30
US Soundtracks[57] 2

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[58] Gold 35,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[17] Gold 113,926[52]
New Zealand (RMNZ)[59] Gold 7,500^
United States (RIAA)[60] Gold 690,000[12]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

See also

References

  1. ↑ Christopher, James. "Les Miserables [Highlights]". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  2. ↑ Rosen, Jody (January 25, 2013). "Les Misérables: Highlights From the Motion Picture Soundtrack". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture: Soundtrack: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  4. ↑ "BBC News - New song for Les Miserables film". Bbc.co.uk. 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  5. ↑ "One Song More! Les Miz Film Will Have New Song and Live Singing; Cameron Mackintosh Reveals All". Playbill.com. 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  6. ↑ "Les Misérables Film to Feature 70-Piece Orchestra; Recording to Begin in October". Playbill.com. 2012-08-27. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  7. ↑ Hammond, Pete. "Toronto Film Festival 2012 - Anna Karenina Receives Standing Ovation". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2013-03-22.
  8. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (December 27, 2012). "'Les Miserables' Bows at No. 1 on Soundtracks Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved March 31, 2012.
  9. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (January 3, 2013). "Taylor Swift's 'Red,' 'Les Mis' Soundtrack Lead Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  10. 1 2 Caulfield, Keith (January 9, 2013). "'Les Miserables' Soundtrack Hits No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  11. ↑ Grein, Paul (January 3, 2013). "Chart Watch Extra: Top Albums of 2012". Chart Watch. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 Grein, Paul (January 2, 2014). "The Top 10 Soundtracks of 2013". Chart Watch. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  13. ↑ Jones, Alan (January 14, 2013). "Official Charts Analysis: David Bowie records highest charting single for 27 years". Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved March 31, 2013. (subscription required)
  14. ↑ Jones, Alan (January 21, 2013). "Official Charts Analysis: Les Mis album tops 55k first week sales". Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved March 31, 2013. (subscription required)
  15. ↑ "Foals land highest charting album of their career". Official Charts Company. February 17, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  16. 1 2 レ・ミゼラブル～サウンドトラック/サントラ [Les Miserables – Soundtrack / Soundtrack] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  17. 1 2 "Japanese album certifications – Various artists – Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved April 12, 2013. Select 2013年3月 on the drop-down menu
  18. ↑ "Ranking Semanal Pop" (in Spanish). Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers. February 10, 2013. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2013. Note: User must define search parameters as "Ranking Semanal Pop" and "10/02/2013".
  19. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon". austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  22. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon" (in French). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  23. ↑ "Canadian Albums : Mar 30, 2013". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  24. ↑ "TOP50 Prodejní: RŮZNÍ – Les Misérables (Bídníci 2013) O.S.T." (in Czech). IFPI Czech Republic. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  25. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon". danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon". finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon" (in French). lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Soundtrack, Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon" (in German). charts.de. Media Control. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Official Cyta-IFPI Charts – Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Εβδομάδα: 10/2013)" (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on March 20, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  31. ↑ "Archívum › Kereső – előadó/cím szerint" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Archived from the original on December 27, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2013. Note: Select "dal/album cím" and enter "A nyomorultak" in the search box.
  32. ↑ "Top 100 Artist Album, Week Ending 24 January 2013". Chart-Track. Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  33. ↑ "Compilation – Classifica settimanale dal 04/02/2013 al 10/02/2013" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  34. ↑ "Top 100 México – Semana Del 25 de Febrero al 03 de Marzo 2013" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 March 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  35. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon". charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  36. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon". norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  37. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży". OLiS. 11 February 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
  38. ↑ "2013 Top 40 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. January 26, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  39. ↑ "Bodo naslednjič vrh Slo Top 30 tiho napadli Dan D?" (in Slovenian). Val 202. 10 March 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  40. ↑ "Gaon Album Chart – 2012.12.23~2012.12.29" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  41. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  42. ↑ "Soundtrack – Les misérables – The Musical Phenomenon". swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  43. ↑ "2013 Top 40 Official UK Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. January 26, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  44. ↑ "Soundtracks : Jan 05, 2013". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  45. ↑ "2013 Top 40 Official UK Singles Archive". Official Charts Company. 26 January 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  46. ↑ Peak chart positions for charted songs in the United States:
  47. ↑ "Gaon Album Chart – 2012" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  48. ↑ "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 100 Albums 2013". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  49. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 2013 – Albums" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Archived from the original on April 17, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  50. ↑ "Összesített album- és válogatáslemez-lista – chart-pozíció alapján – 2013" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  51. ↑ "Best of 2013 – Top 20 Albums". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  52. 1 2 "アルバムTOP100" [Album Top 100] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  53. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 2013". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  54. ↑ "Gaon Album Chart – 2013" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  55. ↑ Lane, Daniel (January 1, 2014). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Artist Albums Of 2013". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  56. ↑ "2013 Year-End Charts – Billboard 200 Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  57. ↑ "2013 Year-End Charts – Soundtracks Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  58. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2013 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  59. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Various artists – Les Misérables: Highlights from the Motion Picture Soundtrack". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  60. ↑ "American album certifications – Soundtrack – Les Miserables". Recording Industry Association of America. February 1, 2013. Retrieved January 8, 2014. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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