David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet soundtrack – who wrote the music for the Netflix film?
2 October 2020, 16:28
Trailer for A Life On Our Planet starring David Attenborough
The music soundtracking Sir David Attenborough’s final plea to humanity, to wake up and save our natural world, had to be something extraordinary. Here’s all you need to know about Steven Price’s lush cinematic score for A Life on Our Planet.
Sir David Attenborough’s upcoming documentary film, David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, is a look-back on the defining moments of his lifetime as a naturalist.
But it’s also a warning – a time for the 93-year-old broadcaster to reflect, after visiting every corner of the globe and documenting all its living wonders, on the devastating changes he has seen.
In the trailer (watch above), Sir David warns: “The living world is a unique and spectacular marvel. Yet the way we humans live on Earth is sending it into a decline. Human beings have overrun the world.
“This film is my witness statement and vision of the future. The story of how we came to make this our greatest mistake, and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right.”
Produced by WWF and award-winning wildlife film-makers Silverback Films, David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet came out in cinemas on 28 September, and will be released around the world on Netflix on 4 October. But what do we know about the soundtrack, composed by Steven Price?
Read more: Steven Price on writing the music for Attenborough’s ‘Our Planet’ >
Who wrote the soundtrack for ‘David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet’?
When it came to scoring the footage of Mother Nature and all her wonders, who better to choose than the safe (well, Academy Award-winning) hands of Steven Price, the British composer behind Gravity and Netflix’s hugely successful Our Planet?
Price’s soundtrack, recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios in 2019, is a lush, cinematic score, featuring the voice of Sir David himself. It’s a balance of heroic music to soundtrack epic natural landscapes, and heavier, mournful moments to score the terrifying realities of humanity’s impact on nature.
On coming back for A Life on Our Planet, Price said: “To find the right musical tone for what Sir David refers to as his ‘witness statement’, a film that shows mankind’s impact on the natural world through the eyes of the man who has experienced so much and shared it with us all for so many years, was an exciting but nerve-wracking prospect.
“Everyone involved in the project is proud to have been a part of it and hope that it can be seen as far and wide as possible in spreading Sir David’s crucial message.”
Baby Blue | Our Planet OST
What else do I need to know about the soundtrack?
It’s all about the natural world: inside and out. The album itself is packaged in ecological material, made from algae and FSC fibres. Damaging algal blooms of the Venice lagoon have been reprocessed into a sustainable paper product.
You can find the whole tracklisting below – and if the above has persuaded you to have a listen, you can find it here on Amazon, or on Spotify, via Decca Records.
1. Mistakes
2. To Have Adventures
3. Evolution Undone
4. The Wild Is Finite
5. The Whole of Humanity
6. The Process of Extinctions
7. A Shared Conscience
8. Nothing To Stop Us
9. Life’s Talent For Change
10. An Unknown World
11. A Devastating Impact
12. A Place Beyond Imagination
13. My Witness Statement
14. Would Feel Guilty
15. We Must Rewild The World
16. A Greater Opportunity
17. Eternal Energies Of Nature
18. Within Our Power
19. More From Less
20. Saving Ourselves
21. With Or Without Us
22. Imagining the Future (feat. David Attenborough)
23. This Is My Witness Statement (feat. David Attenborough)
24. We Need To Rewild The World (feat. David Attenborough)
25. Imagining the Future (Instrumental)
