Lakeshore Records will release The Good Doctor - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on September 25, 2012. The soundtrack features original score composed by Brian Byrne (Albert Nobbs). Hollywood Reporter described, "Brian Byrne's subtle score ranges from romantic to unsettling."
Golden Globe-nominated composer Brian Byrne was educated at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He graduated in 1997 with first-class honors in music and was awarded The Peter Knox Memorial Award for overall performance. Later that year he received the Outstanding Musicianship Award from Berklee College's touring faculty in Scotland as well as winning the PRS Sir Arthur Bliss Prize Scholarship for composition that enabled him to study film composition at London's Royal College of Music. He moved to Los Angeles from Ireland in July 2003 to expand his career as a film and television composer. Since then, Brian has consistently worked as a composer, conductor, songwriter, arranger and pianist in the US and in Europe.
From huge orchestral scores to minimal ensemble compositions, Brian has written music for films in many genres. He won the Irish Film and Television Award for his original score for the Irish Sci-Fi comedy Zonad, directed by John Carney. He then scored the films The Good Doctor and the Academy Award-nominated Albert Nobbs. Byrne's previous film work includes conducting and arranging the scores to Jim Sheridan's Oscar-nominated In America and Kristen Sheridan's drama, Disco Pigs.
2012 was a busy year for Brian. He was nominated for the Discovery of the Year World Soundtrack Award, as well as Best Original Song. Barbra Streisand's album was released featuring a song that Brian wrote, arranged and conducted with Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Additionally, Brian's classical album, Tales from the Walled City, was released on Decca Records. Brian has been commissioned to write the music to the new Riverdance sequel, Heartbeat of Home and he had the honor of writing a fanfare for Her Majesty the Queen's state visit to Ireland.
"This was perhaps the most difficult film that I have scored to date," said Byrne. He had to carefully navigate whether to approach the score as a dark comedy or to play it straight. Ultimately Byrne struck a balance between the two. "Once we hit that point it got a lot easier. It is quite apt then that the last piece of music we hear is the cheeky organ jazz piece. I always felt there was a hidden underlying comedic element to the film. The fine line that sometimes Hitchcock hit on."
Variety agreed. In their review of the film they described, "Pic's lushly romantic score and sea-swept panoramas contrast nicely with its mounting moral disconnect."
Martin Blake (Orlando Bloom) is an ambitious but anxious young doctor, eager to impress his superiors and colleagues: Chief Resident Waylans (Rob Morrow), self-assured fellow intern Dan (Troy Garity) and no-nonsense nurse Theresa (Taraji P. Henson). But things are not going Martin's way and he can't seem to shake off his insecurities. When 18-year-old patient Diane (Riley Keough) is admitted for a kidney infection, Martin steps in, getting the much-needed boost of self-esteem he craves. But things take a dark turn as his enthusiasm begins to become an obsession.
Byrne was influenced by the medical setting of The Good Doctor in his approach to the score. "I wanted to use the sound of a heart monitor as a percussive sound along with the live strings," he described. "I really liked this effect as it put the hospital into the score."
Magnolia Pictures presents The Good Doctor, currently available on demand and in theaters. The Good Doctor - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on Lakeshore Records will be available digitally on Septebmer 25, 2012.