Silence (soundtrack)

Did You Know?

• Paramount Pictures shared a promotional release of the Kluges' score on November 30, 2016 as part of their For Your Consideration campaign for the 2016–17 film awards season.
• The promotional score featured only 13 cues with a duration of less than twenty minutes.
• The film's score was ruled ineligible for the Best Original Score category at the 89th Academy Awards because only 20 minutes of music was composed for the film, which the Academy did not find substantial enough.

Development

Howard Shore was initially reported to score the film in November 2014 due to his collaborations with Scorsese, but he was not involved. The film was eventually scored by Kim Allen Kluge, former music director of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and his wife Kathryn Kluge. During their first meeting with Scorsese, the duo recalled that he wanted to explore a sound world he had never explored before. They read the source novel by Shūsaku Endō while the film was in rough cut, and Kathryn stated that the music should grow as the mist, rocks, ocean, wind, and rain.

Reflecting the characters' past, they created new Shinto music with nocturnes and ambient noises of wind, rain, waves, and cicadas, interwoven with biwa and viola da gamba, along with bells, taiko drums, and chorus. Specific period music including hymns, chants, and orchestral sounds was juxtaposed with the score to link spiritual and physical worlds.

Critical reception

Critics noted the minimal use of music. Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com described the soundtrack as filled with sounds of wood burning, waves crashing, wind, moans of pain, screams, and bones breaking. Mark Kermode of The Guardian wrote that what little music there is remains as distant as the voice of God. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called it a subdued, minimalist score, and Winston Cook-Wilson of Spin described it as an unusual and inspired effort.