Jóhannsson: A Prayer To The Dynamo / Suites from Sicario & The Theory of Everything

Jóhann Jóhannsson—who died, far too young, in 2018—is best known for his atmospheric movie scores, and this album contains suites drawn from two of them, both Oscar-nominated. Jóhannsson was a master at blending the sounds of a traditional orchestra with electronics, a skill that’s displayed here. The suite from the 2014 Stephen Hawking biopic, The Theory of Everything, has a touching humanity that the composer evokes with apparent simplicity. In his ambitious 2012 orchestral work A Prayer To The Dynamo, inspired by his interest in technology and by the writings of historian Henry Adams, Jóhannsson blends recordings of electrical installations and generators that he had made at Iceland’s Elliðaár Power Station with the “analogue” world of an orchestra. It’s a hugely powerful creation. The suite from the dark 2015 movie, Sicario, is appropriately disturbing and stunningly performed.