Guillaume Roussel - Black Beauty (Original Soundtrack) (2020)

The good news for Guillaume Roussel: this spring he fulfilled a lifelong dream by working with the London Symphony Orchestra. The bad news: he had to supervise the Black Beauty recording sessions from his garage in Los Angeles due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. “It was just after lockdown, so the big frustration came because I was not able to fly to London for the sessions,” says Roussel. “Fortunately, my good friend Gavin Greenaway conducted and did a great job.”

Roussel used new technology to make the music for a resolutely old-fashioned movie. Based, like five previous films, on Anna Sewell’s 1877 novel, this Black Beauty casts newcomer Mackenzie Foy as lonely teenager Jo, who befriends a wild mustang (voiced by Kate Winslet) through thick and thin. Written, directed, and edited by real-life horse lover Ashley Avis, Black Beauty streams on Disney + starting Friday, November 27.

Geared toward young viewers, Black Beauty required a gentle touch from Roussel, who came to the project well-schooled in musical subtlety. A classically trained child prodigy pianist, he wrote concert pieces in his native France and orchestrated arrangements for Marion Cottilard’s Edith Piaf performances in La Vie En Rose. After meeting Hans Zimmer in 2010, Roussel moved west and joined the Oscar-winning composer’s team at the Remote Control complex in Santa Monica. There, Roussel started out by contributing additional music to tent pole pictures like Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Over the past few years, he’s scored some half a dozen Hollywood movies under his own name.

Tracklist:
01. Guillaume Roussel - As the Dawn Rises (01:20)
02. Guillaume Roussel - Beauty's World (03:10)
03. Guillaume Roussel - The Creature They Called Man (02:33)
04. Guillaume Roussel - Journey to Birtwick (02:31)
05. Guillaume Roussel - A New Family (03:04)
06. Guillaume Roussel - Jo's Melody (01:14)
07. Guillaume Roussel - Black Beauty (05:13)
08. Guillaume Roussel - Bed in the Stars (02:39)
09. Guillaume Roussel - Partner a Horse (05:09)
10. Guillaume Roussel - We Were One (03:37)
11. Guillaume Roussel - The Fire (02:36)
12. Guillaume Roussel - Romance in the Air (03:46)
13. Guillaume Roussel - Earlshall (03:27)
14. Guillaume Roussel - Not Our World (01:57)
15. Guillaume Roussel - Lake Date (03:26)
16. Guillaume Roussel - The Race (01:05)
17. Guillaume Roussel - Jo's Promise (04:41)
18. Guillaume Roussel - Racing the River (01:52)
19. Guillaume Roussel - A Brave Horse (03:05)
20. Guillaume Roussel - I Dreamt of Jo (02:15)
21. Guillaume Roussel - The City (03:09)
22. Guillaume Roussel - Farewell, Ginger (02:38)
23. Guillaume Roussel - Heartbreak of a Fallen Horse (02:23)
24. Guillaume Roussel - A Mustang's Spirit (06:15)