Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Official Soundtrack is arriving December 8. In the “Behind the Music” video below, Music Supervisor at Ubisoft Music Simon Landry and Massive Entertainment’s Audio Director Alex Riviere explain how the 49-track-strong soundtrack came to be.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Official Soundtrack is scored by Emmy-nominated composer Pinar Toprak (Captain Marvel). “My goal is to create a score that resonates with people’s hearts and minds, that will stay with them,” Toprak explains. “It’s such a stunningly told, beautiful story, I want to make sure that the audience is engaged in that. The music has a part in that storytelling.”
Riviere continues: “Music direction wise, the goal was first and foremost to stay true to the foundations of James Horner’s original Avatar soundtrack and then expand on it”. Landry adds “Pinar really understood the Avatar DNA and what makes the Avatar music so memorable and iconic.”
As Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s Western Frontier is made up of vastly different regions with distinct clans and biomes, Toprak made sure her score reflected the tone of each one through unique musical themes. Riviere explains: “Our goal has been to create an interactive and seamless experience, and to enable an emotional bond to the world and its characters through the soundtrack and its themes, which evolve depending on where you are and what you do in the game”.
There’s also the overarching theme of becoming Na’vi, which is reflected in the score through the growing use of woodwinds, percussions, and a Bulgarian choir.
“The music of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is truly unique,” says Landry. “We have succeeded in blurring the frontiers between videogame and cinematic experience. I really