The film marked Gregson-Williams' first collaboration with Hood and his maiden score for a superhero feature. In a 2008 interview with Christopher Coleman ofTracksounds.com, Gregson-Williams said that he met Hood during the63rd Golden Globe Awards in 2006, where they received their respective nominations:Best Original Score forThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) andBest Foreign Language Film forTsotsi, though not winning any. During their discussion at the dinner party held after the ceremony, they shared several discussions regarding music which led Hood attracted him to the project. He felt "delighted" when he received a call from Hood to collaborate for the film's music, which he agreed.[2]
In late March 2009, Jon Burlingame ofVariety was at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox to listen and report on the recording of the score.[3] Gregson-Williams conducted "a 78-piece orchestra and a 40-voice choir (20 male, 20 female)" to achieve the sound.[3] At the time of his visit, Burlingame noted that the choir was singing "stanzas from an ancient Norse poem in Old Icelandic" to underscore what would be first track, "Logan Through Time."[3] Director Gavin Hood commented on Gregson-Williams' style, saying: "Harry's challenge is to give us operatic scale, but also keep it intimate and human. Harry's music has a kind of muscular confidence and strength that is very useful for the action, but he also has tremendous soul."[3] Hood also called the recording performance "frigging brilliant!"[3]
Business affairs (20th Century Fox) – Tom Cavanaugh
Executive in charge of music (20th Century Fox) – Robert Kraft
Orchestra
Performer – The Hollywood Studio Symphony
Orchestration – Ladd McIntosh
Conductor – Harry Gregson-Williams
Orchestra contractor – Peter Rotter, Sandy De Crescent
Concertmaster – Endre Granat
Instruments
Bass – Nico Abondolo (principal), Christian Kollgaard, David Parmeter, Drew Dembowski, Edward Meares, Oscar Hidalgo
Bassoon – Michael O'Donovan (principal), Kenneth Munday
Cello – Steve Erdody (principal), Antony Cooke, Armen Ksajikian, Christine Ermacoff, Dennis Karmazyn, George Kim Scholes, Jennifer Lee Kuhn, Martin Tillman, Paula Hochhalter, Stan Sharp, Trevor Handy
Clarinet – Stuart Clark (principal), Ralph Williams
Electric cello – Martin Tillman
Electric violin – Hugh Marsh
Flute – David Shostac, Geraldine Rotella, Heather Clark, James Walker
Harp – Jo Ann Turovsky
Horn – James Thatcher (principal), Brian O'Connor, Daniel Kelley, David Duke, Mark Adams, Richard Todd, Steven Becknell
Oboe – David Weiss (principal), Chris Bleth
Percussion – Alex Nesciosup-Acuña, Brian Kilgore, Michael Fisher
Processed trumpet – Michael White
Trombone – Alexander Iles (principal), William Reichenbach, Phillip Teele, William Booth
Trumpet – Malcolm McNab (principal), David Washburn, Jon Lewis
Tuba – Doug Tornquist
Viola – Brian Dembow (principal), Andrew Duckles, Cassandra Richburg, Darrin McCann, David Walther, Denyse Buffum, Keith Greene, Matthew Funes, Robert Brophy, Steven Gordon, Thomas Diener, Victoria Miskolczy
Violin – Julie Ann Gigante (principal), Aimee Kreston, Alan Grunfeld, Alyssa Park, Anatoly Rosinsky, Armen Anassian, Bruce Dukov, Caroline Campbell, Charlie Bisharat, Darius Campo, Dimitrie Leivici, Eric Hosler, Eun-Mee Ahn, Helen Nightengale, Irina Voloshina, Ishani Bhoola, Jacqueline Brand, Kenneth Yerke, Lorenz Gamma, Marc Sazer, Miwako Watanabe, Natalie Leggett, Nina Evtuhov, Phillip Levy, Rafael Rishik, Richard Altenbach,Roberto Cani, Sara Parkins, Sarah Thornblade, Searmi Park, Serena McKinney
Vocals
Alto – Aleta Braxton, Alice Kirwan-Murray, Amber Erwin, Amy Fogerson, Donna Medine, Drea Pressley, Edie Lehmann Boddicker, Kimberly Switzer, Michele Hemmings, Nancy Sulahian, Niké St. Clair
Bass and baritone – Ed Levy, Greg Davies, Gregg Geiger, Jim Campbell, Jules Green, Mark Beasom, Mark Edward Smith, Michael Geiger, Reid Bruton, Scott Graff, Vatsche Barsoumian
Tenor – Agostino Castagnola, Amick Byram, Chris Gambol, George Sterne, Gerald White, Jasper Randall, Jonathan Mack, Michael Lichtenauer, Sean McDermott, Shawn Kirchner, Steve Dunham
Thomas Glorieux ofMaintitles wrote "For rookies X-Men Origins: Wolverine will suffice, for die hard listeners it will not."[6] James Southall ofMovie Wave wrote "If you don’t pay much attention to the music and just let it drift into your consciousness when it becomes a bit more interesting, then there are some moments on the album which are worthy of consideration – unfortunately it tends to be a few moments here and there rather than any complete pieces."[7] While Kirk Honeycutt ofThe Hollywood Reporter felt Gregson-Williams' score "drives the movie faster and faster",[8]Collider's Steve Weintraub criticized it as "awful" and it "smothers every emotion with music that thinks you're too stupid to know what to feel".[9]
Filmtracks.com wrote "Gregson-Williams' score is the kind of formulaic application of music to a substandard superhero action film that will most likely be dismissed by those outside of his loyal collecting group. That's a fair response, though this score is better than many to grace similarly underachieving films of the era. Approach with low expectations and you might be rewarded."[10] Jonathan Broxton commented "although none of the previous X-Men scores were truly outstanding, Gregson-Williams has the chops to deliver something a less conservative and predictable than a modern hybrid score that never really develops much beyond being just ‘OK’."[11] Mark Morton ofAllMusic wrote "Gregson-Williams echoes the films' dramatic sequences with lush choir and orchestration, and accentuates the intense action scenes with suspenseful electronica."[12]
