The Avengers (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is thefilm score for theMarvel Studios filmThe Avengers composed and conducted byAlan Silvestri. It was released byHollywood Records on May 1, 2012. A separate soundtrack andconcept album, titledAvengers Assemble (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture), by various artists was also released on the same date.[1]
In November 2011, Marvel announced thatAlan Silvestri, whoscoredCaptain America: The First Avenger, would write and compose the score forThe Avengers (making him the first composer to score more than one movie in theMarvel Cinematic Universe). Silvestri stated, "This is actually a very unique experience [for me]. I've worked on films where there have been a number of stars and certainly worked on films where there have been characters of equal weight in terms of their level of importance and profile in the film, but this one is somewhat extreme in that regard because each of these characters has their own world and it's a very different situation. It's very challenging to look for a way to give everyone the weight and consideration they need, but at the same time the film is really about the coming together of these characters, which implies that there is this entity called the Avengers, which really has to be representative of all of them together."[2] Silvestri recorded the score atAbbey Road Studios in London, England.[3]Avengers directorJoss Whedon described the score as "old school", saying "the score is very old-fashioned, which is why [Silvestri] was letter perfect for this movie because he can give you the heightened emotion, the [Hans Zimmer] school of 'I'm just feeling a lot right now!' but he can also be extraordinarily cue and character specific, which I love."[3] Silvestri reprises his themes fromCaptain America: The First Avenger, and introduced new ones - including the theme for Black Widow, which is "a lonely, plucked theme with an Eastern European flavor to define this character".[4] The score album was released on May 1, 2012.[5]
Simultaneously with the digital release, the album was physically released byHollywood Records, Marvel Music, andIntrada Records.[6] Several tracks on this release are longer than on the digital album and there is one additional track, "Interrogation".
In March 2012, Americanalternative rock bandSoundgarden announced through their officialFacebook page that they had written a song to be included on the film's soundtrack, entitled "Live to Rise".[7] The song was released on April 17, 2012, as a freedigital download during its first week of availability in theiTunes Store.[8] Additionally, Indian rock bandAgnee released a music video for their single "Hello Andheron", which served as the theme song for the Indian release of the film.[9] The following day, Marvel released the album's full track listing, which was released byHollywood Records on May 1, 2012.[5] A cover ofAC/DC's song "Shoot to Thrill", performed byTheory of a Deadman, was originally to be included on the album, but was removed for unknown reasons.
