I'm not sure if all the Armstrong material from the CD will be on the download album, if the Peters material is in the film, or why it's only on the one album. I'm sure we'll find out closer to the release date.
Here's a more detailed description from Armstrong's website of the two albums that's still somewhat confusingly worded and really doesn't help explain the difference:
Snowden – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack · Music by Craig Armstrong and Adam Peters, is to be released by Deutsche Grammophon in September 2016 in parallel with the theatrical release of Snowden, the latest and much-anticipated blockbuster film from Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone.
Snowden features the complete scored music from the film – a total of 14 tracks, six by Craig Armstrong and seven by Adam Peters, both of whom are renowned for their compelling and evocative film scores. The 14th track is DJ and producer Boys Noize’s remix of Secret Downloading, a theme composed by Armstrong, variations of which appear thoughout the film. The album will be available on CD and as a digital download.
Deutsche Grammophon will also release a second, digital-only album, Snowden Orchestral Score by Craig Armstrong which extends the film’s music to include 25 orchestral tracks, all composed for the project by Craig Armstrong and recorded by the redoubtable London Sinfonietta and featuring remixes by long time collaborator Antye Greie (AGF).
I just re-read the release, which makes it sound like perhaps much of Armstrong's score was replaced, since it says the album with the music by the two composers is the "complete scored music for the film", while the longer album is described as "25 orchestral tracks, all composed for the project by Craig Armstrong ".
Now that both albums are available it's possible to compare the full tracklistings at Amazon.
Of the 7 Armstrong tracks on the CD, 5 are on the expanded 25-track download-only version. However the tracks "Secret Downloading (Boys Noize Remix 2)" and "Ed is on TV" are exclusive to the CD. This means that Armstrong fans will need to buy both albums to have all the available material from him.
I have the CD coming tomorrow from Amazon and will probably see the film tomorrow night, so I'll report back if there's any more info.
The Peters tracks, which dominate the film and are a mix of atmospheric electronic and synth mixed with occasional orchestral elements, seem to be rescore material, some of the Armstrong tracks on the download album are for the same scenes.
The few bits of Armstrong music remaining in the film appear to be those on the CD. The standout cues are "Snowden Moscow Variation", which plays over the final sequence, and "Happiness Montage", an earlier statement of the same rousing main theme, which has a tiny bit of DNA from the gorgeous "PM's Love Theme" from his epic LOVE ACTUALLY score. Luckily those two cues are on both the CD and the extended Armstrong download album.
The one film cue not on the download, "Ed Is On TV", is a nice, elegaic piece that starts with mostly brass and resolves with a swell of the full orchestra. I'm not sure why it was left off the download. I don't believe the other exclusive Armstrong track on the CD, the remix, was in the film, though I could be wrong.
The one film cue not on the download, "Ed Is On TV", is a nice, elegaic piece that starts with mostly brass and resolves with a swell of the full orchestra. I'm not sure why it was left off the download. I don't believe the other exclusive Armstrong track on the CD, the remix, was in the film, though I could be wrong.
So, is the 'Ed Is On TV' that's featured on the soundtrack (Peters/Armstrong) album not the same version as the one in the film?
The one film cue not on the download, "Ed Is On TV", is a nice, elegaic piece that starts with mostly brass and resolves with a swell of the full orchestra. I'm not sure why it was left off the download. I don't believe the other exclusive Armstrong track on the CD, the remix, was in the film, though I could be wrong.
So, is the 'Ed Is On TV' that's featured on the soundtrack (Peters/Armstrong) album not the same version as the one in the film?
I'm not sure, but it's only on the CD, which the press release says is "the complete scored music from the film" The press release pointedly does not claim that the expanded download is everything Armstrong recorded for the film, but I have no idea why that one cue wasn't included.
Great analysis! Just wanted to mention, based on what you wrote at the end about the confusion between the two albums, it seems pretty clear the digital release is all (or almost all) of the material that Armstrong recorded, while the soundtrack album includes only those cues of his that remained in the film, while the rest of it is rescored material from Peters, since some of the cues are for the same scenes as the Armstrong cues on the download. for example, the Armstrong cue "Snowden Escapes Hotel" is replaced with one of the Peters cues in the finished film (I can't remember which one).
I watched the film at the Odeon Leicester Square yesterday as part of the London Film Festival and really enjoyed it but I am a long term fan of Oliver Stone and this is ideal material for him. I wasn't too keen on the music samples initially but having seen the film I'm now really enjoying both albums and have combined them into a single 93 minute itunes playlist with duplicates deleted, which works really well. Adam Peters work seems to complement Armstrong's score nicely.
All this discussion about the film's music, and not one mention of the terrific, especially-composed Peter Gabriel track that closes the film, which - bewilderingly - isn't available on either of the official soundtrack presentations.
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