In a recent post at his Youtube channel, Everything Music, Rick Beato analyzes the title theme from the hit television series, Severance, composed by Theodore Shapiro.
Built on modal harmony, the theme is at once haunting, hypnotic, satisfying, and unsettling. Developing from a small fragment, its tension-filled melodic line is filled with wrenching, exotic intervals. Shapiro drew subtle inspiration from David Shire’s theme for the 1974 film noir thriller, The Conversation, which similarly features the piano.
Directed by Ben Stiller, the science fiction psychological thriller series Severance centers around employees of a biotechnology company who have undergone a medical procedure which causes them to lose all memories of the outside world while at work, and all memories of work while on the outside.
Shapiro, who studied at Juilliard with John Corigliano, grew up listening to “a healthy mix of Debussy and the Beatles” in a home where music was “part of the ambient ethos.” He commonly begins writing music for cinema or television before filming has commenced. Developing through variations, the music becomes integrally ingrained in the drama. It is rooted in the sound world of electronic music.
Here is the opening theme of Severance:
Tree of Life
Tree Of Life, another excerpt from the soundtrack, moves into gradually developing ambient territory reminiscent of the early works of John Adams. For example, listen to Adams’ equally ambient 1979 orchestral work, Common Tones in Simple Time.
Recordings
- Shapiro: Severance (Original Series Soundtrack) Amazon
Featured Image: composer Theodore Shapiro