What is the sound of Money?

What are the instruments of Power? Which chord progression denotes Wealth or Status?

If you’re watching HBO on Sunday nights, you already have an idea. Let’s dive into the masterful score of your favorite show & mine: #SuccessionHBO

0/ Thread

1/ Succession combines dry, cutting humor with a biting critique of wealth and power, weaving a tale that is at once King Lear AND Arrested Development.

But even on this star-studded show, the score by Academy Award-nominated composer Nicholas Britell really shines through:

2/ The Emmy nom’d Main Theme layers classical composition over hip-hop beats. Listen for 808 drums, an out-of-tune piano, “distorted” baseline thru gritty strings, coming together in an unnerving union. Dark imperfections betraying a polished veneer

The isolated 808 Track below:

3/ Music theorist Stephanie Acevedo explains: the piano played in a high register adds a sense of urgency or tension.

The main melody’s minor-key is punctuated by dissonant chords. Some piano keys are even struck out of sync, producing the “messy” sound. https://time.com/5662975/succession-theme-song/

4/ This theme is the bedrock of Britell’s score. He draws on it for almost every other piece in the 26-piece album.

That’s most fascinating to me. The same core throughout the show w/ instrumentation retooled or tempo modified to fit emotions of the scene, setting, or character.

5/ Here’s a good example of that across the following 3 pieces, all in C Minor.

Adagio means to play slowly, calmly, and at ease, although this composition certainly doesn't make one feel 'at ease'

This is 'Adagio in C Minor'

6/ Keep the Adagio in mind as you listen to the next composition.

Andante is moderately slow or "walking" pace, around 72-108 bpm, compared to Adagio which sits around 60-70 bpm.

Next-up is 'Andante in C Minor'

7/ Last up is Allegro in C Minor

Fast, quickly, brightly - and you *really* feel that tension building to a peak, as the low ostinato (repetitive) strings, give way to the shrill, sustained high strings at 0m26s

8/ But it's not just the tempo that Britell plays with. Here are two fairly identical pieces, where he varies instrumentation while keeping melody, harmony, tempo alike.

The Piano & Cello variant makes for a rising/falling theme that is beautiful, but yearning and haunting.

9/ The Brass Quintet variation of the End Theme, on the other hand, really showcases what's been called Succession's “dark courtly elegance"

To me, it feels heraldic and triumphant, but in a pyrrhic victory kind of way.

10/ But it's not entirely 26 tracks off the same theme. You also get the kinda tracks you'd hear as interludes on Kanye’s later albums

Fun Fact: Alongside classical composing, Britell was in a hip-hop group called the 'Witness Protection Program' at Harvard, making his own beats

11/ Another track I enjoy is 'Bell and Pizzicato Fantasia'. If the main theme is the combination of majestically bowing strings, out-of-tune pianos, and huge hip-hop beats, this track is its bizzaro twin with minimalist xylophone and plucked strings (pizzicato)

12/ My favorite track was probably 'A Piacere' — meaning "at your pleasure"

Then I learned it's scored against Roman Roy piacere-ing himself on his window in S1. The name can’t be a coincidence, right?

13/ That's why this music works so well re: the surreal situations of the Roys

Britell said "There’s a tendency for composers to think "If the music has humor, maybe that’s funnier' But w/ Succession, it’s by being even more serious that absurdity reveals itself in its grandeur"

14/ Anyway, I could go on but I'll leave you to think about that for now. S1 tracks are all on Spotify and am excited super for the S2 OST to drop soon.

For now, please enjoy this @NicholasBritell masterpiece in full one more time. See you boars on the floor at 9PM sharp!

/END

15/ I didn't think the Main Theme could get any better until I saw this mashup. This is *chef's kiss* perfect @elliesunakawa

16/ The music of this show is the gift that keeps on giving! @HBO should renew for this fact alone

Bravo @adamcatino

17/ It just keeps getting better! New @PUSHA_T collab with @NicholasBritell on #SuccessionHBO theme!?

18/ I mean okay, they won't ALL be bangers... But fair warning, this one from @electrolemon is a real earworm

19/ This theme song is the new Benny Hill theme in that it works on basically ANY video. What's the science B?

h/t @UrsulaPerano @nocontextroyco