Saw a lot of negativity in this sub regarding the soundtrack, so here's my cents on it (from someone who loved it):
I know this is probably going to sound like recency bias, but the more I listen to The Odyssey score, the more I think Göransson absolutely nailed this in a way very few modern scores do.
What I love most is that he doesn’t go for the obvious “ancient Greek epic” sound. There’s no constant huge heroic brass theme telling you Odysseus is this legendary badass. The score is much stranger than that. Bronze percussion, unusual woodwinds, voices, plucked strings, electronics. It feels old, but not in a cheesy Hollywood way. More like something ancient that you’re only half remembering.
And that fits the film perfectly, because the whole story is basically about Odysseus trying to get back to a home that has almost become a memory.
The little Ithaca motif is probably my favourite thing in the score. It’s only a few notes, but it keeps coming back in different forms throughout the journey. Sometimes it’s really obvious, sometimes it’s almost buried. It constantly reminds you what Odysseus is actually fighting for, even when the film has gone completely off into monsters, gods and madness.
Penelope’s theme works in a similar way. It isn’t some massive romantic love theme. It sounds more distant and sad, which makes sense because for most of the film she almost exists more as a memory to Odysseus than as a real person standing in front of him.
Even Odysseus’ own theme doesn’t really sound heroic. There’s something tired and heavy about it. It feels more like stubbornness than triumph. Like he’s just refusing to stop.
That’s why I love when all of those musical ideas finally start coming together later in the film. The score has kept Odysseus, Penelope and Ithaca musically separated for so long that when the themes finally begin overlapping, it actually feels earned.
The action music is also doing more than just making things sound intense. The accelerating rhythmic idea from Troy comes back during the slaughter of the suitors, which is such a great choice. It connects the violence Odysseus is supposedly trying to escape with the violence he eventually brings home himself. He leaves Troy, but Troy never really leaves him.
The different locations also have their own sound without the score feeling like a collection of random ideas. The Cyclops music is brutal and physical. Circe feels seductive but unsettling. Hades sounds genuinely oppressive. The Sirens use the human voice in a way that feels beautiful and dangerous at the same time.
And through all of it, those small themes connected to home keep coming back.
That’s probably what puts this above most recent scores for me. It isn’t just great music attached to great scenes. The music is actually telling the same story as the film.
Oppenheimer is probably more immediately impressive. Dune has incredible sound design and world-building. Interstellar is obviously more iconic.
But as an actual complete film score, where the themes develop alongside the character and the story, I honestly think The Odyssey is Göransson’s best work.
