Today, Sony Music announced the release of ON THE BASIS OF SEX (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) with music by Oscar®, Golden Globe and Emmy® Award-winning composer MYCHAEL DANNA, whose works include Life of Pi, Moneyball, 500 Days of Summer, Little Miss Sunshine and more. The soundtrack is available everywhere on December 14 via Sony Music Masterworks. Directed by Mimi Leder, from an original screenplay by Daniel Stiepleman, Participant Media’s On the Basis of Sex, in association with Alibaba Pictures and distributed by Focus Features, makes its theatrical debut on December 25.
Composer Mychael Danna describes the music as “a score based in two opposing factions: the old world of men, conservative thinking, and the slow-moving wheels of Government. Set against this is the indomitable team of Ruth and Marty, who embody the ideas and energy of the new reality of what America has become.” He continues: “The music I wrote for this new reality is exciting, stirring, full of life, direction and focus. It is an anthem for the great gift of the founding fathers to America: the ability and the right of the Country to change.”
On the Basis of Sex is inspired by the spirited true story that follows young lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she teams with her husband Marty to bring a groundbreaking case before the U.S. Court of Appeals and overturn a century of gender discrimination. The feature will premiere in 2018 in line with Justice Ginsburg’s 25th anniversary on the Supreme Court.
On the Basis of Sex stars Academy Award® nominee Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Armie Hammer as Marty Ginsburg, Ruth’s husband and legal partner. Rounding out the cast are Justin Theroux, Jack Reynor, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen Root, with Academy Award® nominee Sam Waterston and Oscar®-winner Kathy Bates. Robert Cort and Jonathan King are producing. Jeff Skoll, Daniel Stiepleman, Betsy Danbury and Karen Loop are executive producers.
Arriving alongside the score is MUSIC INSPIRED BY ON THE BASIS OF SEX: A NIGHT AT THE OPERA WITH RUTH BADER GINSBURG, an exclusive album of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s favorite musical moments throughout her life. Available on Sony Music Masterworks, the collection is a musical showcase of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s overwhelming love for the opera. The exclusive collection was hand-picked by her son, James Ginsburg, President of Cedille Records, a non-profit record label devoted to recording and promoting the finest classical musicians in and from the Chicago area.
“My ‘notorious’ mother has stated that the one career she would have preferred to law was that of a ‘grand opera diva,’ if she had the voice for it,” James Ginsburg comments. “Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for our Republic, her school music teacher early on labeled her ‘a sparrow, not a robin.’ But opera remains the one topic on which Mom speaks with as much passion as on the law, and virtually the only non-legal subject of dinner table conversations I can recall growing up. I remember my parents telling stories about their experiences at the old Metropolitan Opera House, such as the night baritone Leonard Warren died on stage in Verdi’s La forza del destino and the double-debut of soprano Leontyne Price and tenor Franco Corelli in Il trovatore.
“This collection celebrates my mother’s love of vocal music, especially opera, and its ability to transport her like nothing else. As Mom has said, ‘Most of the time, even when I go to sleep, I’m thinking about legal problems. But when I go to the opera, I’m just lost in it. Loving it. And I don’t think about any legal brief.’ The selections were inspired by Alex Ross’s May 14, 2012, article in The New Yorker, ‘My Favorite Records: Ruth Bader Ginsburg.’ From the recordings named there, I chose particular arias and scenes that I know Mom loves, capping the program with a selection written five years after that article appeared: the final song in composer/soprano Patrice Michaels’ song cycle, THE LONG VIEW: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs. Titled ‘Epilogue,’ it’s the one song in the group that’s written in Mom’s own personal voice plus a coloratura coda, fulfilling her operatic ambitions at last.
“I hope you enjoy listening to this collection as much as I enjoyed putting it together.”
ON THE BASIS OF SEX (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)
Artist: Mychael Danna
Release Date: December 14, 2018
1. A Harvard Man
2. The Times Have Already Changed
3. Mrs. Ginsburg
4. More Tests to Run
5. Never Giving Up
6. How Fortunate You Are to Be Here
7. Thank You, Mr. Green
8. Topple the System
9. Many Hats
10. 14th Amendment
11. Denver, Colorado
12. Her Heart
13. What a Horrifying Age
14. Your Life’s Work
15. Given the Natural Order of Things
16. We’ll See You in Court
17. And May It Please the Court
18. Go On, Professor Ginsburg
19. The Right of the Country to Change
20. 96 to 3
MUSIC INSPIRED BY ON THE BASIS OF SEX:
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA WITH RUTH BADER GINSBURG
Release Date: December 14, 2018
1. George Frideric Handel
Giulio Cesare in Egitto, “Da tempeste il legno infranto”
Beverly Sills soprano
New York City Opera Orchestra; Julius Rudel, conductor
2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Le nozze di Figaro, “Non più andrai”
Christian van Horn bass-bariton
MusicAeterna; Tedor Currentzis, conductor
3. Giuseppe Verdi Aida, “Se quel guerrier, celeste Aida”
Jussi Björling tenor
Rome Opera Orchestra; Jonel Perlea, conductor
4. Giuseppe Verdi Otello, “Inaffia l’ugola!”
Sherrill Milnes, bariton
National Philharmonic Orchestra; James Levin, conductor
5. Giacomo Puccini Tosca, “Vissi d’arte”
Evan Marton soprano
Hungarian State Orchestra; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
6. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Don Giovanni, “Là ci darem la mano
Teresa Berganza soprano; Ruggero Raimondi bass
Orchestra of The Theatre national de L’Opera; Lorin Maazel, conductor
7. Igor Stravinsky
The Rake’s Progress, “Here I stand – Since it is not by merit”
Eugene Conley tenor
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Igor Stravinsky, conductor
8. Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier,
“Hab’ mir’s gelobt” Christa Ludwig, Lucia Popp soprano; Gwyneth Jones mezzo-soprano
Vienna Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
9. Gian Carlo Menotti
The Medium, Monica’s Waltz
Patrice Michaels soprano
Ensemble of Chicago Opera Theater; Lawrence Rapchak, conductor
10. Johannes Brahms Sandmännchen
Angelika Kirchschlager mezzo-soprano; Helmut Deutsch, piano
11. Patrice Michaels
THE LONG VIEW: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs: IX. EPILOGUE: The Long View, Questions Answered
Patrice Michaels soprano; Kuang-Hao Huang, piano
