The just released ABKCO soundtrack album to Wes Anderson's critically acclaimed film Moonrise Kingdom debuted at #2 on Billboard magazine's Traditional Classical Albums Chart and at #4 on Billboard's Classical Albums Chart.
Since its debut last week on Billboard's Traditional Classical Albums chart at #2, the album is now #1 on that chart.
It's also risen to #2 on the overall Classical Albums chart, just behind Yo-Yo Ma's The Goat Rodeo Sessions.
The film is making chart news of another kind at the box office. Its opening broke the record for the highest weekend per-theater average of any live-action film, setting a new high of a $130,750 average at its 4 U.S. theaters.
It is somewhat unusual for a soundtrack album to appear on the classical charts but Billboard determined that the Moonrise set qualified on several counts. The film's narrative is propelled by a performance of Benjamin Britten's elegiac choral piece "Noyes Fludde" and a majority of the album's content consists of traditional classical repertoire. These include selections performed by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, some from the famed Young Person's Guide To the Orchestra series.
Apart from the classical elements heard on the album and in the film, the Moonrise Kingdom soundtrack also includes songs by Hank Williams and French chanteuse Françoise Hardy.
Alexandre Desplat's evocative score and percussion compositions by longtime Anderson collaborator and Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh also play major roles in the film and on the album.
Moonrise Kingdom on Focus Features
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