Martin Scorsese is renowned for his masterful use of music in his films. His relationship with music is profound and complex, and he considers it a crucial element of cinematic narrative. In many of his films, music plays a role almost as important as the characters themselves. It can serve to underline the characters’ emotions, reinforce the film’s themes or evoke a particular era.
While Scorsese regularly collaborates with renowned composers to create memorable soundtracks, from Bernard Herrmann and Elmer Bernstein to Robbie Robertson and Howard Shore, what he enjoys most is incorporating existing pieces of music; “the soundtrack of his life”, as he puts it.