Music of Spirited Away

The music for Studio Ghibli's 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki, features a score composed by Joe Hisaishi and performed by the New Japan Philharmonic symphony orchestra. Hisashi received critical acclaim and numerous accolades for his work in the film. An original soundtrack that contains 20 tracks from the film score and one song was released in July 2001, whereas an image album that had five songs and five instrumentals, released three months before, in April 2001. Both of them were re-issued on a double disc vinyl LP in 2020.

Background
Originally, the opening track "One Summer's Day" was an instrumental theme. Later, Hisaishi added lyrics to those tunes, and named the new version of the song "The Name of Life" (いのちの名前) which was performed by Ayaka Hirahara. It was not featured in the album.

The closing song, "Always With Me" (いつも何度でも) was composed and performed by Youmi Kimura, with words by Wakako Kaku. The song was intended to be used for Rin the Chimney Painter (煙突描きのリン), an unproduced Miyazaki film.

Original soundtrack
Spirited Away Original Soundtrack (千と千尋の神隠し サウンドトラック) is the soundtrack to the film released on 11 July 2001 by Studio Ghibli Records and published by Tokuma Japan Communications. It featured 20 of Hisaishi's score from the film, and the end credits song "Always With Me". Ahead of the US release, Milan Records distributed the album on 10 September 2002.

Image album
Besides the original soundtrack, an image album titled Spirited Away Image Album (千と千尋の神隠し　イメージアルバム) accompanied the film's music. The 10-track album was released on 4 April 2001, three months before the film, by Studio Ghibli Records.

Reception
A review from Sputnikmusic rated 4.5 (out of 5) to the album opining that it "nearly as perfect as the film it accompanies". Clara V. Nguyen, staff writer at The Harvard Crimson, reviewing the soundtrack said that: "Joe Hisaishi's soundtrack has stood the test of time, and features memorable leitmotifs that pair with the film's themes of courage and friendship. Immediately recognizable to audiences all over the world, Hisaishi's musical signatures bring a sense of cohesion and familiarity to director Hayao Miyazaki's otherworldly vision by creating their own kind of magic." James Southall of Movie Wave wrote "Hisaishi's music has an eternal, child-like quality without actually being childish. It's like a wistful, sentimental, romantic portrait of childhood innocence - not of an adult's view of children, which is how most composers would have done it, but of a child's view of adults. Parts of it really do sound like they belong in a 1940s Max Steiner score. There are so many positives about the music and so much for Hisaishi to be applauded over that it seems a shame to point out the negatives, but there are some. For one thing, despite everything that is good about the composer's approach to the material, parts of it are just a little generic and the themes don't stick long in the memory. Also, some of the sequences which are dominated by (live) percussion aren't especially interesting and could maybe have been left off."

Filmtracks.com wrote "Hisaishi's output for the animated genre has created a unique voice in the realm of children's music that is difficult to compare to any other film music composer. His airy and whimsical tone and almost Golden Age-style of melodic grace make his music instantly recognizable, and Spirited Away is no exception. One of the primary reasons Spirited Away remains a popular score among Hisaishi collectors is precisely because of its embodiment of the composer's trademark animation sound." Calling the score as a "lush, sweeping aural adventure", he praised the theme "One Summer's Day" as "beautiful, the winding melody and its yearning quality a hallmark of Hisaishi's music, and of Studio Ghibli's films."

Personnel

 * Kazumi Inaki – A&R
 * Tomoko Okada – A&R
 * Joe Hisaishi – composer, arranger, producer, conductor, orchestrator, piano
 * Jodi Tack – design, layout
 * Laetitia Bellon – design, layout
 * Shohei Kaneko – vocal director
 * Hiroyuki Akita – assistant engineer
 * Shigeki Fujino – mastering engineer
 * Shinichi Tanaka – recording engineer (orchestra)
 * Masayoshi Okawa – recording engineer (score)
 * Christopher Kimball – executive producer
 * Emmanuel Chamboredon – executive producer
 * Keith Walner – executive producer
 * Wonder City Tokyo – artist management
 * Jun Nagao – orchestrator
 * Kazunori Miyake – orchestrator
 * New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra – performer
 * Masaki Sekijima – production manager
 * Soichiro Ito – production manager
 * Hiroshi Kuwabara – orchestra recording staff
 * Masaya Yasue – orchestra recording staff
 * Masamichi Ohashi – orchestra recording staff
 * Shinya Tanaka – orchestra recording staff
 * Hirokazu Fujita – orchestra recording staff
 * Suminobu Hamada – orchestra recording staff

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