The main challenge that composer (and cellist) Hildur Guðnadóttir faced in writing the soundtrack for Chernobyl was musically recreating the 1986 nuclear disaster (the subject of the five-part HBO mini-series). How does one find a sound for such a destructive force that is both invisible and silent? Instead of using the tragic or threatening strings which are often employed in this kind of story, the Icelandic composer (who also wrote the soundtrack for Joker) crafted a unique texture which is both enchanting and incredibly unnerving. The musician spent an entire day in a Lithuanian nuclear power plant so as to listen to and record the sounds of the site and its surroundings. Turbines, pumps and Geiger counters (which were of course reworked in the studio) form the basis for the series’ score. Chernobyl’s soundtrack hardly features any “traditional” instruments, apart from Hildur Guðnadóttir’s own voice on some of the pieces (Clean Up, Líður), as well as the Homin Lviv Municipal Choir on Vichnaya Pamyat, which adds a small dose of humanity and hope to the grey, anxiety-inducing soundscape. Guðnadóttir’s aim was to make you almost feel the radioactivity and, in the case of Chernobyl, its harmful consequences. Having succeeded in doing just that, it’s no wonder she won an Emmy Award at the Creative Arts Emmys 2019. © Nicolas Magenham/Qobuz