Extravagant sounds, intermediate noises, low pulsations and little music. These are some of the characteristics of The House of Sand’s soundtrack, composed by musicians Carlo Bartolini and João Barone.

“Andrucha wanted us to use music that did not sound like music. This took us down a new road,” says Bartolini. “It’s an atypical soundtrack. In fact it’s a climatic contribution to the film.”

There is only real music at two moments in the film. Jorge Mautner chose a repertoire of well-known songs of the time for the serenade in the scientists’ camp. For the last encounter of Áurea and Maria, Andrucha pointed to the Prelude Opus 28, #15, “The Raindrop”, by Chopin. The version presented is a brand new recording by Nelson Freire, made specially by the pianist for The House of Sand. The director explains why he did not use music, throughout the entire film, as an instrument for calling up emotions.

“Music is like a character missing from Áurea’s life. Confined for many years in that place, one of the things that she most missed was music. When Áurea finds the scientists’ camp, the music rescues all the feelings within her. At the end, it has a fundamental role in the story. It would be disloyal to the script to have music in this film.”

While Barone was in charge of experimenting with percussion instruments, Bartolini worked with synthesizers and samplers.

“I experimented using a violin bow on cymbals, which creates a sound similar to that of “whale calls.” I saw this in a show of the percussion orchestra of Strasbourg. I also used a rustic wood drum, used in old fugitive slave communities of the north of Brazil. These elements, together with synthesizers and samplers, blend with sound effects,” explains Barone.

The sound department of The House of Sand won a great ally. The American Mark Berger, four-time Oscar winner, is responsible for the sound mixing. Among his most important works in cinema are Apocalypse Now, Godfather II, Amadeus and The English Patient, besides Andrucha’s own Eu Tu Eles.