Raül Refree's 'La Bola Negra' Score Arrives Oct. 16 via Lakeshore

Lakeshore Records will release the soundtrack to "La Bola Negra," with music by composer Raül Refree, on Oct. 16 — the same day the Netflix film opens in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles.

Refree, named one of Variety's 10 artisans to watch, wrote the score for the film directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the duo known as Los Javis. The cast includes Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas, Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close.

The title comes from an unfinished play by Federico García Lorca, and the story draws on his writings and legacy. It spans three generations of Spanish history:

• In 1932, Carlos (Quifes) longs to belong in a fractured Spain.
• In 1937, Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente) finds connection across enemy lines.
• In 2017, Alberto (González) uncovers a long-buried family secret that gives voice to truths the past tried to erase.

How does the score actually work?

Refree says he wanted a timeless, orchestral and avant-garde sound — an intense score that grows with the film and its protagonists as their stories unfold. His structural choice is the interesting part: he tied instrumentation to the characters rather than to the historical eras they inhabit.

"Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente) plays the trumpet, so his scenes rely heavily on the brass section," Refree says. "Carlos (Milo Quifes) plays the piano, so his music features the piano alongside the string section. Finally, Alberto's (González) story takes place in the present day, and because he is going through a personal crisis, his music relies much more on silence."

As the three protagonists' paths cross, the timbres and instrumental approaches begin to blend. Refree points to "Mira que nos acechan" as the cue where all the concepts come together, carrying the meaning that we are all one.

Two cues, two mechanisms

Variety premiered two tracks from the score exclusively. Each shows a different compositional strategy.

"En España Empieza a Amanecer" scores a hard-cut scene near the end of the film, in which prisoners are forced from their rooms, taken to their cells and later executed. "I wanted the music to have a strong impact, with the brass section playing severely loud, and in sharply cut clusters that intensify the shock of this unexpected turn of events," Refree says.

He describes the rest of the cue in precise mechanical terms: a rhythmic string pattern of loud, aggressive pizzicatos (plucked notes) evoking a procession of frightened prisoners and violent soldiers, with electronic sounds — "almost like a distorted form of tinnitus" — conveying the prisoners' disorientation after being abruptly woken. The final melody is a minuet Sebastián plays on the trumpet earlier in the film. "It is a childlike piece that, for me, becomes the central theme of the score – a reflection of the fear and fragility of the film's characters," Refree says.

"Enfermería" works differently. It was one of the first pieces Refree composed and remains one of his favourites. The scene marks the moment Sebastián first sees Rafael in a wartime military hospital. It opens with a relaxed, beautiful musical landscape led by the horns, with staccato trumpets adding what Refree calls "a touch of understated, almost casual heroism."

Then the music empties out. "The bass trombone gradually takes the lead, and the intensity builds as Sebastián becomes increasingly overwhelmed by the sight of this beautiful, and injured body," he says. As Sebastián's attention drifts toward intimate details — the bare armpit, the hollow at the base of Rafael's neck — the music grows wilder and more dissonant, tracing what Refree describes as an intense, almost concealed intimate desire Sebastián cannot control.

What does this change for viewers?

Theatrical bookings give the film a rollout before streaming: after opening Oct. 16 in New York and Los Angeles, it expands to additional theaters across the United States and Canada, with select venues screening it in 35mm. "La Bola Negra" then debuts on Netflix in the United States and Canada on Dec. 2 — meaning audiences who catch the theatrical run will hear those brass clusters and silence-heavy passages in the format Refree scored them for.