You'll Applaud 'Mozart In The Jungle's Music

Everyone's favorite classical music dramedy with a twist is coming back for its second movement. Mozart in the Jungle returns to Amazon for Season 2 on Dec. 30 with more of Rodrigo's (Gael Garcia Bernal) antics, Hailey's (Lola Kirke) uncertainty yet enduring optimism, and, of course, a whole new score of songs you won't soon be able to get out of your head. Since Mozart in the Jungle is a show that features music as a character in and of itself, the best way to get ready for Season 2 of the Amazon Original Series is to listen to Season 1's tunes. Unfortunately, where to get the Mozart in the Jungle soundtrack is easier said than done.

That's because no official soundtrack for Mozart in the Jungle has been released as of yet, neither for Season 1 nor Season 2 of the show. That's a shame because Mozart in the Jungle has really helped bring some of the most important pieces of classical music of all time back into the forefront of popular culture. The series has also turned contemporary hits into symphonic masterpieces that you may even prefer over their original versions.

Even though Mozart in the Jungle features music made hundreds of years ago, we now live in the 21st century, a time when we don't need anyone to create and sell a neatly packaged soundtrack for us to listen to all of the pieces that helped bring the show to life. You can seek out all or at least the majority of the music featured in Season 1 of Mozart in the Jungle on your own.

TuneFind lists all of the songs featured in each episode of the series, which you can then find yourself on your music platform of choice. If you don't feel like putting in that much effort, you can also find playlists of music featured in Mozart in the Jungle on Amazon or Spotify for your listening pleasure.

However you end up tracking down the music featured in Mozart in the Jungle, you won't be sorry you did. Yes, one of the central questions at the heart of Mozart in the Jungle is whether or not classical music is dead, but I think the music featured on Mozart in the Jungle still strikes a chord (pun most definitely intended) with people today. Classical music is all about passion, drama, and telling a story through the power of music alone, all of which are things that people still look for in their art and entertainment. For instance, you can't help but feel a wide range of emotions — from serenity to exuberance — when Rodrigo has the New York Symphony play Gustav Mahler's Symphony No.8 ("Symphony of a Thousand") at the last minute in Season 1, the finale of which you can see a real-life symphony and chorus perform in the video below.

But, of course, at the center of Mozart in the Jungle is this whole idea of tradition clashing with modernity, something that humanity has struggled with since basically the beginning of time. So even though you'll get your fill of classical music from the show, it's often presented in a more contemporary way, such as when Rodrigo conducted the New York Symphony's performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" in an alleyway of one of the city's neighborhoods, which you've probably seen in many of Mozart in the Jungle's promo videos, such as the Season 1 trailer below.

I always love it when symphonies perform covers of more recent classics, and Mozart in the Jungle also often puts an orchestral twist on pop songs. The series uses a symphonic cover of Phoenix's "Lisztomania" as its opening theme, a version that was also featured during the end credits of Episode 3 after Rodrigo asks Hailey to cut his long, curly mane off. Not only is this rendition so pleasing to my ear that it always seems to fill me with levity, its marriage of the old and the new along with the title of "Lisztomania," a term used to describe the hysteria among fans for composer Franz Liszt, is pretty much the musical embodiment of the character of Rodrigo.

I can only hope that Season 2 of Mozart in the Jungle will once again bring a slew of epic musical performances that will tempt me to give a standing O right in front of my computer.

Images: Amazon Studios; conversandocongustavo/Tumblr