The Phoenician Scheme (Original Soundtrack)

The Phoenician Scheme (Original Soundtrack) (2025) blends Alexandre Desplat’s signature orchestral wit with classic compositions and jazz numbers to mirror Wes Anderson’s eclectic storytelling. Desplat riffs off Stravinsky’s The Firebird, using its theme as a foundational leitmotif woven through seven original cues. That core score is interwoven with classical staples—Stravinsky’s Apollo and Petrouchka, Bach chorale BWV147, Beethoven piano sonatas—and vintage jazz by Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, and Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq Sextet, crafting a soundscape that feels both timeless and whimsical  .

Desplat deliberately threads his melodies through these non-diegetic pieces, stepping in and out to enhance scenes without overshadowing the diegetic music played by station radios or live bands in the film’s 1950s-inspired setting  . He employed minimal instrumentation—banjo, mandolin, glockenspiel, recorders—recalling his work on Fantastic Mr. Fox, to give each scene a colorful, character-driven tone