David Buckley’s main title theme music for The Good Fight earned CBS All Access its first Emmy nomination last year. It lost to Stranger Things, but it should get another shot this year. The piece has drawn rave reviews from fans on YouTube. The harpsichord-like notes that open the piece, joined by violins, get things off to a very sincere Masterpiece Theatre-style start that is quickly turned on its head as cymbals crash and a rousing choir kicks in while vases, computers and telephones start blowing up.

Among the user comments on Abed Nadir’s YouTube page: “Monteverdi used this descending figure in many of his compositions — see Dixit Dominus from the Vespers of 1610 . David Buckley has adapted it and given it a modern twist. A clever fusion of C.17th and C.21st music.” Another observed that Buckley, who was also the composer for Michelle and David King’s The Good Wife, co-opted the theme from one of his episode scores from that earlier series: “It’s a revamped version of the background score used in The Good Wife, se06 ep 21, 39th min (when Alicia makes space in Zach’s bedroom for the door cum desk-top). Brilliant nevertheless.” On another thread a fan wrote “I cry listening to it.”

While The Good Wife title sequence was about seven seconds, The Good Fight is more like 50, Buckley explained to a German reporter at the Emmys, noting it gives the show “a musical identity, a branding that starts to settle in people’s minds. It’s amazing to have that space.” Buckley said he was apprised the title sequence would be build around the concept of explosions, “so I knew there would have to be an enormity to what I was doing. And I knew I had to — as I often do for this show — navigate between being comedic and serious. I couldn’t be jokey, but I had to let the audience know they were going to enjoy themselves.” The main title visuals are stunning, and CBS meticulously documented how the explosive sequence was captured.

According to his bio, the British-born Buckley‘s earliest adventure in film music was as a cathedral choirboy performing on Peter Gabriel’s score for Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. He went on to study at Cambridge University where he later taught. In 2006, Buckley moved to Los Angeles where he began working with Harry Gregson-Williams.

Buckley’s recent film scores include Paul Greengrass’ Jason Bourne, Shane Black’s The Nice Guys and Ben Affleck’s The Town.  He collaborated with Gregson-Williams on Shrek The Third, Flushed Away, The Number 23 and Gone Baby Gone. He has also written additional music for such films as Wonder Woman, Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed, Big Eyes, Winter’s Tale and American Hustle, and his music was featured in David O’Russell’s Joy.

Last year Buckley released the album Curiosity & Intrigue, which he described as “an orchestral journey through the weirdly wonderful, and mysteriously odd world of suburbia,” on West One Music.

Buckley is represented by Cool Music.