Interstellar Full Score

[Santi Dubrova]

InterstellarOriginal Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album composed by Hans Zimmer for the 2014 film Interstellar by Christopher Nolan. The soundtrack garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score[1] and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.[2]

In one night, Zimmer wrote a four-minute piano and organ piece that represented his idea of fatherhood. When he played it for Nolan, Nolan was pleased and explained the full plot and concept of the film, though it had not yet been written.[11] Zimmer was originally skeptical, noting that he had written a "tiny, tiny little fragile" piece while Nolan had described an intense, epic space film. However, Nolan reassured Zimmer that the piano piece provided "the heart" of the film.[7][8][9] The piece can be heard at the conclusion of the film.[12]

For the film's signature organ, Zimmer specifically requested that organist Roger Sayer, the music director of Temple Church in London, play the church's 1926 four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ.[13][14][15] The physical appearance of organ reminded Zimmer of spaceship afterburners, while the airiness of its sound evoked the reminder that every breath is precious for an astronaut.[16] The rest of the ensemble consisted of 34 strings, 24 woodwinds, four pianos, and a mixed choir of 60 voices.[12][16] The soundtrack was recorded at both Temple Church and AIR Lyndhurst Hall in late spring 2014.[17][18]

We wanted people to really hear it for the first time with the movie on really big speakers in a theater... I just didn't want people to go and hear everything on tiny little speakers on their Mac or something like this. I wanted them to go and have the visceral experience of being pinned in their seats.

The score received critical acclaim. Reviewing for BBC News, Nicholas Barber felt, "Hans Zimmer's music makes the film seem even more colossal than it would otherwise: Zimmer invokes the original meaning of 'pulls out all the stops', rattling our teeth with reverberating pipe-organ chords."[32] Scott Foundas, a chief film critic at Variety, stated, "Hans Zimmer contributes one of his most richly imagined and inventive scores, which ranges from a gentle electronic keyboard melody to brassy, Strauss-ian crescendos.[33]

Tim Robey of The Telegraph felt "With the vast sounds of a composer set loose on his grandest ever assignment. But it relies less on Straussian majesty la 2001 than something rather more pointed: the hypnotic, metronomically surging, and oddly sacred homage Zimmer gives us to Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass."[34] Todd McCarthy, reviewing for The Hollywood Reporter, praised it as, "soaring, sometimes domineering and unconventionally orchestrated wall-of-sound score"[35] For The Globe and Mail, Liam Lacey stated, "Throughout, Hans Zimmer's music throbs obtrusively, occasionally fighting with the dialogue for our attention."[36] "As usual, Nolan's frequent collaborator Hans Zimmer has come up with a score that fits the impossible dimensions of the film, and the music adds tremendously to the excitement", said critic Rene Rodriguez, writing for The Miami Herald.[37] Steven Biscotti of Soundtrack.net too praised the soundtrack stating, "Hans Zimmer has created a close to perfect musical canvas for those extremely dedicated to the audio experience. The compositional technique on the album may turn off a few, as it is different than Zimmer's recent offerings. However, for those that stick with the album, they will see it 'not go gentle into that good night.' Zimmer's Interstellar rages!" and awarded a perfect five out of five stars.[29]

Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK acclaimed the album, stating, "The orchestration choices, especially the stripped down ensemble and the use of the pipe organ, shows a composer not afraid to think outside the box, and find unique solutions to the musical problems his film presents, and the emotional content of the score is high, but not overwhelming", and summarised with, "It's an absolute lock for an Oscar nomination, and is one of the best scores of 2014."[23]

I had pretty much given up on finding something to help me illustrate the beauty, and challenges, of competitive free diving. That changed, however, when I came across a posting from a group of tactical military divers. In a short 3-minute video the young French diver Arnaud Jerald set his personal free diving (CWT, Constant Weight Dive discipline) record of 92 meters in a competition in Turkey. He placed third in a field which included world record holders in the same event.

Three things made the diving video great, in my opinion: 1) the subject matter which vividly shows a human activity little known by most people, and understood by even fewer; 2) steady and clear video produced by a new underwater camera, the Diveye, and 3) the accompanying music.

A film score is only successful if it aids the audience in generating an emotional response to a movie scene. In that respect, a great movie hinges not only on good acting and script, but on an almost telepathic connection between the film director/producer and music director/composer.

Indeed, when I gave the presentation, the video clip seemed to have the effect on the audience that I was looking for. But afterwards, I was relieved that no one had asked me where that music came from. I had no idea.

Perhaps the full music was present in the original version of the movie, and perhaps some fancy mixing in the sound room deleted it. If so, too bad. But I must admit, the quiet musical nuances would have been missed during the cacophonous sound of a 4000 foot tall tidal wave sweeping upon a tiny spacecraft. There was lots of shouting and screaming.

As for my opinion that Hans Zimmer might be annoyed, well, I suggest you watch the portion of the full movie where the Mountain track rises to prominence. That is the part where the tidal wave, initially mistaken as mountains, appears on the horizon of the first planet the Horizon space craft landed on outside of our galaxy.

As exciting as the action was, and as wonderfully crafted the dialog and acting, it obscured the finer points of the music. Fortunately, the free diving video, coming as it does with no dialog at all, puts the music in the perspective that I, at least, can completely enjoy.

I find it fitting that in both videos, the incredibly powerful music was used to showcase humans extending themselves to their absolute limits. Of course, one of those stories is fictional, and the other is real.

Considering Zimmer has more than 100 soundtrack and film scores under his belt since the early 1980s, there is plenty of room for debate about his best work. The Lion King, Inception, The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Gladiator are among his most notable compositions.

No one can quite polarise the mass audience and critics the way Christopher Nolan does now on a regular basis. Ever since this independent filmmaker reached a worldwide audience with his Batman trilogy, the endless debate over his ability as a director spawned so much discussion that one grows a tad sick of it as this point. To think that this quiet and soft-spoken gentleman, out of all people, would spark such a debate is quite strange. Interstellar, his last film, was no exception. In fact, one might say it took this craziness to the next level.

Hans Zimmer, now a regular Nolan collaborator, developed quite a unique and intimate way of working on those films. Instead of approaching them as normal projects, he often develops his idas in conjunction to filming. This allows for an easy integration of music and picture where the aural sphere is an integral element of shaping the bigger picture, instead of just one barely audible elements buried deep within the mix (as it happens very often these days). This collaboration became so crucial and prominent that the score would sometimes take over the film. Such was the case with Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. And it certainly also happens here.

Although light on synthesizers for the most part, Zimmer is known for either a) creating instruments for a score, or b) using an instrument rarely used in film scores. In this instance, he chose to do the latter, using a four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ as the primary instrument for much of the score. This, combined with the strange combination of 34 strings, 24 woodwinds, and 60 choir singers, made for a film score unlike any other.

In typical Hans Zimmer fashion, in each of his modern scores he tends to focus on a specific element. When I say element I mean a culmination of instruments or a certain sound. Akin to Man of Steel (multiple drummers and slide guitars), this time Zimmer seems to have focused on this great church organ at Temple Church in London. Played brilliantly by Roger Sayer.

When I first heard this organ, I was slightly taken aback. I had expected this expression of time and space on an epic proportion. Rumbling basses, low frequencies and intricate melodies to complement too, even more so from a Nolan-Zimmer collaboration on a science fiction blockbuster.

Little did I expect this religious, human effort, it kind of, grounded me to reality. The organ, for me, signified that this film, although being a sci-fi epic, was not going to be about space. It was going to be about love, emotion, families, legacy.

Now as I write this I must remind you that prior to watching Interstellar I had very much stayed away from the web interviews. All I knew is that it was a film about going into space because the earth was pretty much screwed. Oh, and Matthew McConaughey.

For nobodies benefit but my own, I wanted to stray away from the Nolan/Zimmer fanboy-isms that I had over the Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception and Man of Steel and watch the film as unbiased as possible.

Born Hans Florian Zimmer, in Frankfurt am Main, on 12 September 1957, this musical polymath has composed music for over 150 films, the latest of which is possibly his most startling to date. His tumultuous score for Blade Runner 2049 is a sustained piece of work every bit as riveting as the film itself and, like all his best endeavors, complements the action.

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