The Day The Earth Stood Still
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Late in 1993, entertainment-industry giant 20th Century Fox formed a new
record label, Fox Records, as a way to release classic soundtracks from 20th
Century Fox films. The first batch of CDs to come out of that endeavor
included this gem: Bernard Herrmann's eerie score to the 1951 film, "The Day
The Earth Stood Still." Herrmann is probably best known for his
collaborations with directors Orson Wells ("Citizen Kane", "The Magnificent
Ambersons") and Alfred Hitchcock ("Psycho", "North by Northwest", "Vertigo"),
but his work here for Robert Wise is equally strong. Herrmann believed that
there was no particular reason a film composer should have to stick to a
conventional orchestra. For "The Day The Earth Stood Still," he collected
together a truly strange ensemble, including four pianos, four harps, a whole
lot of brass, an electric violin, electric bass, and two high and low
theremins. The unearthly whine of the theremin, an early electronic
instrument, ensures that this music still sounds creepy today, four decades
after it was written. This score is perhaps the pinnacle of '50's sci-fi
music, and listening to it now is a great way to take a sonic trip back
through the Gernsback Continuum. Kudos to producer Nick Redman on a fine
release. Klaatu Barada Nikto!
Here is the Finale track. This is the last 30 seconds
of the album in 8-bit WAV format sampled at 11 KHz. It's about 300K. The
sound quality on the CD is much higher, but this'll give you some
idea of what this music sounds like.
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