Warning: this contains some thoughts on the Interstellar soundtrack and the second part discusses major plot points throughout the movie. I can’t stress this enough – read up to the warning and come back when you’ve seen it!

Movie soundtracks as modern symphonies

As a suite of music designed to evoke a range of emotions and rhythms, original movie soundtracks may be the closest thing we have to a symphony. I know there are new classical compositions all the time, but I’m not sure they’re as well broadcast to such a wide range of people. Classical music is often seen as inaccessible, elitist and irrelevant, and I suppose given the complexity of sounds, the skill needed to read sheet music and play an instrument, it’s understandable why that view prevails.

A computer program used for music creation. This can be Garageband, Logic, etc. As long as realistic-sounding brass, winds, percussion, and strings (the non digital instruments) can be achieved, all is well. On a side note: MainStage is an expansion program for music generating programs that are Apple based. Hello all, I'm having issues getting my mic to work in garageband and could use some help. The mic is the Shure SM57 and I run it with the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. I'm not sure if the issue is the focusrite, my XLR Cable, the mic itself or the program.

It might have always been like this; I find it hard to imagine the circumstances where Handel’s Coronoation Anthems made it to the slums of London. But almost everyone can hum the James Bond themes, or the Star Wars Imperial March, even if they don’t recognise Carl Jenkins or Phillip Glass.

14.9k members in the GarageBand community. Since you guys seemed to like my previous imperial March song I decided to make this.
Starwars played on garage band.

A good soundtrack is an integral part of the film, like the set design, photography, acting and the story itself. A great movie soundtrack is one that can bring you back instantly to that moment you watched the film for the first time, where you feel the same empathy in that scene. I defy you to listen to Michael Giaccino’s “Married Life” from Up without tearing up. Or even something more fierce – I remember listening to “The Battle” from Gladiator whilst marching along a busy street and having to fight the urge to whirl my umbrella like a sword.

Imperial March Garageband

I have a fair few movie tracks in my playlists, John Williams’ “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars: Phantom Menace would be a good example. There are others in my playlists where I’ve not even seen the film, but the came to the track via the composer’s other works, say John Barry or Alexandre Desplat. Earlier this year I even bought the soundtrack for “Grand Budapest Hotel” before I’d seen the movie – the music in the trailer was that good.

Learning to appreciate the organ

Over the years this has led me to explore classical music a bit more, using the ability to “walk through” Spotify to find new music, including ancient music I didn’t know. I’d been getting into organ music this last year or so, partly via other composers like Bach and Mozart, but Neil Hannon’s organ oratorio “To Our Fathers In Distress” really sealed it.

I’ve been a big fan of the Divine Comedy for years, perhaps because of the stories within the songs, but also the complex melodies and use of classical instruments in pop songs. Super mario bros x download mac game. Coming from a similar background, there’s a kind of spiritual journey in his songs that match my own, so Hannon’s simple story about a typical Sunday growing up in a church family brought back a lot of memories. Presented with a selection of organ favourites it made me seek out more organ compositions.

It’s a fascinating instrument for a number of reasons, not least the way that it synthesises brass, strings and voice, acting as an analog ancestor of the Moog, Roland, or even Garageband. There’s a huge range, with big bass pipes designed to operate below human hearing and vibrate the listeners in their seats all the way to gentle flutes and choral voices. And the sheer baroque beauty of the ornately arranged great organs, the most complicated human device for a good 600 or so years, until the invention of the telephone exchange. When you’re there listening you can sometimes here the mechanisms that drive the sound, the air wooshing through; it’s a huge living, breathing creature with a unique history and personality.

Interstellar

All of this had me primed for Interstellar (which I reviewed here), in which the organ plays a significant role. The track notes for the soundtrack CD have been posted online, and they describe a fascinating back story, with as much meaning and creativity as you might expect from Nolan and Zimmer. Trying to move away from the sharp brass and strings that had almost become a cliche, Nolan suggested the Organ, which rekindled some childhood memories for Zimmer. He created the music on a synthesised organ (i.e. samples from real great organs), then realised it needed a bit more weight. So they fitted out Temple Church in London with recording equipment, squeezed in an orchestra and a choir, and had the virtuoso organist Roger Sayer play the organ parts.

Roger Sayer, organist from Temple Church. This guy is the Jimi Hendrix of the organ.

HERE BE SPOILERS

I’m now going to talk about the soundtrack to Interstellar, and refer to the scenes in detail. You’ve been warned!

I’m still listening to this regularly, and have found it an excellent accompaniment to a 10k run. The urgency of several of the tracks really drives you, especially Coward – challenging to you keep breathing and pushing through *just* when you need that energy at about 55 minutes. Harry potter all parts download. Other more peaceful tracks allow you time to recover and enjoy the passing scenery, listening to your own breath and footsteps.

I’m not musical, but I will do my best to describe the lietmotifs and phrases as I’ve experienced them. I think there are two main 5 note lietmotifs: Love and Fear, I suppose. Both of these appear in the opening track “Dreaming about the crash”.

Love is “F Bb A G A”, Fear is a minor (?) version of this, becoming “F Bb Ab G Ab”. Sometimes these are played with one transitioning into another, as in “Stay”,where Cooper has to leave Murph wihout being able to say goodbye properly. Then the opposite in “Detach”, where Cooper’s fear and depair suddenly changes to hope and love, and subsequently a brand new, glorious phrase which isn’t anywhere else.

“Cornfield Chase” brings the third lietmotif, one I’d call motivation. It seems to be A E A E B E B E C E C E D E D E. I think the organ plays this, support by the strings, and then the piano variation, perhaps representing the drone flying aimlessly. As it’s hacked it’s taken over by the organ variations, ending abruptly as it lands. This motivation theme comes back later.
“Dust” brings slightly different feeling, this arid dry earth, arid and ready to give up. I can’t recall the scene exactly, but the organs and reverb piano come in in the second half the track, and these also come back in later tracks.
“Day One” continues to merge these themes together but it’s “Stay” that really pulls out all the stops, starting with the simple Love, and then becoming the crushing Fear for both father and daughter as they separate, unreconciled. All the while, waves crash and wind blows in the background, whilst a single note seems to indicate the ranger, waiting for take off.
“Message from Home” is stark and lonely, a simple slow piano phrase that doesn’t , ending on an unfinished “Love”, or is it “Fear” – we don’t know, as the note lingers and fades out.
“The Wormhole” lacks any melodies, but evokes a clock ticking as they approach the point of no return. The organ rises to a crescendo and the echoes fade away into “Mountains”, which again has the ticking clock as they try to work out what’s happened and get back into orbit. As the realisation of danger hits them, the pace picks up and a warning blast comes from the organ. The drums rumble as the wave rises, and the choir shouts out what seems to be a warning to leave. It’s an incredible track, possibly inspired by Prokofiev’s “Midnight” from the Cinderella suite – the urgency of the ticking clock?
“Afraid of time” seems to evoke time passing whilst they discuss