The Day The Earth Stood Still: 20th Century Fox Film Scores - The Classic Series [Soundtrack]

the day the earth stood still: 20th century fox film scores - the classic series [soundtrack]

On this CD:

The Day the Earth Stood Still, film score
Composed by Bernard Herrmann
Conducted by Lionel Newman, Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This is the movie that gave us the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto!" As befits the film that kicked off the Atomic Age's obsession with flying saucers and giant robots, Bernard Herrmann's score is the last word in 1950s sci-fi. Although many of its elements have become clichés over the years, the original has lost none of its power. Thanks to the many eerie, theremin-drenched passages, it's almost impossible to hear that instrument without thinking about guys in space suits. Other great moments: tinkling space pianos, ominous robot monster chords, and weird, plangent orchestrations. One of Herrmann's most visionary and influential scores. --Heidi MacDonald

The Day The Earth Stood Still: 20th Century Fox Film Scores - The Classic Series,Bernard Herrmann,Alfred Newman,Bernard Herrmann,Lionel Newman,Arista,Film,Film Music,Original Score,Pop,Soundtrack,Soundtracks & Film Scores

The Day The Earth Stood Still: 20th Century Fox Film Scores - The Classic Series [Soundtrack]

Average customer rating:

The First Great Score For A Science Fiction Film
Perfect and Unique Space Score
Did you know this was based on a true story?
A Break Through Score
Does the show complete justice

The Day The Earth Stood Still: 20th Century Fox Film Scores - The Classic Series

Manufacturer: Arista
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Day the Earth Stood Still (Score)
North By Northwest: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Art Of The Theremin
Kings Row (1979 Re-recording)
Bernard Herrmann: The Twilight Zone (Television Series Score Re-recording)

ASIN: B000005LBW
Release Date: 1993-11-09

Tracks:

Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare
Prelue/ Outer Space/ Radar
Danger
Klaatu
Gort/ The Visor/ The Telescope
Escape
Solar Diamonds
Arlington
Lincoln Memorial
Nocturne/ The Flashlight / The Robot / Space Control
The Elevator / Magnetic Pull / The Study / The Conference / The Jewelry Store
Panic
The Glowing / Alone / Gort's Rage / Nikto / The Captive / Terror
The Prison
Rebirth
Departure
Farewell
Finale

Amazon.com

This is the movie that gave us the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto!" As befits the film that kicked off the Atomic Age's obsession with flying saucers and giant robots, Bernard Herrmann's score is the last word in 1950s sci-fi. Although many of its elements have become clichés over the years, the original has lost none of its power. Thanks to the many eerie, theremin-drenched passages, it's almost impossible to hear that instrument without thinking about guys in space suits. Other great moments: tinkling space pianos, ominous robot monster chords, and weird, plangent orchestrations. One of Herrmann's most visionary and influential scores. --Heidi MacDonald

Customer Reviews:

The First Great Score For A Science Fiction Film.......2005-04-20

Although he had previously worked with Orson Wells and later became closely associated with Alfred Hitchcock, it was his score for the 1951 science-fiction film THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL that really put composer and conductor Bernard Herrmann on the Hollywood map.

With THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Hermann first creates an almost sub-sonic bedrock of slowly and smoothly rising brass suggestive of distance and then layers two more sounds above it. Rapid and sharply struck tones of various keyboards are evocative of both technology and speed--and the introduction of the theremin rising and falling above all dominates all with a tone that is, paradoxically, unearthly, uneasy, and yet somehow very smooth and unexpectedly calming.

With this basic sound occasionally punctuated by menacing jolts to herald the dangerous power of the mammoth robot Gort, Herrmann wrings a host of changes that are never less than aural delight. But memorable as it, he discards it almost completely for what two of the film's finest moments: "Arlington," in which the characters contemplate the graves of the war dead, and "Lincoln Memorial," in which they consider the words of the great president of the United States. These are simple phrases of music, clean, and yet insistent in their call for us to see the loss, to head the warning.

The 20th Century Fox CD release on Arista is very good indeed, the sound as clean as the day it was first recorded with Herrman (assisted by Lionel Newman and Alfred Newman) conducting. It is easy for a film score to add nothing to a film--it is equally easy, I think, for a film score to overpower a film. But it is a rare thing when the score not only works with the film but also stands alone as a thing of beauty in its own right. Few film composers have that gift, but Herrman was not only among them, he may well have been the most gifted of all. Strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer
In Memory of Bob Zeidler, Amazon Reviewer
Greatly Missed and Not Forgotten

Perfect and Unique Space Score.......2002-10-08

The appeal of certain 1950s sci-fi movies stays with you strangely through the years, and you eventually come to realise it wasn't so much the movies that captivated you, but the soundtracks, which gave a profundity to the movies they didn't always deserve. Such is the case with Bernard Herrmann's soundtrack for the 1951 movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still", where Herrmann created a new musical form that was so entire and perfect in one try that there was little left for anyone else to add, no matter how many bucks and computers they subsequently threw at it.

In this soundtrack, extraordinary instruments are in constant dialogue with each other, like the two theremins - one high and one low - that call to each other like hyper-intelligent other-worldly cats, and the four pianos answering each other across the vastness of space. Herrman's instrumental sounds seem to evolve out of emptiness and then disappear back into it without trace, just like matter and life does in the universe. The internal heart of this music has never been approached, except maybe by the all-electronic "Forbidden Planet" soundtrack of Louis and Bebe Barron, although its external form has been repeatedly imitated in many sci-fi movies. The audio quality of this recording allows total immersion in the extraordinaty sounds that Bernard Herrmann created.

Did you know this was based on a true story?.......2002-08-31

ONLY KIDDING!!!... But as sci-fi goes this is the classics of all classics and to me the best sci-fi movie ever filmed.These early sci-fi movies had what the new sci-fi movies can only wish they have. A good story, good writing and simple special effects and acting that was real and convincing. The movies of today with it's multi-million dollar budgets, computer generated effects and Hollywood two-bit actors who always find that bra size equals their brains in solving the disruction of the earth at the last minute of the movie after a sex scene and showing some flesh. This movie is based on an excellent script and brilliant acting, beautiful camera work, and suttle effects that are alot more believable than anything of today.This is a gem of a movie and most certainly a collectors film. This movie has stood the test of time and will always be the best sci-fi movie ever written for the screen. And who knows, maybe someone really is watching us in real life trying to distroy this planet which makes this story alot more believable.

A Break Through Score.......2002-04-09

I am in agreement with other reviewers that this is a great soundtrack. The music for "The Day the Earth Stood Still" shows Bernard Herrmann at his most innovative. The transfer is excellent and I thought the booklet notes were very good at explaining what Herrmann was after in writing this music. The stills from the movie were well chosen. My only gripe is that the music times to 36:02! This is by far the shortest CD I own. I am grateful that the price was discounted but there is far too little music to see it even at that price. It would have been a far greater CD if another sci-fi score were coupled with this one. I highly recommend this CD but buyers should be aware of the short playing time.

Does the show complete justice.......2002-03-21

A great investment for the classic science fiction fanatic. Nicely done soundtrack covering most, if not all of the show. Worth the money, definetly!

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