Sphere (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Music Composed by Elliot Goldenthal
Here at Renovatio Records, we are pleased to announce that we are starting a music cycle! The theme for this cycle is scores for films that take place in underwater settings. When putting together our list, we found ourselves rediscovering some forgotten gems. One of these gems is undoubtedly Elliot Goldenthal's under-estimated score for the 1998 sci-fi thriller Sphere, directed by Barry Levinson and starring an ensemble cast that includes Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Liev Schreiber, Queen Latifah and Peter Coyote. The film, based on a novel by author Michael Crichton, involves a group of intellectuals summoned by the U.S. government after discovering a supposedly alien spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean. When investigating the remains of the ship they make contact with a mysterious golden sphere that puts their perception of reality in question. Despite its intriguing and original plot, the film did not meet critical nor financial expectations and was soon left in oblivion. Something similar could be said about Goldenthal's score, which was released by Varèse Sarabande in the form of a very short album. This was caused by the fact that Goldenthal recorded half of the score in New York and the other half in Los Angeles. Therefore, due to re-use fees, the composer and the label had to choose one of the two sets of recordings for the album. They eventually decided that the music from the New York recordings was more interesting, but this meant that a great amount of highlights were left out of the release. This was of course not received very well by film music aficionados, who went on to flag the score as unoriginal, predictable and as an overall difficult listening experience due to some forced track edits and merges.
For this Renovatio Records release, we were able to find all the music Goldenthal composed for the music and we put it together in an album presentation that will certainly give film music fans the opportunity to appreciate the composer's unique and usual techniques used in the film. In Sphere, you'll find a very busy brass section, with shrieking horns and frenetic trumpets, as well as the composer's regular use of dissonant strings, piano solos, harmonic passages, electronic sound designs and adagios and crescendos reminiscent of Alien 3. A leitmotif can also be identified for the sphere itself in the form of an ascending six-note theme that dominates the score right from the "Main Titles" onward. The awesome gift that the otherworldly object provides to the main characters, allowing them to manifest their dreams, is also treated with a magical orchestral theme led by strings that explodes in some key scenes, as when the team of scientists approaches the spacecraft, stressing with great narrative effect the sphere's desire to be found. This cue was not present in the original album and you can find it here for the first time in the track "Habitat Arrival". Also worth noticing is a gentle and eerie piano motif that ominously suggests the dangers of giving the human mind the power to make our dreams become real (hear "Formidable Monster" and "Manifest Fire"). Goldenthal also managed to develop tremendous action pieces with a forceful orchestra that will put your speakers to the test. This score deserves a second chance and we can guarantee that you won't be disappointed again!
Track Listing:
1. Main Titles (2:51)
2. Andante (2:31)
3. Helicopter to Ship (2:39)
4. Habitat Arrival (2:30)
5. Life Underwater (1:25)
6. Visit to a Wreckage (4:20)
7. The Cockpit (2:11)
8. Discovery of the Sphere (3:18)
9. Harry Enters the Sphere (4:38)
10. Jellyfish (2:56)
11. The First Exchange (3:37)
12. Formidable Monster (4:08)
13. Battle Stations (3:58)
14. Manifest Fire (3:43)
15. Beth (4:04)
16. My Name is Harry (3:18)
17. Manifest³ (3:43)
18. To the Surface (2:11)
19. The Gift (1:43)
Total Running Time: 58:51
Cover Artwork:
