All My Records: 2001: A Space Odyssey – Music From The Motion Picture Sound Track
Even if you’ve never known the title, you’ve heard Also sprach Zarathustra from the 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack before. It’s been used countless times in parody since the film’s release in 1968 (who could forget Thus Cacked Henrietta by Ray Stevens), but when paired with the famous bone-crushing ape that opens director Stanley Kubrick’s highly influential science fiction masterpiece, it becomes a truly iconic piece of music-making.
The soundtrack to Kubrick’s film is understandably dominated by this powerful piece of music, but there’s much more to this record than the small chunk of Richard Strauss’ 1896 opera. György Ligeti’s Atmosphères – the piece playing when the apes first discover the monolith – is an especially haunting work that might sound more at home in a horror film than in classic science fiction, yet nevertheless serves its eerie purpose with gusto.
More playful and less sinister tracks include Johann Strauss’ Blue Danube and Aram Khachaturian’s Gayane Ballet Suite but there’s just no escaping the magnitude and intensity of Also sprach Zarathustra and Atmosphères. Combined, these two brilliant pieces of art paint a stirring picture of discovery and fear that gets under the skin and stays there. Both uplifting and terrifying at once, the 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack is a perfect encapsulation of the wonders of the film that it accompanies.
