Listening to Stanley Kubrick (16 page)

In the early 1990s, film music legend Jerry Goldsmith set about recording the score from the manuscript copies.
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The resulting score differs a bit from North’s actual recordings (which were published in 2007 and are discussed below). There is also the erroneous inclusion of a cue that North wrote for a 1967 television series called
Africa
(called “Main Theme” on the track listing). The manuscript for that cue was mixed in with the music for
2001
and was thought to be part of the original score.

Even with its inaccuracies, the release of the score on the Varése-Sarabande label featuring the National Philharmonic Orchestra must have felt like a great vindication for North’s estate. Unfortunately, North died in 1991 and did not live to see the completed recording, which could not have been made without the efforts of Jerry Goldsmith, who felt that Kubrick had made the wrong decision in discarding North’s score. Reviews of the score were mixed. Some could not get Kubrick’s iconic musical choices out of their consciousness, while others addressed how well North had captured the moods in Kubrick’s film.

In 2007, Intrada Records, an American label specializing in soundtracks, released a recording of North’s personal copies of the recording sessions he did for the film. This is considered to be the definitive version of the score and differs from the Goldsmith version in a few important respects. First, the cue called “Main Title” on the Goldsmith recording is called “Bones” on the Intrada recording, the name given by North and Brant. “Bones” (with the additional title of “and M.T.” ostensibly for Main Title) is an important cue because it is the one meant to replace Strauss’s
Zarathustra
excerpt. The Intrada release also includes additional takes for three cues in which one can hear slightly different emphases in Brant’s interpretation. There is an alternate version of the cue called “Foraging” on the disc, which, because the manuscript for it was not included with the rest of the score, is missing from the Goldsmith recording. Also, the cue from the
Africa
series is gone (“Main Theme” on the Goldsmith recording). One of the most useful aspects of the Intrada recording is the detailed commentary in the CD booklet by film music scholar Jon Burlingame. In addition to historical information about the recording, Burlingame and producer Nick Redman devised timings that allow one to sync up the recording to scenes in the film. Previous to this, a synching guide appeared in the
New York Review of Science Fiction
in 2000, but North’s tapes hadn’t yet been released.
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The Intrada recording is also unique because it has the blessing of both Kubrick’s estate and North’s.

The first cue on the Intrada recording, “The Foraging,” was composed for the Dawn of Man sequence. North paints the desolate landscape with a low melody in the cellos, basses, and low woodwinds, which alternate with high pings in the harp. There is a meandering line in the low strings that seems to suggest the disorder of the natural world. Layers of melody eventually work their way up to the higher range and then fade back down again. When the australopithecines arrive on scene, North adds some percussion, a gong, and the texture seems to become a bit more complex. Otherwise, the apes do not have their own music, suggesting that they are just part of this tableau, just another animal in nature, with no special spark. This is made explicit in scenes where the tapirs and australopithecines occupy the same space, show no fear toward each other, and share the same resources. The leopard attack is not dramatized in the music, and this is where the cue would fade out. The alternative cue for “The Foraging” is more heavily orchestrated, more structured, and, one might argue, more dramatic. There are more of the tense, clichéd film music conventions here. Fraught with tension, these musical gestures dramatize the actions on-screen, making it seem like something huge is afoot. There are also echoes of the “Bones” cue.

The next cue, “The Bluff,” is meant to accompany the confrontation between two tribes. The “protagonist,” Moon-Watcher, leads one of the tribes. North characterized the cue as “barbaric” to emulate the fierce competition between the tribes for a rapidly shrinking watering hole. Although “competition” might be too strong a word here, as the australopithecines just shout at each other. Staccato notes of the low woodwinds and strings begin the cue. The use of percussion, primarily gestures of varying length in the timpani, mirrors the aggression of the apes as they beat the ground and flail their arms to scare off the rival tribe. There are also flourishes in the woodwinds that seem to echo the chatter of the apes. The ending of the cue, which features an almost noble-sounding fragment in the horns, Burlingame says, “suggests the fanfare of [the cue] ‘Bones’ yet to come.” “The Bluff” cue is a bit too long for the scene, as this is one of the scenes Kubrick pared down after initial screenings of the film. The horn fanfare occurs after the scene has faded to black.

The next cue, “Night Terrors,” accompanies scenes of the tribe, quiet and frightened, as they try to survive another night. Once again, the low woodwinds create an ominous mood, but instead of the high harp notes of sunrise, the accents are lower. Bass clarinets echo the “Bones” cue. Brass instruments join in—tubas, euphoniums, and flugelhorns—providing warmth with longer-held chords. The music is here is layered, almost as if fear is laid on fear. There are none of the percussive hits of the earlier aggression, although there are two short figures played on timpani, the first for muted timpani marked “near the rim.” The second is simply marked
pianissimo
. The meter remains indiscernible, another way North shows the uncertainty of these animals’ lives. Emotionally, the high strings, played with harmonics, seem to wail in dissonant anguish, although the apes themselves manage to stay quiet. The addition of prickly gestures on the harp (to be played “near the soundboard”) and the low strings add to the tension. These three cues, “The Foraging,” “The Bluff,” and “Night Terrors,” were not replaced in the film with preexistent music. Kubrick in fact used no music at all, which must have been an additional shock to North. It’s one thing to be replaced by Richard Strauss, but quite another to be replaced by silence.

In the film, the appearance of the first monolith is accompanied by the music of György Ligeti. The intensity of the cue grows as the australopithecines fearfully approach the mysterious object. Finally, after approaching and retreating, Moon-Watcher reaches out and touches the monolith. This is the object that, as Burlingame observes, “will change the destiny of mankind,” and Kubrick’s musical choice here infuses the scene with tremendous dramatic importance. North apparently did not compose a cue for this scene. The previous cue, “Night Terrors,” ends just as the first ape creature wakes up to see the monolith.

“Bones” accompanies the newly enlightened Moon-Watcher as he plays around with some bones. In doing so, he makes the connection that such an implement can be used as a weapon. This scene, so perfectly captured by the introduction to Strauss’s tone poem, is here accompanied by North’s similar fanfare. It shares many musical and structural details with the earlier piece. In both, there is a rising arpeggio figure and the use of insistent brass, and in both the organ gets the final word, hanging on after all the other instruments have ceased. In an interview, North described his take on the
Zarathustra
music, “I wrote a piece of equivalent length, only more contemporary, dissonant, harsh, and brassy.”
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North and especially orchestrator Brant show a great sensitivity to the brass section here, using the slightly different timbres of French horn, trombone, and euphonium (and others) to create a full, rich sound that complements the open intervals of the composition. The cue, like the excerpt from Strauss, seems to play on the relationship between the darkness of the minor and diminished chords against the brightness of major triads. There are hits on the cymbals and the timpani that also echo the Strauss.

In the scene following the discovery of the monolith, Moon-Watcher and the tribe eat the raw flesh of a tapir that Moon-Watcher has felled with his bone weapon. The following morning, they return to the watering hole. This scene has no score in the film, but North’s cue for the sequence is appropriately harsh to the ears, with strident brass and heavy percussion. Particularly prominent are the timpani. The percussion from “The Bluffs” is here again, even before the confrontation takes place. It foreshadows the upcoming attack and makes the eating of meat seem fraught with portent, as if the meat is responsible for the violence. They eat for a long time, as the sun goes down. The young apes even play with the bones too, the younger generation learning from the older generation. At the watering hole, the two tribes face off. Moon-Watcher steps forward, and a single line in the brass is like his voice, which is then joined by counterpoint. When Moon-Watcher makes the first strike, the music changes. Accents in the piano and percussion alternate with a fast moving line in the strings (doubled by English horns and clarinets). The effect is one of aggression and forward motion, as if the apes will begin to march. North used piano, Hammond organ, chimes, xylophone, and celesta to add color to the scene. As the sense of forward motion picks up, at one point North marks that the piano should play the “five lowest chromatic tones” on the keyboard and that a measure later he or she should play both the five highest chromatic tones and the five lowest. The organ player is told to hit a “palmful” of high and low notes for the same accented cluster. More percussion instruments play, snare drum, cymbal, and bass drum adding to the fracas. Again, Kubrick trimmed this scene, and consequently North’s music is too long for the film version. On the original sketch, North wrote “Ess Fleisch und Morder,” which became the cue’s name after Brant translated it, “Eat Meat and Kill.” In his book
The Films of Stanley Kubrick
, Daniel DeVries puts it a different way, “I kill, therefore I am.”
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Kubrick’s first choice for the first scene in the space age was the scherzo from Mendelssohn’s
Midsummer Night’s Dream
. Many people, including North, have made the point that Kubrick had gotten so attached to the temp track that it was impossible for him to change his mind, but even though he had been using this tune for a while, Kubrick replaced Mendelssohn with Johann Strauss late in the game. Jan Harlan mentioned a similar circumstance that occurred during the production of
Eyes Wide Shut
. Kubrick, who had chosen a particular song for use in the film, kept it for a year but then suddenly changed his mind near the end of production. He found something that served the scenes better. To Kubrick, perhaps the Mendelssohn began to seem too contrived for the scene, although he did not remedy the situation by choosing a more obscure piece of music. Instead, he chose
The
Blue Danube
waltz, which is just as recognizable, perhaps even more so.

North’s alternative, a cue called “Space Station Docking,” begins with a charming and very lively conversation between the strings and woodwinds (strings are both plucked and played with the bow). There are accents on organ, harpsichord, and harp. When the camera gets close to the space station, the music changes a bit, slowing down perhaps to mimic the turning of the station. The harmony becomes more chromatic, and from this point on, dissonant elements never fully leave the harmony. The fluttery lines of the woodwinds are juxtaposed by slower-moving lines in other instruments. Like the waltz, North’s cue is dance-like and mimics the effulgent mood of the Strauss except in harmonic language, which is more defiantly dissonant. North’s cue also foreshadows the uncertainty ahead; it is more suggestive of what is to come and reflects some of the secrecy and uncertainty of the as yet-unrevealed mystery on the moon. The fluttery conversation keeps grinding to a halt for dissonant chords played by the glockenspiel, celesta, harpsichord, vibraphone, chimes, xylophone, two harps, and a marimba. But instead of having a charming, shimmering quality as one might expect from this collection of instruments, the effect is more unsettling, as the innocence of the journey masks the seriousness under the surface.

North’s cue “Space Talk” accompanies the conversation Dr. Heywood Floyd has with his daughter back on Earth. The music of the cue is soft and intimate, meant to underscore dialogue, and features a warm quality with strings, harp, and woodwinds. Trills in the strings seem to add to the magical nature of the cue. There is an underlying sweetness here, with an undercurrent of an emotion Burlingame characterizes as “awe,” which is slightly at odds with Floyd’s businesslike sense of the ordinary. Floyd doesn’t once look out the window to his left to see the Earth passing by. Perhaps North was reflecting his own awe at this future vision. Once again, Kubrick replaced North’s music with silence. As in a work like
Paths of Glory
, the absence of music sometimes feels like the absence of humanity. By not using North’s sweet music, Kubrick takes some of the humanity out of the scene, and once again Floyd’s businesslike demeanor dominates, even as he talks to his own daughter (Kubrick’s daughter Vivian played the part).

As Floyd continues on to the moon, the cue “Trip to the Moon” (echoing the title of the classic Méliès brothers’ 1902 film), features unique instrumentation, including a harpsichord, two harps, a celesta, glockenspiel, flutes (alto and bass flute included), and strings (without cellos or basses). The delicate orchestration is charming and effervescent. As a companion to the “Space Station Docking” cue, it shares a general overall mood rather than similar musical ideas. Kubrick used
The
Blue Danube
again here, giving Floyd’s trip continuity, even though it was interrupted by his brief “layover” at the space station. The grace of this cue—the harpsichord making it sound particularly stately—does not mirror the motion on the spacecraft (the Aries 1B). Even though the flight attendant is weightless, the gravity shoes she wears causes her to walk somewhat unsteadily as she attempts to keep her feet on the ground or ceiling as she moves through the craft. Although the cue is given a meter of 3/4 (like Strauss’s waltz) it does not share the dance-like quality of Kubrick’s ultimate choice. In fact, North seems unconcerned about the meter being discernible, as the musical colors seem to be the most important aspect of the music. The dissonant interludes of the previous cue are absent here for some reason. There is no music for the next fifteen minutes of film, although it appears that North planned to write a second part for the remainder of the voyage to the moon and the landing of the Aries.