OST - Forbidden Planet (@256)

This latest upload is dedicated to Bebe Barron who passed away two months ago. Bebe, with her husband Louis, created the score to MGM's 'Forbidden Planet'. The movie was released in 1956 and it was one of the first science fiction films and extremely influential to 'Star Trek' and 'Lost In Space'. It combined exceptional special effects, a superb plot based on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' and a soundtrack for which no physical instruments were used. Actually, it was the first time that a Hollywood soundtrack was purely electronic! Oddly and matchingly enough, due to problems that the Barrons had with the US musicians' union, they were 'forced' to use the term 'electronic tonalities' for the soundtrack since they were not allowed to credit it as music. They note: "We design and construct electronic circuits which function electronically in a manner remarkably similar to the way that lower life-forms function psychologically. There is a comprehensive mathematical science explaining it, called "Cybernetics", which is concerned with the Control and Communication in the Animal and Machine. It was first propounded by Prof. Norbert Wiener of M.I.T. who found that there are certain natural laws of behavior applicable alike to animals including humans) and electronic machines.
In scoring FORBIDDEN PLANET-as in all of our work- we created individual cybernetic circuits for particular themes and leit motifs, rather than using standard sound generators. Actually, each circuit has a characteristic activity pattern as well as a "voice". Most remarkable is that the sounds which emanate from these electronic nervous systems seem to convey strong emotional meaning to listeners. We were delighted to hear people tell us that the Tonalities in FORBIDDEN PLANET remind them of what their dreams sound like. There were no synthesizers or traditions of electronic music when we scored this film, and therefore we were free to explore "terra incognito" with all its surprises and adventures."












movie and soundtrack info: here
movie review link: here
album review link: here

picture and sound gallery: here

download link: here