The Shining - Director: Stanley Kubrick, Soundtrack: Various Artists
I read that Kubrick wasn’t overly keen on the original music done for the score by Wendy Carlos and originally there was supposed to be more of it on the film. I mean, he was a bit of a tyrant Kubrick. Everyone knows that, it’s common knowledge. It’s interesting because a lot of his movies featured pre-existing music which he tracked but then ended up keeping. But unlike Tarantino whose music - and I know he’s really into music and he’s got good taste - detracts from the film, Kubrick chose pieces of music because they suited the film not because they were cool pieces of music. Kubrick understood how a piece of music can change the visual element of a film. I did try to contact Wendy about putting her score out but she never got back in touch with me. Her stuff in that film is fantastic. She was doing stuff that no one else was doing. It was odd and non-traditional and that’s why it works in that film because it’s so unsettling. I’d love to have chatted to him about the music he chose. There would have been reasons behind every choice, not just because he liked the music. Why do people die!?