BY DARREN ALLISON
100 GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION THEMES
Performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic
and London Music Works, this comprehensive 6 CD collection features music from
the latest Sci-Fi blockbusters; from Ready Player One, Solo: A Star Wars Story,
and Blade Runner 2049, all the way back to 1950s classics The Day The Earth
Stood Still and Forbidden Planet.
This release brings together the best
selection of science fiction music spanning almost a century, through a
thorough overview of musical styles, themes and techniques. It spotlights music
from Hollywood heavyweights and classically trained legends (John Williams,
John Barry, Ennio Morricone and Bernard Hermann), electronic experimenters
(Bebe & Louis Barron, Vangelis) and jazz-influenced composers (Bill Conti,
Henry Mancini) to the new generation, who combine orchestral sounds with
electronics (David Arnold, Johann Johannsson, Ramin Djawadi, Steve Jablonsky,
Hanz Zimmer and Clint Mansell.)
100 Greatest Science Fiction Themes is
released in both physical and digital format on 31st August 2018.
THE INVASION
Don Harper’s soundtrack to the 8-part Doctor
Who story The Invasion was made and transmitted in 1968 starring Patrick
Troughton as the second Doctor.
Featuring the Brigadier, UNIT, and the
Cybermen, this “modern Earth invasion†Doctor Who story was made into a hugely
influential series in 1968. Directed by Douglas Camfield, the music was
composed by Don Harper, the third Australian émigré composer (after Ron Grainer
and Dudley Simpson) to work on the programme.
Don Harper’s music for The Invasion may have
been influenced by John Barry’s score for The Ipcress File (1965). Don used the
cimbalom in the score, and the artist was most likely John Leach (who also
worked under the name Janos Lehar), who played on The Ipcress File, King Rat
and The Persuaders.
The instruments used included the organ,
cimbalom, percussion, clarinet (doubling clarinets in A and Bb, bass clarinet and
oboe), bass guitar, contra-bass clarinet and cor anglais. The percussion
consisted of bim bams and temple blocks, timps including piccolo timp and hand
timp, as well as cymbal and vibraphone. The organ was a Hammond M100 with
Leslie speaker.
The score was augmented by the use of
electronic sounds created by Brian Hodgson of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
There was also “Muzak†by John Baker (referred to as such in the cue sheets for
episodes 1 and 2), which had its first outing in an Out of the Unknown episode.
For this 2018 Silva Screen album, Doctor Who
composer Mark Ayres have placed the previously used music together, followed by
additional unused cues and the electronic score.
Don Harper (1921 - 1999) was an Australian
film and TV composer, jazz violinist and big band conductor. He is best known
for his work on Doctor Who, World of Sport, Sexton Blake, Out of the Unknown
and Dawn of the Dead, as well as his work with Don Harper’s Sextet and Dave
Brubeck’s Quartet. After many years between England and Australia, Harper
returned to Australia in order to take up the position of Head of Jazz Studies
at the Wollongong University's School of Creative Arts, which he held until
1990. He died in 1999 aged 78.
Don Harper’s music has achieved cult status
and in 2005 MF DOOM and Danger Mouse, in their collaborative project
DangerDoom, sampled Don Harper's "Chamber Pop" and "Thoughtful
Popper". Elements of "Dark Earth" from the Dawn of the Dead
soundtrack were used on Gorilazz "Intro" from Demon Days, which was
also produced by Danger Mouse.