A note from Sheridan (March 2011)
Scoring the music to both Wonders of the Solar System and Wonders of the Universe has been extremely enjoyable and challenging…how do you score the very beginning of the Solar System or the far away galaxy Andromeda two and half million light years away??!! I started work on the score to Wonders of the Solar System in May 2009 and have also just completed the score to Wonders of the Universe.
There were five films for Wonders of the Solar System (Empire of the Sun, Order out of Chaos, The Thin Blue Line, Dead or Alive, and Aliens), and four films for Wonders of the Universe (Destiny, Stardust, Falling and Messengers).
This is a list of the Wonders album tracks, including in some cases my thoughts and inspirations motivating my compositions. I’ve also included more information to identify where in the films the themes reside.
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1
Wonders of the Solar System
I wanted a lot of the score to Wonders to sound very much like a live band (real, vibrant, a bit edgy, raw and with attitude) and I like to think that this opening track to the series achieved this. The opening track to a show is always a tricky cue to get right. This one had to work under Brian talking to camera, ‘hit’ key moments in the sequence and build to the opening titles. I worked a lot on the ‘feel’ of the track with Jon Opstad who played the drums on this. The track was also used as underscore for a number of scenes in Solar System.
From Wonders of the Solar System
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2
Endless Hands of Time
The director of ‘Destiny’ (Stephen Cooter) wanted the soundtrack of his film to somehow bring out the feeling of time passing. One of the first things that William Rice and I did was to sample William’s wristwatch and then manipulated these sounds with time stretching and time freezing programs to create a rhythmic bed for tracks. The ticking sound subsequently became a very important part of the film. On this track I also sometimes changed the time signature for a bar, again to help with a feeling of a ‘jump’ or ‘shift’ in time. As well as being used a number of instances in ‘Destiny’, the track was also used in ‘Stardust’ for the ‘How the Universe made us’ sequence near the start of the film.
From Wonders of the Universe
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3
The Iguaza Falls
Danielle Peck (Producer of Solar System) showed me this four-minute sequence from ‘Empire of the Sun’ of the Iguazu river and falls and requested a ‘BIG’ theme. This was my second attempt, and she loved it! I recorded it with an orchestra in Budapest in December 2009. I added some high ‘Solar guitar’ in places…a guitar wash that I use in many of the tracks that has become a very distinct part of the Wonders ‘sound’. It was to become one of the main Solar System themes, and a variation was used for the very opening sequence of all the films. A variation is also used in ‘Falling’ for the sequence when Brian is on the peak of the mountain in Norway. It is also in ‘Destiny’ as we go into the big CGI space sequence talking about the history of the human race and the story of time.
From Wonders of the Solar System
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4
A Star Must Die
Composed for the film ‘Messengers’ as the sun rises on the winter solstice between the pillars of the temple at Karnak in Egypt. I kept my ‘band’ feel in this track with the use of distorted guitars. I was aiming for quite a cyclical feel to the composition with the use of different rhythms in the inner parts. It also features Gabriella Swallow on cello. The theme is also used in ‘Destiny’ as Brian talks about entropy and the second law of thermodynamics…in a very windy desert.
From Wonders of the Universe
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5
Surfing
Composed for a sequence that never made it to the final cut of ‘Messengers’, the track was used a number of times in Wonders of the Universe. It was composed for an action sequence about waves in the sea…hence the reason for the title!
From Wonders of the Universe
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6
Building Blocks
For the film ‘Stardust’ I wanted to use very minimalist sounds that would in my mind relate to the simple building blocks of the Universe. I used a hang drum for the main tuned percussion part in many of the themes from ‘Stardust’, as well as this theme.
From Wonders of the Universe
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7
Connected
There is always a strong emotional journey that Brian takes us on through the films. I wanted the music to bring the viewer on that journey and I think that this piece does just that. It was originally composed for solo piano and Gabriella Swallow added some lovely cello. This version was composed for ‘Falling’ for the Zero-G sequence that Brian takes part in.
From Wonders of the Universe
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8
Symphony of Light
One of my favourite themes from the series. I composed it for Brian looking into space at night for the photograph sequence in ‘Messengers’ and it ended up being used in a number of the films. Daniel Mulhern played guitar on this. I like the cyclical feel that this track has in triple time…it works very well with the cycles of the planets and stars.
From Wonders of the Universe
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9
The Power
Composed for the death of a star sequence in ‘Destiny’. GRB-090423, a massive star that is 40 times the mass of our sun, begins to die.
From Wonders of the Universe
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10
Wonders of the Universe
When I started work on the new series of Wonders of the Universe this was my first track – with the very original title: Track 1! At one stage it was going to be the opening track to the series but it found a home in many sequences throughout the series including the film ‘Stardust’ when Brian is talking about the nearest stars. Ben de Vries played some great guitar on this!
From Wonders of the Universe
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11
Invisible light
I wanted to compose a piece for Brian as he looked out into space and dwelled on our own origins of the Human Race at the end of the ‘Stardust’ film. The theme is also used in ‘Destiny’ when Brian talks about the ‘arrow of time’. It is also used in ‘Messengers’ when Brian is talking about our Sun being born in the Milky Way and the emergence of complex life on Earth. And it is used in ‘Falling’ when Brian is talking about the massive effect of gravity and space time.
From Wonders of the Universe
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12
Driving
Composed for the sequence where Brian is driving and looking at his book on space from the 1970s. This track was used in the International version of the series and not the UK broadcast version. I really like this track and I did an extended version of the theme just for the album…think of it as a bonus track!
From Wonders of the Solar System
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13
Release of Energy
Composed for the sequence when Brian is talking about each element having it’s own characteristic color in the film ‘Stardust’. The theme is composed for hang drum, again building on the ‘Matter’ idea that I was developing in this film.
From Wonders of the Universe
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14
Mini Solar System
Composed for Brian arriving in Scandinavia for the Northern Lights sequence in ‘Empire of the Sun’. This theme was also used in ‘Stardust’ for the ‘Blowing up the building’ scenes in South America. It was also used in ‘Destiny’ for the sea turtles and for the Skeleton Coast for the shipwrecks.
From Wonders of the Solar System
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15
The Universe
Quite a dark track for the album. Jon Opstad used some of his vintage synths on this track.
From Wonders of the Universe
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16
Death of a Planet
Originally composed for the final sequence in the ‘Thin Blue Line’ about the atmosphere on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn. This is the reworked version of the theme for the ‘Destiny’ film from Wonders of the Universe used in the sequence when Brian talks about the evolution of the Universe and the births and deaths of it’s wonders and why does time have an arrow at all. It is also used in the final sequence in ‘Falling’ for gravity the destroyer. The track features some beautiful playing by Stephanie Gonley on Violin and John Heley on Cello.
From Wonders of the Solar System
