First Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

First Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack by Justin Hurwitz
Publication ; (s)	October 12, 2018
Label (s)	Back Lot Music
Format (s)	CD
Title (number)	37
running time	67:57

The music for the film Aufbruch zum Mond (original title First Man ), a historical film by Damien Chazelle , was composed by Justin Hurwitz and released as download and CD on October 12, 2018 by Back Lot Music. As part of the presentation of the Golden Globe Awards 2019 , Hurwitz was honored for the best film music.

History of origin

"I move away from jazz and old-fashioned orchestral sounds and experiment with electronic music."

- Justin Hurwitz

The soundtrack for Aufbruch zum Mond was composed by Justin Hurwitz , who has won an Oscar twice and has worked in this capacity for La La Land and Whiplash by Damien Chazelle . Hurwitz had announced early on that this time it would be a different type of film music: "I'm moving away from jazz and old-fashioned orchestral sounds and experimenting with electronic music." In an interview with the Dallas Observer , Hurwitz said he was already in the film at the time Film project was involved because Chazelle considered this to be useful, as with La La Land . Hurwitz started his work in March 2017.

Ryan Gosling , who plays Neil Armstrong in the film , looked for a personal connection between him and the astronaut in preparation for his role and found that before he became an astronaut, he was a talented musician and a huge fan of the theremin and even went to Took Theremin Music on board the Apollo 11 spacecraft. So Gosling began listening to the theremin album that Armstrong and his wife loved so much. It's called Music Out of the Moon , and it has songs like Lunar Rhapsody on it . Gosling loved one piece on the album in particular, and played it to Damien Chazelle. This is included on the soundtrack. The film composer Justin Hurwitz had also learned to play theremin, which is why the instrument can also be heard in the film music.

The theremin , an instrument that can be played without physical contact, was originally designed by Soviet inventor Leon Theremin in 1928 for research into proximity sensors for the Soviet government, until someone noticed it could also be used as a musical instrument. It consists of two antennas that detect where the artist's hands are - one hand controls the pitch and the other adjusts the volume. It plays like a harp without strings. In the 1950s, the theremin was particularly used for B science fiction . Chazelle and the composer Justin Hurwitz decided that the bizarre instrument had / should be part of the score / film music, especially because the film was so marked by Armstrong's grief after the death of his two-year-old daughter from a brain tumor: “The theremin had something that seemed to convey the grief that stretched across the cosmos, ”Chazelle told Variety . "It also has the qualities of the human voice - a kind of lamentation - which I found very sad." The film composer also uses the instrument for the main theme of Neil and Janet and has been repeated several times throughout the film at particularly critical moments. When Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon towards the end of the film, the track Crater, a piece of music played entirely with the theremin, can also be heard in the credits of the film.

The piece Whitey on the Moon was written by the American retro soul singer Leon Bridges . In Lunar Rhapsody is originally a piece of the US arranger Les Baxter from 1947, the early used the Theremin as an instrument.

publication

The soundtrack, which comprises a total of 37 pieces of music, was released on October 12, 2018 by Back Lot Music as a download and CD.

Track list

X-15 (1:22)
Good Engineer (1:06)
Karen (0:45)
Armstrong Cabin (1:15)
Another Egghead (1:05)
It'll Be an Adventure (0:41)
Houston (2:16)
Multi-Axis Trainer (2:54)
Baby Mark (0:47)
Lunar Rhapsody (feat. Les Baxter ) - Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman (3:04)
First to Dock (1:27)
Elliot (0:28)
Sextant (1:45)
Squawk Box (1:54)
Searching For the Aegena (1:51)
Docking Waltz (3:22)
Spin (1:15)
Naha Rescue 1 (1:05)
Pat and Janet (1:34)
The Armstrongs (2:25)
I Oughta Be Getting Home / Plugs Out (1:10)
News Report (0:42)
Dad's Fine (1:03)
Whitey on the Moon - Leon Bridges (1:48)
Neil Packs (1:25)
Contingency Statement (1:56)
Apollo 11 Launch (5:50)
Translunar (1:01)
Moon (1:07)
Tunnel (0:52)
The Landing (5:31)
Moon Walk (1:29)
Home (1:51)
Crater (2:00)
Quarantine (2:15)
End Credits (4:19)
Sep Ballet (Bonus Track) (1:17)

reception

Adam Epstein from Quartzy says that the sounds of the theremin at the end of the film, when Neil Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon, made him cry, so longing, painful and sad is this otherworldly music. Through the use of the theremin, the result of the film is an eerie, almost ghostly, howling sound that is perfect for underlining the secret of space, according to Epstein.

Sidney Schering fromquotemeter.de comments on the film that director Damien Chazelle is also doing great things with his latest directorial work, and Aufbruch zum Mond is so spectacular precisely because it relies so little on spectacle and perfects the restrained, tender sounds of the composer Justin Hurwitz this: "Sometimes only at the piano, sometimes with full orchestral performance, he creates small, vulnerable melodies - including a waltz of suppressed emotions that gives goose bumps."

The former astronaut Ulrich Walter notes that there is absolutely no music at the beginning and also later for long stretches of the film and only authentic noises determine the first daring flight of Neil Armstrong as an X-15 pilot on his suborbital flight. In other scenes, too, like those shown by Armstrong with his family, there is no mediating music that would help one to classify these situations and bring them closer through emotions: “That is what irritates the viewer. Only here and there soft melancholy harp sounds, which were gently placed under the scenes. ”Walter further explains that it is due to the drama of the film that the noises in a space capsule are exaggerated compared to reality. Music can only find its way into the film in a very subtle and subtle way, until it culminates in a grandiose landing on the moon, says Walter.

Awards

At the upcoming Academy Awards 2019 , the film will be on a shortlist in the Best Film Music category . The following is a selection of awards and nominations:

Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2019