First Man (soundtrack)

First Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2018 film First Man, directed by Damien Chazelle. The score was composed and conducted by Justin Hurwitz, Chazelle's usual collaborator and Harvard University classmate, and blends electronic, orchestral, and vintage sounds. Released by Back Lot Music on October 12, 2018, the album received positive critical reviews and earned several awards and nominations, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1	X-15	1:22
2	Good Engineer	1:06
3	Karen	0:45
4	Armstrong Cabin	1:15
5	Another Egghead	1:05
6	It'll Be an Adventure	0:41
7	Houston	2:16
8	Multi-Axis Trainer	2:54
9	Baby Mark	0:47
10	Lunar Rhapsody (featuring Les Baxter)	3:04
11	First to Dock	1:27
12	Elliot	0:28
13	Sextant	1:45
14	Squawk Box	1:54
15	Searching for the Agena	1:51
16	Docking Waltz	3:22
17	Spin	1:15
18	Naha Rescue 1	1:05
19	Pat and Janet	1:34
20	The Armstrongs	2:25
21	I Oughta Be Getting Home / Plugs Out	1:10
22	News Report	0:42
23	Dad's Fine	1:03
24	Whitey on the Moon	1:48
25	Neil Packs	1:25
26	Contingency Statement	1:56
27	Apollo 11 Launch	5:50
28	Translunar	1:01
29	Moon	1:07
30	Tunnel	0:52
31	The Landing	5:31
32	Moon Walk	1:29
33	Home	1:51
34	Crater	2:00
35	Quarantine	2:15
36	End Credits	4:19
37	Sep Ballet (Bonus track)	1:17
Total length		67:57

Track listing from the source article.

Development

The score was performed by a 94-piece orchestra at Sony Scoring Stage in California. Instruments included the electronic theremin and Moog synthesizer, along with vintage sound-altering machines such as Leslie speakers and an Echoplex. Hurwitz began creating piano demos based primarily on the script from Josh Singer before principal photography started, working with Chazelle until they settled on a main theme.

Chazelle wanted the music to convey both loneliness and beauty, reflecting the barren lunar surface and the isolation of space. He associated the theremin with low-budget science-fiction pictures of the 1950s and early 1960s, noting that Armstrong and his NASA colleagues were effectively living real-life science fiction. Chazelle also felt the theremin's wailing quality could express grief spanning the cosmos, fitting the story of a man who lost many loved ones.

Reception

David Rooney, reviewing for The Hollywood Reporter at the film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August 2018, called Hurwitz's score masterful. He noted its range from tender, melodic passages to echoes of vintage Jerry Goldsmith, and a burst of full-thrust power when the lunar surface is first glimpsed, stating that the drama's quiet majesty owes much to the score's infinite moods. Scott Snowden of Space.com wrote that the instrumental score was reminiscent of Philip Sheppard's soundtrack to Moon Machines (2008) and that the music was utilized to great effect.

Zanobard Reviews described the score as pretty spectacular, praising how Hurwitz captures the mysterious and suspenseful nature of space and the awe and terror of the astronauts. However, the review noted that the score builds its themes slowly, resulting in a dull first forty minutes before the music kicks into gear with tracks like Apollo 11 Launch and The Landing, after which it performs excellently as the two main themes come together.

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Wikipedia: First Man (soundtrack) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Word definitions: the Codexery glossary, each quoted from its Wikipedia article.

Track listing

Development

Reception

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