A Clockwork Orange Film Score

When people speak of a film score that perfectly matches the vision of a film director, one common movie name that pops up is A Clockwork Orange, the disturbing movie based on the novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, the movie told the tale of a group of young men that pushed the idea of violence so far that the new term of ultraviolence emerged to describe the action. As the men go through the systematic treatment of curing the desire for violence, the eerie subplot of government control becomes apparent.

For this type of dark tale, Stanley Kubrick wanted music that would match the tone of the film. His decision was to use the team of composer Wendy Carlos and producer Rachel Elkind. The duo had previously worked together for an album of synthesized interpretations from Bach. The centerpiece of the film score was a piece called Timesteps, a song that stretched for 13 minutes and featured a variety of strange electronic sounds. Because of the idea of synthesis in the film, the choice of a synthesizer composer was an excellent choice. Pieces of Timesteps by Wendy Carlos appeared at various pivotal points of A Clockwork Orange and remain a lasting impression from the film.

In addition to Timesteps, Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind also added some interpretations of famous pieces from classical music. The most famous of these to appear on the film score is the William Tell Overture, originally composed by Gioachino Rossini for the William Tell opera. In the editing process, Stanley Kubrick decided to use an orchestral performance of the William Tell Overture although the film score only has the synthesized version. Another Rossini piece, The Thieving Magpie, was also given the synthetic treatment and appears on the film score for A Clockwork Orange.