When Walt Disney commissioned Michael Fremer to oversee the soundtrack for the movie TRON in the early 1980s, his first choice fell on composer Wendy Carlos. Considered a pioneer of electronic music, Carlos made a name for himself with electronic arrangements of the work of Johann Sebastian Bach (Switched-On Bach), replacing the orchestra with synthesizers. On the other hand, she had already written the film music for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and A Clockwork Orange and was ready to experience in this area. Fremer knew immediately: for TRON, whose action moves between the real and the computer world, one would need an orchestral score on the one hand, and an electronic one for the scenes on the computer on the other. The plan was to hire two different composers. Due to time, organizational and technical reasons, Carlos eventually took over both scores and turned out to be a real stroke of luck. It separated the worlds less sharply than expected, instead developing an orchestral composition playing overdubbing from the synthesizer in an intricate process.
Orchestral recordings took place at the Royal Albert Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and at Walthamstow Town Hall, where the Decca label produced many of its legendary recordings. After the successful remastering of the Blade Runner soundtrack, Audio Fidelity now ventured to rework the film score for TRON. On board was again: Analog guru Michael Fremer. The remastering was done by Kevin Gray. And finally, the composition sounds as it should. After the entire material had to be vaporized for up to 50 minutes when it was first published, compression was inevitable. The remastering, on the other hand, appears as a 180g double vinyl LP – in transparent blue. The flip cover contains detailed notes with interesting notes about the production process of Wendy Carlos and Michael Fremer.
TRON – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 180gr 2LP AFZ LP2 177
Side 1
- Creation of Tron
- Only Solutions (Performed by Journey)
- We’ve Got Company
- Wormhole
- Ring Game and Escape
- Water, Music, and Tronaction
Side 2
- Tron Scherzo
- Miracle and Magician
- Magic Landings
- Theme from Tron
- 1990’s Theme (Performed by Journey)
- Love Theme
Side 3
- Tower Music–Let Us Pray
- The Light Sailer
- Sea of Simulation
Side 4
- A New Tron and the MCP
- Anthem
- Ending Titles