Artist: Michael Stearns
Trackliste:
1 Corridors of Time - 2022 Remaster, Original X-86 Ambisonics Mix
2 Essence and the Ancients - 2022 Remaster, Original X-86 Ambisonics Mix
3 Angels, Bells and Pastorale - 2022 Remaster, Original X-86 Ambisonics Mix
4 Escalator - 2022 Remaster, Original X-86 Ambisonics Mix
5 Voices - 2022 Remaster, Original X-86 Ambisonics Mix
6 Portraits - 2022 Remaster, Original X-86 Ambisonics Mix
7 The Ride (Finale) - 2022 Remaster, Original X-86 Ambisonics Mix
8 Credits - 2022 Remaster, Original X-86 Ambisonics Mix
The remaster of Michael’s X-86 Stereo Ambisonic mix; this mix was originally used on the CD and LP at the time of the film’s release and is Michael’s favorite.
A soundtrack tuned to the timescales and rhythms of human life on earth
In Greek mythology “Chronos” is the personification of time. On composer and electronic musical visionary Michael Stearns’ 1985 album, Chronos serves as the tempo of a cascade of celestial movements, terrestrial sonic luminance, and morphic electronic harmonies.
Composed as the soundtrack for the IMAX film by cinematographer Ron Fricke (previously of Koyaanisqatsi), these 8 tracks combine to form a continuous 43-minute pandimensional experience, a sensual sound voyage with stops throughout the ancient and modern worlds.
Scored as the film was shot, Stearns’ Chronos leads us through earthbound and aerial spaces, the long plains, the cosmos, the big cities and the tracing of the spiritual and corporeal lights which inform each movement. The symphonic and majestic main theme in “Corridors of Time” hints at vast spaces and soulful longing flowing with cosmic poetry. The track reaches a powerful crescendo resolving in ghostly atmospheres, driving escalator steps and whispered voices. It returns half an hour later weaving into the themes of the swelling incandescent tapestry of the final two movements.
One of the best soundtracks ever made by Stearns and his Serge Modular System, with a very unique sound.
Taking the familiar conventions of time-lapse cinematography to a transcendent level of artistic achievement, filmmaker Ron Fricke circled the globe to make Chronos, a stunning 70-millimeter time-lapse tour of natural and man-made wonders. The entire film has the enhanced, hyper-realistic quality of a laser-etched photograph, and by using special cameras and motion-control photographic techniques, Fricke and his technically expert crew were able to create mesmerizing images guaranteed to spark any viewer's sense of awe and wonder. Accompanied by the hypnotic music of Michael Stearns, this visual journey takes the viewer on a tour of over 50 locations on nearly every continent of the world, including explorations of Paris, the Vatican, the Egyptian pyramids, the African veldt, and many more stunning vistas. The cumulative effect is the feeling that the world--from the busiest metropolis to the most serenely remote wilderness landscape--is dictated by "chronos," the rhythm of time to which all living things must submit. Like Koyaanisquatsi and Baraka, this is one of those eye-candy films that was conceived according to its specific theme, so it's not only a soothing visual experience but a thought-provoking study of our fascinating planet.
