All great composers have their beginnings and their first successes. For James Horner it was Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982. Horner poured all his inspiration into the music and created a fun, adventurous score that was a perfect fit for the film. Whereas Goldsmith's theme from the first film was a brassy fanfare, Horner opted for a more strings-on approach, making the main theme highly romantic and adventurously epic. Horner's main theme indeed is right at the top along with Goldsmith's more famous theme and can easily compete with it in quality, if not in equal memorability. The "Main Title" before proceeds into the wonderfully nautical and romantic string theme, that paints with wide strokes on an epic canvas. Khan's theme is a short motif played on brass or woodwinds. The motif itself is most familiar as Bavmodra's Theme from Willow, composed six years later, and in later Horner scores would often signify the approach of danger. Spock," presents the third major theme of the film, Spock's Theme, which is full of the kind of Vulcan mystique that one has come to expect. However, it's use is not really prolific in this film, only finding prominence towards the end. This theme's use was later expanded for Star Trek III: the Search for Spock, acting as the most important theme in that film.
This is among the most highly appreciated Trek scores ever, that can always be found from any top three Trek score lists along with Goldsmith's original. It also remains one of Horner's very best inspirations even today (mainly because the ideas were all new back then) and continues to offer great pleasure and popularity in the film music world. It is not as thematically complex as Goldsmith's original, but it has so many wonderfully rich melodies that it is not eclipsed by that work. Horner has always had the penchant for creating instantly memorable and romantic themes and Star Trek II is no exception.
1. Main Title (3:03) 2. Surprise Attack (5:08) 3. Spock (1:13) 4. Kirk's Explosive Reply (4:02) 5. Khan's Pets (4:19) 6. Enterprise Clears Moorings (3:36) 7. Battle in the Mutara Nebula (8:05) 8. Genesis Countdown (6:36) 9. Epilogue/End Title (8:43)
Music Composed and Conducted by James Horner Orchestrated by Jack Hayes Music Editor: Robert Badami Scoring Mixer: Dan Wallin Recorded at Record Plant Scoring GNP Crescendo, 1982 (GNPD 8022)
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