Altered States [soundtrack]

John Corigliano - Altered States [soundtrack]

LP released in 1980; Altered States film also released in 1980

performed by a studio orchestra conducted by Christopher Keene; no information about the orchestra and performers provided

Watching this film during the later part of an evening when I was a teenager, I was freaked out by some of the scenes throughout the film. What made them really memorable for me was the music used with those scenes. The music enhanced those scenes as it sounded like it could only have been heard in those "altered states". Recently, I found and bought an LP copy of the Altered States soundtrack at an antique store. I have not thought about the film in many years until I acquired the soundtrack. The music is just as I remembered it although I sort of thought that I needed to watch the images when I played the record. Then I conceded that the music is powerful enough of course to stand on its own as it is intense, stark, and even hallucinatory. Just like the film, the soundtrack has moments when it is calm and (perhaps for lack of a better word) normal. I was stunned at the music back then, not even realizing that I was being exposed to the avant-garde maybe for the first time in my life. Now, of course, the music sounds like the stuff I usually listen to rather than music seemingly from another reality.

Note: There are a few segments of my LP copy that sound rough where there is an excessive amount of surface noise I could not get rid of.


Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Main Title and First Hallucination {4:38}
(Ritual Sacrifice and Religious Memories)

2. Love Theme {3:34}

3. Second Hallucination {5:06}
(Hinchi Mushroom Rite and Love Theme Trio)

4. First Transformation {3:32}
(Primordial Regression)

5. Primeval Landscape {2:12}
(In the Isolation Chamber)

Side B

1. Second Transformation/The Ape Man Sequence {7:53}
(Escape from the Laboratory, Stalking the Dogs and the Fight, The Zoo and Final Hunt)

2. Religious Memories and Father's Death {2:05}

3. The Laboratory Experiment: Jessup's Transformation, Collapse of the Laboratory, The Whirlpool and Journey to Another Dimension, Return to Reality {6:10}

4. The Final Transformation {4:05}

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