David Lynch’s Playlist

PLAYLIST – David Lynch’s filmography is full of music. But don’t go looking for soundtracks from Deutsche Grammophon, or from a sheet music publisher. Almost all of the music that accompanies the works of the director who died on January 15 is by Angelo Badalamenti, a more experimental musician and pure product of the 1980s. No classic from Lynch, then?

Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings – The Elephant Man

And yet, if we look carefully, certain passages call on compositions that we find in our concert halls. Like the legendary Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. A canon of cinema that accompanies THE peak of emotion in Lynch’s cinema: the final scene ofElephant Man :

Krzysztof Penderecki, Threny in memory of the victims of Hiroshima – Twin Peaks

When Lynch calls on the “repertory”, it is therefore to use great hits which have made a career both on the classical scene and in the dark rooms. Widely used in chilling thrillers like The Shiningthe music of Krzysztof Penderecki is covered by Lynch in this hypnotic extract from Twin Peaksthe series, in 2017.

Angelo Badalamenti, Mysteries of love (arr. pour orchestras et cor solo) – Blue Velvet

Ok, Angelo Badalamenti is not strictly speaking a “classical” composer. But this arrangement of the mythical Mysteries of Lovesung by Julie Cruise in Blue Velvet well worth the detour!

Angelo Badalamenti, The Prophecy theme – Dune

For the first film adaptation (1984) of Franck Herbert’s novel, Angelo Badalamenti once again created the soundtrack. We find the ingredients of his music: progressive distortion of sound, long sound ranges and harmonic depth. 12 minutes of levitation, for a trip to the distant galaxy of Dune.

À lire également : la Playlist de Thierry Jousse, spécialiste de la musique au cinéma

Bonus: the Barcelona 1992 Olympic flame

Of course, it has nothing to do with David Lynch, but Angelo Badalamenti also composed the music for the opening ceremony of the Barcelona 1992 Olympics. Including that crazy moment when the cauldron at the Montjuic stadium was lit with a flaming arrow, fired from the track…