Williams began writing the
Jurassic Park score at the end of February 1993, and it was
conducted a month later; because Williams sustained a back injury during the scoring sessions, several cues were conducted by
Artie Kane (Kane is uncredited in the film, but receives special thanks in the 1993 soundtrack album's credits and is listed as a conductor in the La-La Land Records set). The score was orchestrated by
Alexander Courage, John Neufeld,
Conrad Pope, Aimee Vereecke and Dennis Dreith. The composition process was done in
Skywalker Ranch concurrently with the sound editing process, leading Williams to get inspiration from
Gary Rydstrom's work with dinosaur noises. Williams described it as, "a rugged, noisy effort—a massive job of symphonic cartooning". He also said that, while trying to, "match the rhythmic gyrations of the dinosaurs", he ended up creating, "these kind of funny ballets". As with another Spielberg film he scored,
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Williams felt he needed to write, "pieces that would convey a sense of 'awe' and fascination", given that the movie dealt with the, "overwhelming happiness and excitement", that would emerge from seeing live dinosaurs. In turn, more suspenseful scenes, such as the
Tyrannosaurus rex attack, earned frightening themes. For the first time, Spielberg was unable to attend the recording sessions for one of his own movies, as he was in Poland filming ''
Schindler's List''. Instead, Williams gave Spielberg demo tapes with piano versions of the main themes prior to his travel, and the director would listen to them daily on the way to the sets. The score uses a large
orchestra that often includes a variety of
percussion, two
harps,
baritone horns, and
choir. Some passages also call for unusual woodwinds, such as
shakuhachi and E♭ piccolo
oboe. Furthermore, Williams included synthesizers in much of the score. Some cues, such as "Dennis Steals the Embryos", feature them prominently, but many of the synth passages are mixed much more quietly, often doubling the woodwinds or helping flesh out the lower harmonies. Several prominent
celeste solos (such as in "Remembering Petticoat Lane") are also performed on synthesizers.
Themes Two major melodic ideas can be heard in this score. \relative c' { \clef treble \time 4/4 \tempo 4 = 60 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t bes4.( bes16 a) bes4.( bes16 a) | bes8. c16 c8. ees16 ees4. d16 bes | c8. a16 f8 d'16 bes c4. f16 bes, | \time 6/4 ees8. d16 d8. c16 c2~ c4 } The first
motif, which is heard most frequently, is known simply as "Theme from
Jurassic Park" and is introduced when the visitors first see the
Brachiosaurus. This is what Williams chose to be the theme of the park itself and features "gentle religioso cantilena lines", which Williams declared was an attempt, "to capture the awesome beauty and sublimity of the dinosaurs in nature". Williams described it as, "operatic in a dramatic way", and an opportunity for him to emphasize the, "
swashbuckling aspects of the orchestra". ==Track listing==