The Music of Journey into Space
The majority of the music for the series was written by Van Phillips.
Van Phillips composed and conducted the music for all three series. The music was initially recorded beforehand, and played from acetate discs during the recording sessions. Later, an eight-piece orchestra was actually present in the studio, and played the music live. Phillips liked the sound of the clavioline, and obtained one for use during Journey Into Space. He composed music especially for it, and it was "bolted onto the piano" in the studio. Titles of his compositions include "A Picture of the Universe", "Rocket Away", "Music for Outer Space", "The Red Planet", "Crossing the Plains" and "Sunrise". Assistant conductor for The Red Planet (and possibly other series) was Alfred Ralston.
Ledgers and hand-written music
Instruments and orchestrations
In the payment ledger of The Red Planet, the following instruments were listed:
- 2 Flutes
- Oboe
- 2 Clarinets
- Trumpet
- Horn
- Trombone
- Drums
- Piano
- Violins (normal complement of 3, sometimes 4)
- Cello
- Bass
- Banjo
Players for The Red Planet can be seen in the ledger.
The orchestra for for World in Peril had 15 players as well as conductor Phillips.
Recordings
Frank Weir and His Orchestra
JW Media's stock music collection
Van Phillips recorded numerous tracks, many used in Journey into Space, for the industry-only JW Media. Clips from the CD featuring his music can be heard on their site.
Other music
The World in Peril featured a rebel song, sung by the conditioned men aboard the Martian asteroids. This song was actually a musical arrangement of The Green Hills of Earth (a poem taken from Robert Heinleins short story of the same name), performed by the George Mitchell Choir
[More information to be added soon, including a detailed section on When its Night time in Italy... as featured in The Red Planet]
