Top 5 Classical Music Movie Moments

#1:

The Blue Danube in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968)

MGM

Once again you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to evocative classical music in this Kubrick classic, but above the epic “Also Sprach Zarathustra” main theme for us is Johan Strauss the Younger’s glorious “The Blue Danube”.

This instantly recognisable Waltz is the perfect companion piece for the mesmerizing slow dances that are the spaceship movements on show as they maneuver and dock in zero gravity, what must have been at the time of release an impressive sight to an audience which had not even seen the Moon landings yet.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood and William Sylvester among others.

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-fi

Since there are so many choices for this very difficult Top 5, here are a few Honourable Mentions:

– Pietro Mascagni’s Intermezzo from “Cavalleria Rusticana” in ‘Raging Bull’  (1980)

– Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” (various movements) in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971)

– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” in ‘Ace Ventura Pet Detective’ (1994)

– George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” in ‘Manhattan’ (1979)

– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Letter Duet from “The Marriage of Figaro” in ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (1994)

– Béla Bartók’s “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta” in ‘The Shining’ (1980)

– George Frideric Handel’s “Zadok the Priest” in ‘The Madness of King George’ (1994)

Let us know what you think of our picks, what would be your Top 5?

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