Batman: Original Motion Picture Score is thescore album for the 1989 filmBatman, composed byDanny Elfman. According to theBatmanDVD Special Edition, Elfman said that producerJon Peters was not sure about him as a composer until directorTim Burton made him play the main titles. Elfman admitted he was stunned when Peters announced that the score would be released on its own album. The score was widely acclaimed by the press and in many contemporary reviews is cited as the highlight of the film.
Burton hired Elfman to compose the music score forBatman. For inspiration, Elfman was givenThe Dark Knight Returns. Elfman was worried, as he had never worked on a production this large in budget and scale.[1] In an interview withKeyboard in October 1989, Elfman said that he never read Batman as a child, preferringMarvel heroes such asSpider-Man and theFantastic Four.[2] In addition, producer Jon Peters was skeptical of hiring Elfman, but was later convinced when he heard the opening number.[3] Peters and Peter Guber wantedPrince to write music for the Joker andMichael Jackson to do the romance songs. Elfman would then combine the style of Prince and Jackson's songs together for the entire film score.[4] Elfman worked separately from Prince, who was responsible for writing songs for the film. Prince proposed to extend his songs into the score, and the producers asked Elfman to collaborate with Prince on the score. Elfman refused because he was already working on the score, and did not want to serve as meremusic arranger under Prince.[5]
Elfman enlisted the help ofOingo Boingo lead guitaristSteve Bartek andShirley Walker to arrange the compositions for the orchestra.[6] Elfman was later displeased with theaudio mixing of his film score. According to Elfman: "Batman was done in England by technicians who didn't care, and the non-caring showed. I'm not putting down England because they've done gorgeousdubs there, but this particular crew elected not to".[7] Despite it, Elfman included several synthesizer cues in the film, mostly percussion samples.[2] Elfman based his five-note Batman motif on his viewing experience on the rough cut of the film.[2]
In rearrangingStephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer", Elfman added a "lovely climax" as the Joker twirls away. Elfman also recorded the composition twice, primarily on the violin.[2] Meanwhile, in recording "Up the Cathedral", Elfman did not use a real church organ, but an electronic organ byRodgers Instruments. Elfman cites his inspiration for “Up the Cathedral” to Bernard Herrmann’s score for the 1961 filmMysterious Island, a film he enjoyed as a child.[2] "The Batman Theme" was also influenced by Herrmann’s score for the 1959 filmJourney to the Center of the Earth, particularly the cues “Mountain Top / Sunrise.”[8]
