Steve Jablonsky composed the film's original music who integrated and re-interpreted elements from Charles Bernstein's score for the original film; although he opined on not including the original film's theme.[1] According to the producer, Brad Fuller, the score was reminiscent of the 1980s with the use of synthesizers and instruments from that era.[2] Jablonsky and Y. Suzette Moriarty orchestrated a 60-piece string orchestra from the Hollywood Studio Symphony, conducted by Nick Glennie-Smith, with the film's director Samuel Bayer watched the orchestral sessions.[3] Besides the orchestra, a 15-person children's choir also employed to perform the main theme.[1] Although, 65 minutes of music had been recorded for the film, only around 50 minutes of music had been included in the soundtrack.[4]
Reception
Hugh Hart of Wired wrote "by the sixth or seventh variation on the "Oh my God, it’s Freddy!" theme, the novelty wears off, despite daggerlike orchestrations from composer Steve Jablonsky".[5]A. O. Scott of The New York Times described it as "creepy",[6] and Dennis Harvey of Variety called it as "horrifying".[7]
Track listing
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) track listing
Supervising orchestrator – Y. Suzette Moriarty, Steve Jablonsky
Additional orchestration – Elizabeth Finch, Frank Macchia, Geoff Stradling
Music preparation – Booker White
Concertmaster – Endre Granat
Choir
Choir – Claire Gershon, Clara Logan, Colin Clarke, Emily Logan, Emma Gunn, Hana Culbraith, Joel Thomas Anderson, Joshua Britt, Kaylin Anderson, Kylan Brooks, Lexi Gunn, Maia Culbraith, Mariah Britt, Sally Stevens, Susie Logan, Teri Koide
Choir contractor – Sally Stevens
Instruments
Cello – Andrew Shulman, Armen Ksajikian, Cecelia Tsan, Christina Soule, Christine Ermacoff, Dane Little, David Speltz, Dennis Karmazyn, Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, Jennifer Kuhn, John Walz, Paula Hochhalter, Steve Richards, Suzie Katayama, Timothy Loo, Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, Steve Erdody
Double bass – Bruce Morgenthaler, Christian Kollgaard, David Parmeter, Drew D Dembowski, Edward Meares, Michael Valerio, Oscar Hidalgo, Richard Feves, Nico Abondolo
Drums – Jon Darling
Viola – Andrew Duckles, Darrin McCann, David Walther, Gina Coletti, Jennie Hansen, Keith Greene, Luke Maurer, Maria Newman, Matthew Funes, Robert Becker, Roland Kato, Shawn Mann, Victoria Miskolczy, Brian Dembow, Maria Newman
Violin – Alyssa Park, Belinda Broughton, Bruce Dukov, Charlie Bisharat, Darius Campo, Dimitrie Leivici, Eun-Mee Ahn, Jacqueline Brand, Josefina Vergara, Katia Popov, Kenneth Yerke, Kevin Connolly, Lisa Sutton, Lorenz Gamma, Mari Tsumura, Natalie Leggett, Phillip Levy, Roberto Cani, Searmi Park, Serena McKinney, Shalini Vijayan, Sid Page, Tamara Hatwan, Julie Ann Gigante