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Hans Zimmer had previously worked with director Christopher Nolan several times, scoring Nolan's The Dark Knight film trilogy and Inception. Without revealing the plot of Interstellar, Nolan wrote a short story for Zimmer about a father leaving a child to complete an important job. The story contained two sentences of dialogue: "I’ll come back," and "When?" Nolan then asked Zimmer to spend one day composing some musical interpretations of the story.
I am going to give you an envelope with a letter in it. One page. It's going to tell you the fable at the center of the story. You work for one day, then play me what you have written.
In one night, Zimmer wrote a four-minute piano and organ piece that represented his idea of fatherhood. When he played it for Nolan, Nolan was pleased and explained the full plot and concept of the film, though it had not yet been written. Zimmer was originally skeptical, noting that he had written a "tiny, tiny little fragile" piece while Nolan had described an intense, epic space film. However, Nolan reassured Zimmer that the piano piece provided "the heart" of the film. The piece can be heard at the conclusion of the film.
For the film's signature organ, Zimmer specifically requested that organist Roger Sayer, the music director of Temple Church in London, play the church's 1926 four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ. The physical appearance of the organ reminded Zimmer of spaceship afterburners, while the airiness of its sound evoked the reminder that every breath is precious for an astronaut. The rest of the ensemble consisted of 34 strings, 24 woodwinds, four pianos, and a mixed choir of 60 voices. The soundtrack was recorded at both Temple Church and AIR Lyndhurst Hall in late spring 2014.
In 2022, Zimmer cited the Interstellar soundtrack as the best work of his career.
Release
Zimmer himself delayed the soundtrack album's release until two weeks after the film premiere because he wanted audiences to hear the score in theaters first.
We wanted people to really hear it for the first time with the movie on really big speakers in a theater... I just didn't want people to go and hear everything on tiny little speakers on their Mac or something like this. I wanted them to go and have the visceral experience of being pinned in their seats.
— Hans Zimmer, on his decision to release the Interstellar soundtrack album after the film's release date
The soundtrack was released on November 17, 2014, via the WaterTower label. On November 13, 2020, WaterTower released an expanded edition of the soundtrack.
The score received critical acclaim. Reviewing for BBC News, Nicholas Barber felt, "Hans Zimmer's music makes the film seem even more colossal than it would otherwise: Zimmer invokes the original meaning of 'pulls out all the stops', rattling our teeth with reverberating pipe-organ chords." Scott Foundas, a chief film critic at Variety, stated, "Hans Zimmer contributes one of his most richly imagined and inventive scores, which ranges from a gentle electronic keyboard melody to brassy, Strauss-ian crescendos.
Tim Robey of The Telegraph felt "With the vast sounds of a composer set loose on his grandest ever assignment. But it relies less on Straussian majesty à la 2001 than something rather more pointed: the hypnotic, metronomically surging, and oddly sacred homage Zimmer gives us to Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass." Todd McCarthy, reviewing for The Hollywood Reporter, praised it as, "soaring, sometimes domineering and unconventionally orchestrated wall-of-sound score" For The Globe and Mail, Liam Lacey stated, "Throughout, Hans Zimmer's music throbs obtrusively, occasionally fighting with the dialogue for our attention." "As usual, Nolan's frequent collaborator Hans Zimmer has come up with a score that fits the impossible dimensions of the film, and the music adds tremendously to the excitement", said critic Rene Rodriguez, writing for The Miami Herald. Steven Biscotti of Soundtrack.net too praised the soundtrack stating, "Hans Zimmer has created a close to perfect musical canvas for those extremely dedicated to the audio experience. The compositional technique on the album may turn off a few, as it is different than Zimmer's recent offerings. However, for those that stick with the album, they will see it 'not go gentle into that good night.' Zimmer's Interstellar rages!" and awarded a perfect five out of five stars.
Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK acclaimed the album, stating, "The orchestration choices, especially the stripped down ensemble and the use of the pipe organ, shows a composer not afraid to think outside the box, and find unique solutions to the musical problems his film presents, and the emotional content of the score is high, but not overwhelming", and summarised with, "It's an absolute lock for an Oscar nomination, and is one of the best scores of 2014."
In his in-depth musical analysis, Mark Richards of Film Music Notes concludes: "Rather than simply being associated with a certain character or group of characters, Zimmer’s themes tend to emphasize the emotions a particular character or group is feeling at various points in the film. Interstellar has at its core an emotional story of love between a father and his daughter. Appropriately, Hans Zimmer places the Murph and Cooper theme front and center in the score . Of course, since the film also includes some riveting action sequences, the score does make use of an action theme, but in typical Zimmer style, this theme serves two different functions as it is also the familial love theme. And Zimmer also captures Interstellar’s focus on the wonder of the natural world in a separate theme. Thus, the score provides an effective glue for the film by drawing emotional links between various events, character motivations, and visual spectacles that might otherwise seem rather disconnected."
"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" (poem by Dylan Thomas) (recited by John Lithgow, Ellen Burstyn, Casey Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Matthew McConaughey, and Mackenzie Foy)
