A large orchestral piece, inspired by the classic film music of science fiction cinema, perfect for cross-over, pops programs. A symphonic love letter to science fiction!

Anyone familiar with the 1980s sci-fi cinema boosted by the success of Steven Spielberg should note the obvious reference in the title of this piece. The 1987 sci-fi adventure, directed by Joe Dante and produced by Spielberg, was one of my favourite movies as a teenager.

When the enthusiastic Gothia Concentus commissioned me to write Innerspace, the task was to write a stand-alone concert work that would serve as companion piece to an impressive set list of well-known genre works primarily from the world of film, but also video games. Since all of the other pieces were written for sci-fi adventures taking place in outer space, I wanted to go in the other direction - inwards.

My piece and its storyline is inspired by that of Joe Dante?s movie, and of course, even more so by the ingenious 1960s sci-fi gem Fantastic Voyage. I would not say, though, that the music itself is particularly inspired by the scores written for these films (by Jerry Goldsmith and Leonard Rosenman) - it?s more of a love letter to all of the great sci-fi music written in the past century.

Innerspace is in large doses based on an octatonic scale which I developed based on a chord progression that has been in my head since I was a teenager, just waiting for the righ opportunity to ?come out?. The piece makes a condensed journey from the stark and alarming opening, through atmospheric passages which are almost bitonal in character, via stirring action and heroic scherzo motifs to a triumphant finale.

It is my intention that this piece should be entertaining, fun and exciting for the post-modern symphony audience, as well as a lot of fun for the players and conductor who share my love for the great sci-fi movies!

Duration: ca 7:30

Instrumentation: 3(1.2.pic)3(1.2.eh)3(1.2.bcl)3(1.2.cbn) - 6652(1opt) - timp.3perc - hp.pno - str.

Mikael Carlsson
January 2019

The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction film directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose son will one day save mankind from extinction by a hostile artificial intelligence in a post-apocalyptic future. Michael Biehn plays Kyle Reese, a soldier sent back in time to protect Sarah. The screenplay is credited to Cameron and producer Gale Anne Hurd, while co-writer William Wisher Jr. received a credit for additional dialogue.

Cameron devised the premise of the film from a fever dream he experienced during the release of his first film, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), in Rome, and developed the concept in collaboration with Wisher. He sold the rights to the project to fellow New World Pictures alumni Hurd on the condition that she would produce the film only if he were to direct it; Hurd eventually secured a distribution deal with Orion Pictures, while executive producers John Daly and Derek Gibson of Hemdale Film Corporation were instrumental in setting up the film's financing and production. Originally approached by Orion for the role of Reese, Schwarzenegger agreed to play the title character after befriending Cameron. Filming, which took place mostly at night on location in Los Angeles, was delayed because of Schwarzenegger's commitments to Conan the Destroyer (1984), during which Cameron found time to work on the scripts for Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Aliens (1986). The film's special effects, which included miniatures and stop-motion animation, were created by a team of artists led by Stan Winstonand Gene Warren Jr.

Defying low pre-release expectations, The Terminator topped the United States box office for two weeks, eventually grossing $78.3 million against a modest $6.4 million budget. It is credited with launching Cameron's film career and solidifying Schwarzenegger's status as a leading man. The film's success led to a franchiseconsisting of several sequels, a television series, comic books, novels and video games. In 2008, The Terminator was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise originating from the 1960s television series Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. That series, now often known as "The Original Series", debuted on September 8, 1966, and aired for three seasons on NBC. It followed the voyages of the starship USS Enterprise, a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century, on a mission "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before". In creating Star Trek, Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester'sHoratio Horn blower series of novels, Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, and television westerns such asWagon Train.

The Star Trek canon includes the Original Series, nine spin-off television series, and a film franchise; further adaptations also exist in several media. After the conclusion of the Original Series, the adventures of its characters continued in the 22-episode Star Trek: The Animated Series and six feature films. A television revival beginning in the 1980s saw three sequel series and a prequel: Star Trek: The Next Generation, following the crew of a new starshipEnterprise a century after the original series; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, set in the same era as the Next Generation; andEnterprise, set before the original series in the early days of human interstellar travel. The adventures of the Next Generation crew continued in four additional feature films. In 2009, the film franchise underwent a reboot, creating an alternate continuity known as the Kelvin timeline; three films have been set in this continuity. The newest Star Trek television revival, beginning in 2017, includes the series Star Trek: Discovery, Picard, Short Treks, and Lower Decks, streaming exclusively on digital platforms. At least two additional television series are in development: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Prodigy.

Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek

X-Men: Apocalypse is a 2016 American superhero film directed and produced by Bryan Singer and written by Simon Kinberg from a story by Singer, Kinberg, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris. The film is based on the fictional X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics and is the ninth installment in the X-Menfilm series. It is the sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult,Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, and Lucas Till. In the film, the ancient mutant En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse is inadvertently revived in 1983, and he plans to wipe out modern civilization and take over the world, leading the X-Men to try to stop him and defeat his team of mutants.

The film was announced by Singer in December 2013, with Kinberg, Dougherty, and Harris attached to develop the story. Casting began in October 2014, whileprincipal photography commenced in April 2015 in Montreal and ended in August of the same year.

X-Men: Apocalypse premiered in London on May 9, 2016, and was released in the United States on May 27, 2016 in 3D and 2D, and in IMAX 3D in select international markets. The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising its themes, direction, and acting performances, while the portrayal of Apocalypse, overuse of CGI, and formulaic nature of the film were criticized. A sequel, titled Dark Phoenix, was released on June 7, 2019.

Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Apocalypse

Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first of which is A Game of Thrones. The show was shot in the United Kingdom, Canada, Croatia, Iceland,Malta, Morocco, and Spain. It premiered on HBO in the United States on April 17, 2011, and concluded on May 19, 2019, with 73 episodes broadcast over eight seasons.

Set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, Game of Thrones has a large ensemble cast and follows several story arcs throughout the course of the show. The first major arc concerns the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros through a web of political conflicts among the noble families either vying to claim the throne or fighting for independence from whoever sits on it. A second focuses on the last descendant of the realm's deposed ruling dynasty, who has been exiled to Essos and is plotting a return and reclaim the throne. The third follows the Night's Watch, a military order defending the realm against threats from beyond Westeros's northern border.

Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones