Is this music a “real” Russian song or was it composed for the movie? I could listen to a loop of that track all day long–I love it so much.
It was composed for the movie, but it’s real Russian all right. It’s not a real Russian song, I mean–it’s the composer’s own work and all–but the words are all right and the choir was Russian.
The sad thing was that Poledouris (who also composed the music for Conan the Barbarian) composed material for The Hunt for Red October that was not used in the final cut of the movie.
Includes reviews, audio clips, track listings, pictures, and other notes about The Hunt for Red October soundtrack by Basil Poledouris
Much of the score was removed from the film and several other cues were mixed repeatedly where Poledouris probably didn’t intend them. As many as ten major cues were either cut completely, such as the opening moments of the film that featured silence instead, or cut short, including some of the score’s major action pieces. Even the end credits music consisted of a highly rearranged version of “Nuclear Scam.” And if you’re looking for answers to your questions about the Red October score on its woefully short commercial album, don’t expect any answers. The 30-minute album is nothing short of a disgrace, partly because of the music not included in its length, but mostly because of a truly terrible quality of sound that fluctuates wildly from track to track. For a film with such glorious surround mixes, including a superior presentation of the score’s recording in the movie, Red October teases you with musical creativity on screen that you’ll never hear on album.
Intro of the movie with only the music:
it’s positively haunting, isn’t it?!