Editing Soundtrack (Season 4)

{{Album Data
| image=BSG Season 4 Soundtrack cover.jpg
| title= Soundtrack (Season 4)
| series=rdm
| albumno= 4
| composer= [[Bear McCreary]]
| label= La-La Land Records
| discs= 2
| prev= [[Soundtrack (Season 3)]]
| next= [[Soundtrack (The Plan/Razor)]]
| amazon= B0028ERCMU
| itunes=http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=VWbyALbmqZY&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fbattlestar-galactica-season%252Fid338022614%253Fuo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30
}}
{{disline|For other ''Battlestar Galactica'' soundtracks, [[Soundtrack|click here]].<br/>
For a general article on the music in ''Battlestar Galactica'', see [[Music of Battlestar Galactica (RDM)]].}}

The '''Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Soundtrack''' was a critical and commercial success upon its release. <ref name="McCreary-Season4Album">{{cite web |url=https://bearmccreary.com/battlestar-galactica-season-4-soundtrack-is-out/#more-2539 |title=Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 Soundtrack Is Out! |author=Bear McCreary |date=2009 |access-date=2025-07-28 |website=Bear McCreary Official Website}}</ref> The album achieved remarkable sales performance, reaching the top 10 in overall music sales on Amazon and becoming both the #1 selling TV soundtrack and #1 selling movie soundtrack.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> La La Land Records was forced to print additional copies after their initial run sold out in pre-orders alone.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

==Production Background==

Composer [[Bear McCreary]] began work on the Season 4 score almost exactly two years before the soundtrack's release.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> McCreary described the emotional intensity of creating music for the series finale, stating that pieces like "Diaspora Oratorio" and "So Much Life" were among the most difficult and emotional experiences he had ever endured as a composer, causing him to break down while working on them.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

The soundtrack album represents a comprehensive collection of McCreary's work on the final season, with many tracks edited, re-mixed, and even re-arranged specifically for the album release.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> McCreary ordered the tracks to provide "a rewarding artistic experience simply as music, separate from the show."<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

==Track Listing==
=== Disc 1===

# '''[[Gaeta's Lament]]'''
#* Featuring [[Alessandro Juliani]], vocals
#* Words by [[Michael Angeli]], Music by [[Bear McCreary]]
#* From the Episode "[[Guess What's Coming to Dinner?]]"
# '''The Signal'''
#* From the Episode "[[Revelations]]"
# '''Resurrection Hub'''
#* From the Episode "[[The Hub]]"
#'''The Cult of Baltar'''
#* Featuring [[Raya Yarbrough]], vocals
#* Words and Music by [[Bear McCreary]]
#* From the Episodes "[[He That Believeth in Me]]" and "[[Escape Velocity]]"
# '''Farewell Apollo'''
#* From the Episode "[[Six of One]]"
# '''Roslin Escapes'''
#* From the Episode "[[Blood on the Scales]]"
# '''Among the Ruins'''
#* From the Episode "[[Sometimes a Great Notion]]"
# '''Laura Runs'''
#* From the Episode "[[A Disquiet Follows My Soul]]"
#'''Cally Descends'''
#* From the Episode "[[The Ties That Bind]]"
# '''Funeral Pyre'''
#* Featuring [[Kandyse McClure]], vocals
#* From the Episode "[[Sometimes a Great Notion]]"
# '''Roslin and Adama Reunited'''
#* From the Episode "[[The Hub]]"
# '''[[Gaeta's Lament]] (Instrumental)'''
#* From the Episode "[[Guess What's Coming to Dinner?]]"
# '''Elegy'''
#* Performed by [[Bear McCreary]], piano
#* From the Episode "[[Someone to Watch Over Me]]"
# '''The Alliance'''
#* From the Episode "[[Revelations]]"
# '''Blood on the Scales'''
#* From the Episodes "[[The Oath]]" and "[[Blood on the Scales]]"
# '''Grand Old Lady'''
#* From the Episode "[[Islanded in a Stream of Stars]]"
# '''Kara Remembers'''
#* From the Episode "[[Someone to Watch Over Me]]"
# '''Boomer Takes Hera'''
#* From the Episode "[[Someone to Watch Over Me]]"
# '''Dreilide Thrace Sonata No. 1'''
#* Performed by [[Bear McCreary]], piano
#* From the Episode "[[Someone to Watch Over Me]]"
# '''Diaspora Oratorio'''
#* Words and Music by [[Bear McCreary]]
#* From the Episode "[[Revelations]]"

===Disc 2: "Daybreak"===

# '''Caprica City, Before the Fall'''
# '''Laura's Baptism'''
# '''Adama in the Memorial Hallway'''
# '''The Line'''
# '''Assault on the Colony'''
#* Featuring [[Raya Yarbrough]], vocals
# '''Baltar's Sermon'''
# '''Kara's Coordinates'''
# '''Earth'''
# '''Goodbye Sam'''
# '''The Heart of the Sun'''
#* Contains "Theme from Battlestar Galactica" by [[Stu Phillips]] and [[Glen A. Larson]]
# '''Starbuck Disappears'''
# '''So Much Life'''
# '''An Easterly View'''
# '''The Passage of Time'''

==Behind the Scenes==

===Cast Collaborations===
The soundtrack features notable collaborations with cast members. '''[[Gaeta's Lament]]''' showcases [[Alessandro Juliani]]'s exceptional vocal abilities, which McCreary discovered when they exchanged demos between Los Angeles and Vancouver.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> McCreary was "absolutely stunned by the quality of his singing" and described Juliani as "a dream collaborator" and "a musical professional."<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> The final recording session took place on McCreary's 30th birthday, making "Gaeta's Lament" both the last piece of music he wrote for the series and the last thing he composed in his twenties.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

'''Funeral Pyre''' features [[Kandyse McClure]] providing her own haunting vocals as her character's ghostly voice during Adama's mourning scene.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

===Technical Achievements===
Several tracks represent significant technical and artistic achievements. '''The Signal''' was described by McCreary as "one of the most technically challenging compositions I've ever done," featuring a Samoan war chant in 7/8 time while percussion "aggressively swings the 16ths."<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

'''Assault on the Colony''' is a massive 15+ minute action cue that McCreary considers "my greatest action cue in the series, easily ranking up there with 'Battle on the Asteroid,' 'Prelude to War' and 'Storming New Caprica.'"<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

'''Kara's Coordinates''' represents what may be "the largest cue ever produced for the series. And possibly ever in the history of recorded music," featuring over 80 tracks of percussion, full orchestra, ethnic woodwinds, and every single musician who had ever played on Galactica.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

===Musical Innovations===
McCreary experimented with various musical approaches throughout the season. '''Roslin Escapes''' was "an interesting experiment" using only authentic Japanese instruments, stripped of the usual bagpipes, synths, and Middle Eastern percussion that typically appeared in action cues.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

'''Among the Ruins''' features a unique stereo effect where violins are seated far left and far right instead of together, creating dissonant, antiphonal lines that produce an acoustic "delay" effect.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> The orchestration deliberately leaves the mid-range empty, with violas, celli and basses holding clusters in their bottom registers while violins play at the top of theirs.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

===Emotional Impact===
McCreary described the emotional toll of composing certain pieces. '''Diaspora Oratorio''' was "one of the most difficult and emotional experiences I've ever endured" and he noted it would "probably be years before I can listen to this composition without breaking down."<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> He considers it "probably the strongest piece of music I've ever written, and I feel that it eclipses everything else on this album."<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

===Special Recordings===
Several tracks feature unique recording circumstances. '''Elegy''' was performed using samples McCreary made of the actual piano on the Galactica hangar deck set, so "when I sat there with the actors and played this song, this is what it sounded like."<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

'''Dreilide Thrace Sonata No. 1''' represents McCreary's completion of a composition that was developed throughout the episode "Someone to Watch Over Me," where he was literally writing sections the night before filming each piano scene.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" /> For the album, he finished the complete sonata and recorded it on a concert grand at the Warner Bros. Scoring Stage.<ref name="McCreary-Season4Album" />

==Press Release==

'''LA-LA LAND RECORDS TO RELEASE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON 4 SOUNDTRACK – THEIR 100th RELEASE'''

Two-CD Set Is Top 10 Best Seller in Overall Music Sales at Amazon.com

Burbank, CA - June 30, 2009– [http://www.lalalandrecords.com La-La Land Records] will release their 100th release as a label&mdash;the special 2-CD set, ''Battlestar Galactica: Season 4'', on July 28, 2009.  The soundtrack cracked the Top 10 at Amazon's Best Seller list for overall music sales, topping both the TV and Movie Soundtrack Charts.  The soundtrack features music from Seasons 4 and 4.5 with one disc dedicated to the music from "Daybreak" the stunning series finale.  La-La Land Records is releasing the ''Battlestar Galactica: Season 4'' soundtrack through a license agreement with NBC Universal Television, DVD, Music and Consumer Products Group.

The music from Battlestar Galactica became an integral part of the series, interwoven into plotlines and even performed by cast members, like the track "Gaeta's Lament", sung by [[Alessandro Juliani]] ([[Felix Gaeta]]) or "Dreilide Thrace Sonata No. 1" which was a key plot point in the episode "[[Someone to Watch Over Me]]". 

''Battlestar Galactica: Season 4'' will be available in stores nationwide and online on www.lalalandrecords.com, www.nbcuniversalstore.com, and www.amazon.com. The two-CD soundtrack will feature music from seasons 4.0 and 4.5 and the music from "Daybreak," the series finale. The CD booklet features 20 pages of pictures and extensive liner notes, including 8 pages of notes from the cast and crew talking about the music and composer Bear McCreary, who [[Jamie Bamber]] ([[Lee Adama|Lee 'Apollo' Adama]]) calls 'the 13th Cylon" and [[Mary McDonnell]] ([[Laura Roslin]]) said "Bear understands character and plot and action as musical poetry and we were blessed to have him."

Season 4 composer McCreary was recently called one of the top 10 composers "that make space adventures epic" by www.io9.com.  His work on the television series ''Battlestar Galactica'' has been described as offering "some of the most innovative music on TV today," by Variety, and his blog www.bearmccreary.com/blog, which features in-depth inside looks at the process of scoring ''Battlestar Galactica'', was called "one of the best blogs in the business. It's a fascinating look at the process of making music for film and television and the care he takes with aligning the score with the twists and turns of each character's plot lines," by The Hollywood Reporter. 

McCreary's feature film credits include ''Wrong Turn 2'' and the ''Rest Stop'' films.  He also scores the series ''Eureka'', the upcoming SyFy series, and ''Battlestar Galactica'' prequel, ''[[Caprica (series)|Caprica]]'', the Capcom video game ''Dark Void'', the upcoming series ''Human Target'' and ''Trauma'' and ''[[The Plan|Battlestar Galactica: The Plan]]''.  McCreary was among a handful of select protégés of late film music legend Elmer Bernstein and is a classically trained composer with degrees in Composition and Recording Arts from the prestigious USC Thornton School of Music.  

Also available from La-La Land Records are McCreary's soundtracks for [[Soundtrack|''Battlestar Galactica'' Seasons 1, 2, and 3]], ''[[Soundtrack (Caprica)|Caprica]]'', ''[[amazon:B001B0BAWU|Eureka]]'', ''[[amazon:B001FWPY0S|Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', ''[[amazon:B000TLUFG4|Wrong Turn 2]]'' and the ''[[amazon:B001DZDTCC|Rest Stop]]'' films. 

About Universal Cable Productions:

Universal Cable Productions was established to create a sustainable pipeline of quality content and derive the greatest value from it across multiple platforms.  The studio will be an industry leader in unique and innovative programming for USA and Syfy, and all cable networks.  

About NBC Universal Television DVD, Music, and Consumer Products Group:

NBC Universal is a leader in providing entertainment programming to the domestic and international marketplaces. NBC Universal Television DVD, Music, and Consumer Products Group manages all global ancillary television business endeavors for the NBC Universal Television Group, including third-party home entertainment distribution, consumer products, musical soundtracks, special markets projects and the NBC Universal Online Store.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External Links==
*[http://www.bearmccreary.com/blog/?p=2107  Blog entry] of [[Bear McCreary]] about the BSG Season 4 soundtrack.

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