# Apollo 13 (soundtrack)

Apollo 13: Music From The Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the 1995 film Apollo 13 featuring an original score composed, conducted and produced by James Horner. The soundtrack was released on June 27, 1995 by MCA Records that compiled seven tracks of score, eight period songs used in the film, and seven tracks of dialogue by the actors at a running time of nearly 78 minutes.
The score was a critical success and was nominated for Best Original Dramatic Score at the 68th Academy Awards, along with Horner's other score for Braveheart, released at the same year. In 2019, the full score was released by Intrada Records at an expanded edition along with the original release, and remastered editions of Horner's full score.

## Track listing

All music is composed by James Horner, except where noted

## Reception

Tom Demalon of AllMusic gave four out of five stars and wrote "The orchestrated score manages to capture the drama of the events in a manner that ranges from quietly stirring to sweepingly epic, with Eurythmic Annie Lennox adding her distinctive, ethereal vocal accompaniment to several of the cuts." A review from Filmtracks.com gave five-stars to the album ranking "easily among the best of the 1990's". Writing for Tracksounds, Christopher Coleman rated 9/10 to the album and summarised "This score obviously inspired David Kneupper's work for the Apollo/ Saturn V Exhibit and who could blame him. Horner's score, like the story of the Apollo 13 mission, has inspired countless and continues to inspire today."
Zanobard Reviews rated 9/10 to the album and commented "James Horner’s score to Apollo 13 is nothing short of “out of this world”. His expert use of instrumentation and vocals make the score the perfect accompaniment to the film, and his near masterful use of tone and emotion is what gets the music to truly stand out from the crowd. The main theme is fantastic, setting an appropriately heroic and patriotic tone for the score while at the same time keeping up tension and drama when they are needed. I do feel that the motif is perhaps a tad overused at times, which makes its appearances at critical moments in the film somewhat less impactful than they should be, but honestly this is a nitpick more than anything else." Music critic Jonathan Broxton wrote "Apollo 13 reveals Horner’s genius in both conception and execution, a score which inspires, rouses, yet also frightens us." James Southall of Movie Wave wrote "It is respectfully heroic and noble but still carries a real dramatic thrust and the emotional climax is wonderful. In the film, every note of the music is perfectly judged; away from it, a constant source of pleasure."
Sean Wilson of MFiles wrote "Horner really hit his peak in the mid-90s with scores such as Apollo 13. Titanic may have scooped the Oscar glory a couple of years later but this is arguably a far more accomplished work, having to bridge the dialogue heavy sections of the movie with graceful verve, and without reducing the film's narrative to the level of tawdry melodrama. In an outstanding year for film music, Horner's work on Apollo 13 soared with the best of them."

## Live performance

Four years after Horner's death in June 2015, the American Youth Symphony orchestra performed the entire score live to picture (along with the special screening of the film) at the Royce Hall in University of California, Los Angeles on November 16, 2019.

## Limited edition

On January 15, 2019, Intrada Records released the expanded edition of the score album, containing Horner's full score for the film.

## Personnel

Credits adapted from CD liner notes.

## Accolades

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
| 1996 | Academy Awards | Best Original Dramatic Score | James Horner | Nominated | [10] [11] [12] |
| 1996 | Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Original Score | James Horner | Nominated | [13] [14] |
| 2019 | International Film Music Critics Association | Best Archival Release of an Existing Score – Re-Release or Re-Recording | James Horner, Mike Matessino, Kay Marshall and John Takis | Nominated | [15] [16] |