Kanon

**Kanon** is a song used in the 1980 film *The Shining*. It does not appear on the The Shining Soundtrack.

## History

 Copyright
 The canon is a “contrapuntal procedure which consists in making one part start the melody and then making other parts follow it by imitating the melodic design” (*Enciclopedia Universale Garzanti*). In Penderecki’s case, there is a timbric experimentation more than a melody. The piece can be divided into 5 parts, following the ABABA structure, as follows:
A1: We hear uncertain sounds, which presage something negative.
B1: There is a succession of confused and strident sounds. The performance is recorded on 2 magnetic tapes, which are played afterwards.
A2: We hear the A1 recording, over which the orchestra plays.
B2: We hear the B1 recordings of both tapes: the first from 2’00” to 2’58”, the second from 2’47” to 4’00”. Again, the orchestra plays over the recordings. There are thus, 3 sonorous sources: the result is incredibly frantic, explosive and disturbing.
A3: the orchestra plays phrases similar to the ones of A1, over the recording of A1. We realise that this description may seem inappropriate or limited from a musicological point of view, but our intention is solely to make clear our
observations which follow regarding the film, so this seemed to be the best choice.
The piece was performed for the first time on 21 of September 1962 in Warsaw by the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester of Katowice directed by Jan Krenz.

## Scenes used

 Copyright
 1- Imprecise point while Jack Torrance smashes the door of the apartment – Jack screams after wounding himself
The piece starts from B1 (see information about the piece), which is interrupted after a few seconds and starts again immediately (so there is no perception of the cut in the recording), and proceeds until the end of B1. Here Stainforth made numerous alterations to the recording, especially by making the string’s screeching constant (e.g. between 2’19” and 2’25” or similar). The most evident alteration is that when Jack smashes through the door, pulls out the axe and pokes his head through the hole: Stainforth has reduced the duration of the pauses to make the music perfectly coincide with Jack’s movements. From now until the moment when Jack turns the knob of the bathroom door, the piece has no alterations. A few seconds before Jack knocks at the bathroom door, B2 starts, and gets interrupted at 6’21”, while Wendy says «Run!» to Danny. Now we can hear fragments of A1 (0’58” – 1’10” ca), until a moment after Wendy has picked up the knife from the basin, when we can hear B2 again from 6’50” ca. B2 proceeds until its end, while Wendy says «Jack, please, don’t!». Now we can hear an imprecise part of A1, until the cut (from inside the bathroom) to Jack smashing the door: here B2 follows from 3’06” ca, overlapped for a few seconds with A1, and proceeds until Jack screams (3’37”ca). In the DD 5.1 remix, there are two mistakes: first, the initial seconds of B1, which were heard before B1 itself restarted, are absent (so the overall perception is that the piece starts later than in the original mix); second, the Kanon proceeds for a few seconds on the shot of Dick Hallorann, instead of disappearing on the shot of Jack.
2- A moment before Jack switches on the outdoor lights – cut to Wendy Torrance in the kitchen

The mix of the piece is particularly complex, so our analysis is provisional. The piece starts during A1 (1’30” ca) and proceeds with B1 until 3’00” ca. From 2’19” ca, there is an overlapping of B1 from 3’10” ca to 4’00”. In some ways, we could say that Stainforth made an analogue operation to that of Penderecki in B2 (see information about the piece). In the remix, there is an error: the overlapped portion starts from an earlier point.
3- Jack chases Danny Torrance (after Wendy’s encounter with the injured guest) – cut to Danny hiding in the maze

The piece starts at 2’00” and goes on until Jack’s line «I’m right behind you!»; we cannot define the minute of the recording, because it has been substantially altered, apparently in the same way as in the 1st sequence described above. After Jack’s line the piece restarts from 2’50” ca, proceeding to 2’58”; from now 3’01” ca a pause has been removed. From 3’01” the piece proceeds uninterruptedly until 3’59” ca; now we can hear again the Kanon from 2’40” to 2’50” ca. These 10 seconds are nearly imperceptible, because reduced in the volume and mixed with Jutrznia – Kanon Paschy, Piesni 1, 3, 6, 9. In the remix, the Kanon seems to interrupt itself at 4’00”: the ten “additional” seconds have been erroneously mixed later. After Jack’s line, there has been a cut: Kubrick has removed a short sequence (visible in the USA version) in which Wendy is running inside the Overlook when it suddenly becomes dark and she sees the guests’ skeletons in the lobby. Immediately after Wendy’s scream, we can hear the Kanon again, from 2’40” ca to 2’50” ca, and it proceeds, and it proceeds uninterruptedly over the shot of Jack, as we can hear in the international version of the film.
4- Danny runs towards the maze exit – Wendy and Danny escape

 The Film Soundtrack