Sarah Coulter/Paramount+
“Star Trek” fans are still talking about the music of the final season of “Picard”. That’s because the gorgeous symphonic music by Stephen Burton and Frederick Wiedmann references multiple themes throughout the 57-year history of “Trek” movies and TV shows.
Burton, who worked on seven of the ten episodes and worked with Wiedmann on the finale, says the idea came from showrunner Terry Matalas. “From the very beginning, we talked a lot about Star Trek, which we grew up with. This was a moment for the franchise to step back and look at the big picture and think, how can we honor this? .”
Matalas has an “amazingly vast knowledge” of Trek music, Wiedmann said. “He’s just as passionate about film scores as we are. Terry had a very clear idea of where the music was going, so in the end it was very helpful to us.”
Star Trek: The Next Generation by Jerry Goldsmith (originally written for 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture) and 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact Themes are ubiquitous, but there are also quotes from James Horner’s music from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Khan’s Wrath (1982), Leonard Rosenman’s Voyage Home (1986), Goldsmith’s The Last Frontier (1989), Cliff Eidelman’s The Unknown Lands (1991). 1994), Dennis McCarthy’s Generations (1994), Goldsmith’s “Voyager” theme (1995) and, of course, Alexander Courage’s original “Trek” fanfare in 1966.
These musical Easter eggs were fun for enthusiasts, but they also required a huge amount of original music to be created. The orchestra consisted of 70 to his 82 players per session.
“This is just a massive undertaking,” says Wiedmann. “Because I had to compose everything and record it with a large orchestra every two weeks.” In fact, that’s why he was brought on. Burton said that for his first six episodes he had written four and a half hours of music, but as he puts it, “I had just died.”
Burton composed the theme for the USS Titan, the ship that Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Riker (Jonathan Frakes) command in their quest to confront the Changelings that threaten Starfleet. A family motif of Picard, Crusher (Gates McFadden), and his son Jack (Ed Speleers), who is endowed with mysterious powers. And works of dark shades that represent intrigue.
Matalas used Wiedmann in three of the final four episodes, but there was little connection. The “monumental, life-changing email,” as Wiedmann puts it, ended up in the spam folder. Fortunately, Matalas contacted the composer’s representative and summoned him immediately.
Wiedmann’s contributions include a seven-minute neoclassical piece for the villain Vadic (Amanda Plummer), as well as Borg music and Jack and Picard motifs.
Altogether, the two composers wrote and recorded over seven hours of music in four months, which both said was the high point of their careers. “‘Next Gen’ is the show I grew up watching and it’s a real honor to be entrusted with it,” Burton said.
Wiedmann added: “When you’re 12 or 13 and you’re trying to be a film composer, your dream is to work on ‘Star Trek’ or ‘Star Wars.’ That’s awesome.”
