Wendy Carlos & Rachel Elkind - The Shining: Main Titles (The Shining: Complete Motion Picture Score By Wendy Carlos)

This track is Carlos’ synthesized adaptation of Hector Berlioz’s interpretation of the medieval Latin funeral dirge Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”) for his Symphonie Fantastique.

Krzysztof Penderecki - Polymorphia for 48 String Instruments (The Exorcist: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 

Polymorphia was originally composed in 1961 by the avant-garde Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. It was also later used, in addition to several other Penderecki compositions, in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. 

Gyorgy Ligeti - Lontano (The Shining: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

“One dimension of my music bears the imprint of a long time spent in the shadow of death both as an individual and as a member of a group [Hungarian Jews during WWII]. Not that it lends a tragic quality to my music, quite the opposite.

Anyone who has been through horrifying experiences is not likely to create terrifying works of art in all seriousness. He is more likely to alienate.”

-Ligeti, quoted in Ligeti in Conversation (1984)

Al Bowlly & the Ray Noble Orchestra – Midnight, the Stars and You