You’re probably familiar with the “Sunrise” theme from the beginning of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra. The rising C-G-C motif, the thundering timpani. It was brilliantly used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but has subsequently become very trite, clichéd. Sporting events, TV commercials, video games, Blink-182 and/or Phish concerts, Ric Flair pro-wrestling entrances… Ugh.
I’m sick of it.
The problem is that the remaining 30 minutes of music is arguably even better, but gets overshadowed. Dense, chaotic, mysterious, vigorous. Say what you want about Nietzsche’s bullshit philosophy, but Strauss’s music is dope.
It’s telling that, if you Google Also Sprach Zarathustra, the first few links are to the first two minutes only. Sigh. Here’s the whole thing (skip ahead if you want).
Many Worlds Theory 