Sphere Entertainment Co. and WaterTower Music have announced the release of The Wizard of Oz at Sphere: The Soundtrack, featuring the original film score newly re-recorded exclusively for the immersive experience currently running at Sphere. Alongside the re-learned orchestral score, the album includes a previously unheard a cappella recording of Judy Garland performing “Over the Rainbow,” presented for the first time in its isolated vocal form.
To create the music for The Wizard of Oz at Sphere, the original vocal stems were carefully separated while the Academy Award-winning orchestral score was completely re-recorded to suit Sphere’s immersive sound environment. Garland’s vocals remain untouched, allowing “Over the Rainbow” to be heard exactly as it was performed live in the studio in 1939, now stripped of orchestration. “I am incredibly excited for everyone to hear my mother’s a cappella recording of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow,’ which captures her incredible artistry at 16 years old,” says Lorna Luft. “This a cappella version highlights not only her incredible ability as both a singer and actor, but also how she brilliantly internalized the lyrics of E.Y. Harburg and the music of Harold Arlen.”
Preserving authenticity was central to the project, with the score performed and re-recorded by an 80-plus-piece orchestra on the same historic scoring stage used for the original 1939 sessions. Period-accurate techniques were employed throughout, including vintage vibrato phrasing and pizzicato string styles, and even the original ocarina used on “If I Only Had a Brain” was sourced and played again, passed down through generations of musicians. Inside Sphere, the new recording is experienced through the venue’s Sphere Immersive Sound system, placing each instrument precisely within a three-dimensional sound field that allows audiences to step directly inside the music.
“At Sphere, audiences hear and experience the beloved score like never before — and now they can take a part of that experience home with them,” says Carolyn Blackwood, Head of Sphere Studios. Grammy Award-winning music supervisor Julianne Jordan adds, “We’re able to hear things in the music that have never been heard before.” The album also features binaural versions of “Cyclone” and “I Am Oz,” incorporating sound design from the in-venue experience for headphone listeners. The soundtrack is now available digitally, offering a new way to experience one of cinema’s most enduring scores.
Track Listing:
- Main Titles (The Wizard of Oz)
- Trouble in School
- “Over the Rainbow”
- Miss Gulch
- Leaving Home
- Crystal Gazing
- Cyclone
- Arrival in Munchkinland
- Munchkinland / Threatening Witch
- Leaving Munchkinland
- Good Fairy Vanishes / Follow the Yellow Brick Road / You’re Off to See the Wizard / The Cornfield
- “If I Only Had a Brain”
- “We’re Off to See the Wizard” (Duet)
- The Apple Orchard, Pt. 1
- The Apple Orchard, Pt. 2
- “If I Only Had a Heart”
- Witch on Roof
- Lament / “We’re Off to See the Wizard” (Trio)
- Into the Forest of Wild Beasts
- “If I Only Had the Nerve” / “We’re Off to See the Wizard” (Quartet) / Poppies / The Spell
- Optimistic Voices
- The City Gates Open
- The Merry Old Land of Oz
- At the Gates of Emerald City
- Magic Smoke Chords
- The Haunted Forest / The Jitterbug’s Attack, Pt. 1
- The Jitterbug’s Attack, Pt. 2
- The Witch’s Castle, Pt. 1
- Toto’s Escape
- The Witch’s Castle, Pt. 2
- Toto Brings News
- March of the Winkies
- Dorothy’s Rescue
- On the Castle Wall
- March of the Winkies (Reprise)
- The Wizard’s Exposé / Emerald City Graduation / Fill-In Awards
- Fill-In Awards / Balloon Ascension
- I Hereby Decree / Glinda Returns
- Delirious Escape / Delirious Escape Continued / End Title / End Cast
- “Over the Rainbow” (A Cappella Version)
- Cyclone (Binaural Version)
- I Am Oz (Binaural Version)