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Released in 1982, the dystopian BLADE RUNNER was directed by Ridley Scott (THE DUELLISTS, ALIEN) and featured Harrison Ford. Celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2012, BLADE RUNNER has become a cult film favorite the world over.

Vangelis’ score has been released in several different incarnations, but none of them are accurate representations of what was heard in the original 1982 film. Largely because of a dispute between Vangelis and Scott over the director’s use of his music in the film, a proper soundtrack of the music as it is heard in the film has never been commercially issued.

BUYSOUNDTRAX Records seeks to correct this oversight, with a new recording faithfully recreating the original music from the film, which proved to be a difficult task.  Vangelis’ score was composed entirely by performing on keyboards and recording it directly, so no written transcriptions exist. Composer Edgar Rothermich was charged with reverse engineering the score – listening to the original music and a 1982 album mock-up and transcribing it by ear.  He also had to recreate the sound of 1982 synthesizers and decipher if noise heard was due to recording on tape or stylistic choices by the composer.

“BLADE RUNNER is the most difficult kind of score to deconstruct,” said BSX producer Ford A. Thaxton

A 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION is a new recording of the classic score composed by Vangelis

produced and performed by Edgar Rothermich

Classic Film Scores: The Best of 2012 (Film Music Society - Jon Burlingame)

Vangelis' indelible electronic score for the 1982 sci-fi classic, newly realized in its entirety by German composer Edgar Rothermich. Previous recordings have offered excerpts, but this marks the first time the full score has been legitimately available in full, authentic-sounding form, vintage synths and all.

Ain't it Cool News (ScoreKeeper)

For those who have been unsatisfied with all the previous BLADE RUNNER editions, this has a good chance of winning you over. The album is extremely well done and most importantly, respectful to the original material.

NY Film Music Examiner (Danny Gonzalez)

BSX Records re-recording is dead on accurate to Vangelis' original recording and that's a great credit to Ford Thaxton and Edgar Rothermich who arranged and performed the music with great results. I honestly didn't know what to expect from this release, but after listening to it several times, this is the best interpretation of the score outside of it's original tracks. You can tell by listening to it that it was a well thought out project and the execution of it is simply great.


After 30 years, Blade Runner is still an absolute masterpiece of sci-fi cinema which is light years better than today's films and a film that time has caught up with in great ways which includes Vangelis' great score in which this re-recording does full justice to.


Excellent! High Recommendation. A+

Film Music Magazine (Daniel Schweiger)

If Edgar Rothermich is indeed a replicant of Vangelis, then his DNA is only one generation away from the source here. Having collaborated with Tangerine Dream member Christopher Franke, Rothermich certainly has the 80â€Čs synth chops to astoundingly recreate “Blade Runner”‘s score from ear alone. Seemingly performed on the original computer banks that “Blade Runner” magically sprang from in Vangelis’ “electronic laboratory,” Rothermich’s gear is perfectly attuned.

Rothermich’s attention to detail is so fastidious that we even get the piano-tapping cue “Deckard’s Dream,” complete with the sound of passing flying cars at its start, and the voices of the Unicorn that marked him as artificial life.

Home Theatre Forum (Neil Middlemiss)

Blade Runner: 30th Anniversary Celebration boasts an impressive adherence to the music we hear when watching the film. It is, like the antagonists central to the story, a replication nearly indistinguishable from the original. Standout tracks include the “Main Titles”, with the sputtering boom of drums echoing against an isolating synth sound, drowning off occasionally as a siren might.

It is a gifted piece of music and perhaps the finest example of how faithful and precise Rothermich’s recreation has been.

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Reviews

Blade Runner - Soundtrack