ABSTRACT
An animated motion picture released by Disney studios in 1940. It employed multichannel recording, called “Fantasound” by Disney, for the soundtrack, and featured the music of J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, Dukas, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Ponchielli, Mussorgsky, and Schubert. Deems Taylor narrated the program and the music was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. The performance was recorded at the center of a cluster of polygonal enclosures with rear walls of sound absorbent material. Each enclosure had a separate microphone, so that instrumental groupings were individually recorded. There were also distant microphones to catch the entire orchestra, and the engineers manipulated the separate tracks to create one of the first, large-scale stereo soundtracks. In the theater, the three primary loudspeakers were placed behind the screen, with surround speakers down the side walls for a “surround-sound” effect. While the audio tracks of Fantasia were meant to give an accurate reproduction of an orchestra and not to create sound effects or to synchronize character movements on the screen, the discrete-channel system used in this film added a new dimension to motion pictures, and sound reproduction in general. Unfortunately, World War II and the costs of outfitting theaters with proper equipment put surroundsound motion pictures on hold for a number of years. A new version of Fantasia, featuring the music of Beethoven, Respighi, Gershwin, Shostakovich, St. Saens, Dukas, Elgar, and Stravinsky, with James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, was released in the year 2000 (the only scene they share in common is Mickey Mouse’s starring turn in Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). It has been shown in assorted IMAX, 360-degree theaters, as well as theaters in general release. Both the earlier and later versions are also available on DVD, with CD soundtracks also available.
