The musical score for Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, crafted by John Williams, was captured across 18 recording sessions. These sessions took place at Anvil Studios and Abbey Road Studios over a span of three days in December 1979, followed by an additional six days in January 1980, all performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. In the period between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Williams engaged the London Symphony Orchestra for the film scores of The Fury, Superman, and Dracula. This musical work garnered Williams yet another nomination for an Oscar.
The soundtrack's initial release was a 75-minute double LP, appearing five days ahead of the film's premiere. However, the first compact disc version only contained half the duration of the double LP.
Similar to the soundtrack of the initial Star Wars film, the album for Empire was put together by music editor Ken Wannberg, guided by the directions of John Williams. Williams himself handpicked 75 minutes of music for this soundtrack, which was then edited and reordered into a program intended to provide a "pleasant listening experience". Once again, the cues on this album do not utilize the film mixes created by Eric Tomlinson. Instead, they were remixed by John Neal from the 24-track master recordings. This practice would be discontinued for subsequent Star Wars albums, as the soundtrack for Return of the Jedi would employ the film mixes. Notably, the European version of the Empire soundtrack featured a different arrangement compared to the US release. As it was presented as a single LP, it included only 40 minutes of music instead of 75, and the track order was also altered for reasons that remain unclear. Despite these differences, the tracks themselves shared the same content as the US program, as they originated from the same master recordings.
Polydor later released the European soundtrack program on CD worldwide in 1985. Unfortunately, these Polydor CDs only included 40 minutes of music due to their reliance on the European program. This release utilized the same master recordings as the original LP, preserving the edits and John Neal mixes. While this release offered a welcome improvement in audio quality compared to the original LP, it couldn't fully replace it due to the omission of certain musical pieces.
In 2004, Sony Classical obtained the rights to the classic trilogy scores, as they already held the rights to release the soundtracks for the second trilogy (The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones). In that same year, Sony Classical re-pressed the 1997 RCA Victor release of the Special Edition Star Wars trilogy, which included The Empire Strikes Back. The set was released in a somewhat underwhelming package, with the new artwork mirroring the film's initial DVD release. Despite Sony's digital remastering efforts, which resulted in subtle audio enhancements noticeable only on high-end sound systems, this 2004 release remained essentially the same as the 1997 RCA Victor release.
The original American soundtrack masters were finally made available in a format other than vinyl in 2016 by Sony Classical, who rereleased them as part of the "Ultimate Digital Collection" shortly before they lost the rights. This release was derived from a new, high-quality scan of the soundtrack master, retaining the John Neal mixes and original edits. The Ultimate Digital Collection was available on platforms like HDTracks in lossless formats up to 192 kHz/24-bit, while the Polydor CD offered standard CD quality at 44.1 kHz/16-bit. Furthermore, since it featured the American program rather than the European one, it included an additional 35 minutes of music that had never been available digitally before (at least in their John Neal mixes). The Ultimate Digital Collection is no longer available for purchase since Walt Disney Records assumed the rights.
On May 4, 2018, Walt Disney Records issued a newly remastered version of the original 1980 album program on CD, digital download, and streaming platforms. Supervised by Shawn Murphy and Skywalker Sound, this version was transferred to a new hi-resolution (24/192) format. This remaster was newly assembled from the highest-quality tapes available, rather than sourced from the existing 1980 album masters. This release represents the first time the complete 1980 soundtrack album has been available on CD.
- The Empire Strikes Back (soundtrack) on Wikipedia
- The Empire Strikes Back Soundtrack in the StarWars.com Cargo Bay (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack at Discogs