Bear McCreary

is a name little known outside of TV circles. He is the music composer from Battlestar Galactica, and the guy responsible for the jarring percussion mixed with flutes and sitar which make up the weekly musical score.


"FILM MUSIC RADIO" (the website) had this to say about Bear McCreary's work:

Imagine Celtic bagpipes playing inside an intergalactic war machine. Then try hearing Japanese Taiko drums pounding in place of any sound effects during a space battle. Then you can begin to imagine the alternative sound that composer Bear McCreary has brought to the traditional space opera with his music for the Sci-Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica."

An accordion virtuoso and protégée of the late Elmer Bernstein, the 26 year-old McCreary had helped composer Richard Gibbs pioneer Galactica's sound during its first appearance as a Sci-Fi Channel two-part movie. When its success took "Galactica" to series, Gibbs found himself unable to score the program on, leaving his protege to take the Battlestar into a brave new musical world. And McCreary has done it with style over the course of two seasons, replacing the symphonic space opera sound with a minimal, ethnic approach, achieving "Galactica"'s goal of making viewers take what was once Star Wars-inspired camp with absolute seriousness. No more so than with its music's meditative tone.

McCreary's website has some choice audio and video bits demonstrating how music blends with the wonderful visuals of the show and helps to set the tone for a shot.

Check it out! Play a few! McCreary is quite a virtuoso.









(copyright SCI FI Channel 2006. For review purposes.)