Many of the choir tracks were recorded in the
spring of 1998 a year before the score and the movie were finished. Additional choir
parts were recorded in early 1999. Most of the cues requiring choir were selections
from the fictional opera "Der Korb" which was invented for the movie. Since
these were to be "source music" in the movie they had to be recorded (at least
in rough form) prior to the shoot. Source music is music that is created in the context of
the movie story, such as music played on a radio or coming from a TV set or a CD player
onscreen. In this case, most of the source music was played on a gramophone.
These prerecorded choir tracks were edited to fit the orchestral mix following the
recording session in Budapest. Because the European orchestras tune to A441 rather than
A440 (American tuning) the choir tracks needed to be electronically pitch-shifted to bring
them into tune with the orchestra.
The choir consisted of the following gracious, intelligent,
and talented volunteers from The Spokane Chorale:
