On “Star Trek” — the biggest minefield of his three summer films, because of the baggage and fan expectations — Giacchino started composing a year ago and quickly ran into a creative wall trying to write “space adventure music” to match the classic themes of five TV series and 10 movies.

Only when “Star Trek” co-producer (and “Lost” show-runner) Damon Lindelof suggested that Giacchino reset his thinking to the idea that it was “a story about two guys who become best friends” was the composer freed to come up with themes. For Kirk he offered “a sense of building, and of inevitability,” says Abrams, and for Spock “something sad,” says Giacchino, “with a voice that felt alien, not of our place,” that led to the choice of the Chinese stringed erhu as lead instrument.

Via Los Angeles Times