2001: A Space Odyssey (soundtrack) that shift slowly over time. This technique was pioneered in "Atmosphères", the only Ligeti piece heard in its entirety in the film. Ligeti admired Kubrick's film, but in addition to being irritated by Kubrick's failure to obtain permission directly from him, he was offended that his music was used in a film soundtrack shared by composers Johann and Richard Strauss. The Richard and Johann Strauss pieces and György Ligeti's "Requiem" (the Kyrie section) act as recurring motifs in the film's storyline. Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" is first heard in the opening title which juxtaposes the Sun, Earth, and Moon.
2001: A Space Odyssey (film) as a pessimistic account of human nature and humanity's future. The most extreme of these interpretations state that the fetus floating above the Earth will destroy it." Many of the cataclysmic interpretations of the film appeared inspired by Kubrick's direction of the Cold War film "Dr. Strangelove" just before "2001", which resulted in dark speculation about the use of nuclear weapons orbiting the Earth in "2001". These interpretations were challenged by Clarke, who said: "Many readers have interpreted the last paragraph of the book to mean that he (the fetus) destroyed Earth, perhaps for the purpose of creating a new