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Showing content with the highest reputation on 23/05/15 in Posts

  1. Abrams would sweat a lot more over editing Williams' music than Jackson would, that's for damn sure. It would probably give him nightmares, and he'd send Johnny a card.
    2 points
  2. Ludwig

    Johnny's Mystery Chords

    Yes, of course the first chord is not exactly octatonic (my bad for doing this too late and too fast!). But I think it's important that it's extremely close to that. All that's off is the D, which should be Db. It's like those "fuzzy" relationships we've discussed before where something almost but not exactly fits some concept - surely the product of doing these things intuitively rather than systematically. Though in this case, the combination of those two minor chords I cited (F#- + G-) is, as you agree, the way I would describe them, especially since minor chords are one of Williams' bread-and-butter techniques in writing underscoring. I've updated the post to reflect the "almost" quality of the octatonic here. And I agree with hearing a combined (0123) and (0134) in the brass. We might even think of these as another fuzzy relation. (0134) is also an octatonic subset. The wind chord works well as several manipulations of (026) and that's probably the best way to understand it. And again, it's another subset of the octatonic scale. I suppose what I'm starting to see here is a compositional pattern of what could be called "linked eclectic" writing. In other words, the use of several different but related techniques in the same segment. Here, we have: - tonal polychord (F#- + G-) - polychord of fuzzy-related sets - single-set manipulation - octatonic polychords - octatonic clusters And all of these chords have strong elements of the octatonic. This ensures a sense of cohesion among the disparate techniques. So what I'm starting to see are layers of composition: the smallest building blocks are the trichords, tetrachords, and tonal chords, the mid-size blocks are the near-consistent use of one technique with these blocks to produce the larger chords in each orchestral family, and the largest layer is the resulting compound polychord that creates an enormously frightening sound, perfect for this moment in the film.
    1 point
  3. Cheers mate. A few points - I like the designation of the three octatonic collections as C,Db; C#,D; and D,Eb. Dodges the potential confusion from just calling them collection 1, 2 and 3. - The first cluster (strings - I really should've named the orchestral groups) isn't from any octatonic scale. It conforms closest to the D Harmonic Major scale. Either counting it as that; breaking it down into a hexachord ([0,1,3,4,7,8] or 6-z19), further divided into two interlocking [0,1,3,4] and [0,1,4,5] tetrachords; or as two interlocking T1/11 related minor triads; seems to be the way to go. - The combined brass superset is [0,1,2,3,5,6,8,9] or 8-18, and is built from a chromatic tetramirror [0,1,2,3] plus an alternating tetramirror [0,1,3,4], a major second apart. What it's interesting is the G,Ab,Bb,B [0,1,3,4] subset is a transposition of the strings' F#,G,A,Bb. When both sets are mapped against each other we have two chromatic clusters, are are only two pitches way from a totally chromatic chord. - I think it's worth pointing out the prevalent [0,2,6] whole tone set, from the Db-Eb-G embedded in the trombone trichord, to the Bb-D-E in the horns' pentachord. The woodwind chord also appears to me based exclusive on these trichords, inverted and transposed. I've omitted the duplicated high G6 to make it clearer. - I agree on the final two chords in the strings and the brass being octatonic compound constructions, based on the C-Db collection. It seems to me what Williams is doing is pitting atonal elements against either octatonic or non-diatonic but tonal elements. I love that we're deconstructing 5 seconds of music depicting Nazis being lasered by a fucking gold-plated chest. Just shows how much thought Williams puts into these relatively insignificant moments.
    1 point
  4. The "Miracle of the Ark" chords are essentially a number of octatonic scales put together into a compound polychord - that is, a series of polychords, most of which are arranged as combinations of tonal harmonies ("OCT" means "octatonic scale"' and the subscript letters indicate where the semitone around C or D is in the scale. I've also added (+x) notation to show bristling notes, or notes added to regular tonal harmonies. The spacing of the diagram reflects that of the score above. Also note that the Eb notated in the second OCT cluster is actually an Fb in the cue - but an otherwise impeccable transcription by Sharky): OCTD,Eb + OCTC#,D = Ab7 + mainly secundal dyads OCTC,C# Cluster = OCTC,C# Cluster = Db-(+b5) + Gadd6(+b3) Closed cluster (almost) OCTC#,D Cluster = OCTC,C# Cluster = F#- + G- Eb7 + A7 + Gbadd9(+#1) E Bass (part of OCTC,C#)
    1 point
  5. People seem to be oversimplifying the process here based on one partial quote from Williams. It's not like JJ just strolled by his office and said, in passing, "just do your thing buddy!" and walked off, never to be seen again. They've had spotting sessions, they've held meetings, Williams has played the music for JJ on piano where he invariably has given feedback, etc. My take on the full quote is that he likens the process of working with Abrams to Lucas in that the actual writing process is done with freedom, but before that happens they still have detailed discussions about the emotional content and utility of the music within the movie.
    1 point
  6. That's the recording but Sharky is asking for "la partition" of the Flute Concerto, aescalle.
    1 point
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