Leaderboard

I must admit I don't understand the negative remarks surrounding the choir/mystery/love bits of the score here. It's my favourite part of the score, it's the very SOUL of it, and if there was just the action and suspense cues, it would be a rather run-of-the-mill affair.

I think the electronic choir sounds like 90s midi samples.

Some personal recollections. JW was incredibly gracious and professional. For instance, the orchestra would tune up at 10am and exactly after they tuned up he walks on stage ready to get to work. No lengthy talk, straight to the point and music is playing at 10:01. He had tons of anecdotes as most great musicians do. He mentioned speaking with Steven (Spielberg) earlier that day on a new film they were working on (it was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and we were all wowed. He said something about having the same expectations of the school orchestra as he would any orchestra and immediately jumped in to the music. The students were all excited and nervous as you would imagine but he immediately made everyone feel at ease with his gentle approach. He certainly didn't call out each issue or mistake. The obvious ones, the players knew already. There was a lot of focus on balance. Who needs to be louder or blend better and it was always stated with tact. "Trumpets, this is your moment" or "I invite you to play out that flute solo and I will wait for you" sort of things. It was completely natural so you know this was just the type of person he was. We had many opportunities to talk with him and engage him yet he was also somewhat off limits. The general impression I got was there was a specific time he is available to be approached and otherwise give him his space if that makes sense. The musicians adored him and fully respected and understood this was a major moment in their life. I do remember he made a very gracious gesture to another student, basically signed a letter of recommendation. The student looked shell shocked in disbelief "I just got his signature endorsing me". I don't recall who this was and didn't read the letter other than appreciate the momentous occasion that had just happened to this lucky fellow. He will forever have JW's personal endorsement of him. Then at the concert, it felt like a rock concert. The ovation was tremendous with plenty of hoots and hollers and must have lasted 10 to 15 minutes. He even stood aside for some of the applause to recognize the soloists and orchestra. Even the horn soloist, Jim Thatcher was star struck and nervous. I also recall the first time I spoke with him backstage, I was incredibly nervous. Couldn't look him in the eyes. His trailer was just 20 feet away from the back door entrance. He approached swiftly with baton and scores in his hand. I remember him looking larger than I expected, broader shoulders and strong. I said something very stupid I'm sure but as the week progressed, he became a little bit more familiar sight and more comfortable to approach. I am sure this was all in my head. We had a few exchanges including pictures and advice for musicians and composers.

It’s aged very well. Timeless film and score. The action music is OK, but ultimately not that interesting to me. But dig the music for love scenes, mystery of the ocean, the choir, the electronics, all that stuff. That’s TITANIC to me.

This popped up earlier this month on YouTube, not sure if it was mentioned here all those years ago or slipped under the radar. Enjoy!

John Williams - The Post. I love those piano cues! Pure gold old-fashionned Williams! Edit: Oh I’ll play Sabrina right after!

First of all, the 'synth choir' isn't in a lot of tracks. I sometimes feel people dismiss TITANIC as a "New Age album" or something, when -- in reality -- most of the score is straightforward orchestral action music or romantic music. It's the old LADYHAWKE syndrome (the pop beats are used in marginal transportation and action sequences in the film, but the majority is old school orchestral fantasy scoring or medieval music -- yet it's the former people evaluate it by, and only that). Second, I like the approach in doing it with samples rather than real choir. Makes it more unique, and adds more of a character, sonically (less traditional). A sort of lofty, ethereal quality "not of this world". Wouldn't want it any other way.

I have always assumed that the dance sequence at the beginning of the film was a homage to the kaleidoscopic dance sequences devised by Busby Berkeley in so many musicals of the 1930s and 1940s. Many of those sequences had a fantasy element which involved far more dancers and far more elaborate routines than the location in the movie would allow 'in real life'. I feel sure that Spielberg was just paying tribute to Busby Berkeley, especially as the film is set in the same period (the mid 1930s) as when those dance sequences were popular. Here is a typical example from Gold Diggers of 1935.

It’s still incredibly effective when watching the film it was scored for. So yes my friend, it’s aged well.

You still belong in the exclusive club of those who have the DVD-As!

I am not sure if this deserves a new thread, but Wow, i loved it! I would definitely watch a movie of this although I'm generally against remakes.

Not me. I liked being in an exclusive club and lording my timely purchase over those less fortunate. Now that all the rabble have access to this set, it all feels a bit less special. Why couldn't they just be happy with their torrents?

John Williams is also a pretty good guitar player

POTC1. I still really like it. Good plot, Keira Knightley is as good as ever, Depp mostly does his accent flawlessly and his character is quite likeable. Even though Jonathan Pryce had some great moments, he sounds exactly the same in everything I've seen him so far and Norrington's final scene really wasn't that credible this time. Oh, look, a post-credit scene! It's very hard for me to be critical of this score. When I first heard it, I thought film scores couldn't get any better. I know better now, but still think the themes are very effective and the main theme, while receiving too much airtime (undoubtedly a consequence of an insane composing schedule), is extremely catchy. It's still nearly all in D minor, but at least it's not a dull score, unlike so many of Zimmer and co's more recent music. The end credits suite represents every theme nicely, but ends awkwardly. The surround sound mix is a missed opportunity. Luckily, the low frequencies aren't too overbearing, but the fact remains that the rear channels are only used properly during the post-credit scene.

The Post you mean? A very effective score which I found to be a good combination of old fashioned and modern.

Whenever I see Richard post straight after Stefan, it reads like "Stiff Dick".

Williams is surely a good pianist (better than most film composers). However, there are many ways of being a good pianist. His way, as far as I can see, is the "composer way": intelligent, able to improvise, able to express feelings, technically ok but not necessarily able to do technical wonders. Exceptional concert pianists are, in general, different animals. Maybe they would not know what to do if they were given a vocal line with chords and asked to accompany a singer, but they are able to play anything by Liszt and Rachmaninov at age 10, without missing a single note. Now, I can easily see John Williams, as a youngster, meeting some of the latter people in Julliard and feeling he was not one of them. On the other hand, theory-wise I bet very few of his mates would have been in the same league as his.

no

I think the compositions themselves are good, and they would have sounded good with an actual choir, or at least better samples.

Buried in the mix!

That's...something to get your teeth, into! One of those is brilliant.

I think they should bring back Short Round in the next one. Only now he has one eye and is bitter at Indy for abandoning him on a boat on the Yangtze. So today he's the henchman of the son of Belloq, bound for revenge. And they've already claimed their first victim: a kid called Mutt.

No. I'd prefer it if those themes weren't referenced quite so often and paid so much tribute to on the OST. It meant I required a second disc to eventually get the other music I liked. Guess what: I also get really tired of the Force theme in Star Wars movies, too. An amazing theme, overused.

I completely agree with the Asgardian.

Film looks like absolute shit. The only thing it had going for it was the gore, now they've gutted all the good shit and turned it into a PG-13 garbage-fest. Get fucked Sony. Assholes.

I don't know why people are so afraid to be associated with snobbery in relation to media and the arts. It should be embraced!

This! and that!

I love the endgame 'this is it' feel of this cue:

I think the Gaelic elements are interesting enough, but there's probably too much of them.

I have this problem with it myself. All the action and peril cues I will always really enjoy, because it's top tier Horner suspense writing regardless of the subject. But that whole gaelic element of the score and the endless ahhhhhing of Rose's theme, I can't abide any of it.

It certainly makes more sense than KotCS!

Then "anything goes" sums it up nicely.

In my very humble (and fairly ignorant) opinion, I've come to revere his conducting style such that I compare every other conductor I see to him. I know very little about conducting besides what I observe at concerts. But I've come to like JW's style because it looks so effortless, functional, unpretentious, and not so flamboyant that it makes a mockery or steals attention from the musicians. Three of my favourite examples: Soundings (especially the last two notes!). See 4:08 in this! And him loving the choir at 2:40 here: I would say in polar opposite is Keith Lockhart, whom I don't hate, but he really exemplifies how different one can be to JW. He doesn't use a baton, and he feels the need to almost 'dance' to get the message across. It's unfortunate, that since his pace-maker operation a few years ago, his shoulder movement seems to have become somewhat inhibited, and he seems to have become less animated in his public conducting. I look forward to seeing (if, indeed, it gets video-taped) how he gets on at the LSO concert next month.

Think of it sort of like Marius Constant's use of electric guitar in the Twilight Zone theme. It is treated as a symphonic instrument so don't expect 1980's rockabilly stuff. It blends orchestrally. Sort of how Ravel, Prokofiev, or Vaughan Williams used the saxophone. It is used very selectively and clearly noticed but still blends.

That means a lot coming from you JS. Please. This one's on me. Will you be drinking in London as well?

You're still special, Nick.

Years ago.

I mean, I'm pretty sure Williams could probably also play the triangle with a certain panache.

Watching him conduct in Chicago, especially so up-close in the choir stalls and being able to watch him face-on, I have never been so captivated by a conductor. Part of that is associated with the man himself and the presence he gives off, but mostly it was due to his passion for every note. Every wave of his hands was precise and with a purpose. He added many beautiful little touches as well, like making a plucking motion with his left hand, directed towards the harp player as she plucked the final notes to end Marion's Theme. So, concerning his technical abilities, I am not an expert in the studies of conducting, and wouldn't know, but in passion and feeling, he is at the top for me.

Nice. I wasn't even aware that there was an album of this. Any Budd's ok by me. GET CARTER is great.

Nursing a semi right now.

Here's James Newton Howard's Concerto for Violin, as officially released by Onyx Records: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt2q8-oERrk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJybEWpF5j4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuc5YOZfkB0

Here are some photos from the rehearsals he mentioned for those interested. Two videos at the bottom of this post too but I can't figure out how to make them previews. JWatUSC-ET1.MPG JWatUSC-Trumpet1.MPG

.

The woman looks like Lance Henriksen.

Thanks again for your kind words everyone. I'd like to share another track, this one is just MIDI, I wrote it about a year ago. It was an exercise in form; I wanted to take a few melodic ideas (a dark regal march and the Dies Irae, cliché I know but it's very easy to work with) and weave them in and out of each other between distinct sections. There's more than a few Williamsisms on show here but as I said it was more an exercise than a serious composition. I'm pretty happy with how the MIDI is all sounding, but I've learned a lot more about natural spacial placement of tracks - particularly panning - that I'd redo if I had the chance. Sequenced in Logic Pro X. Libraries used: Cinesamples CineWinds CORE + PRO Cinesamples Hollywoodwinds Sample Modeling Horns + Tuba Sample Modeling Trumpet Sample Modeling Trombones Cinesamples CinePerc CORE + PRO ProjectSAM Harp Cinesamples Piano in Blue Cinesamples CineStrings Cinesamples CineStrings RUNS

I do find Spielberg's "emotional warmth" really refreshing in today's film climate where everybody wants to be the next Fincher, Scorsese, or Tarantino (and I believe that film music has suffered as a result of this trend)