[Temple of Doom is celebrating 40 years in 2024]

My favourite Indiana Jones film and my favourite JW score. I will for sure be re-watching it. But my ultimate dream is to see it in a Live to Projection concert. Though unfortunately the people who organize LtP concerts probably already took one look at the score and said: "No way!"

[The Ol' College Try]

I adore A.I., but I made myself a 51-minute mix and listen to that. Don't think I can sit through the entire score and get the same enjoyment.

 

In terms of (supposedly) great scores, I struggle with LotR, Conan the Barbarian, and La La Land. I will say no more.

[What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)]

15 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

See here, Excised final chapter:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picnic_at_Hanging_Rock_(novel)

 

Oh believe me, I've read all the wikipedia pages and I'm still confused!

 

Spoiler

While watching, my interpretation was that it's fundamentally a conflict between an artificial setting (the school) and the natural world, that conflict being symbolized by the "rift" in time and space, as well as the parents withdrawing their girls from the school and the subsequent suicides. Then I found out from reading around that one of the major themes is the colonisation of Australian land, which makes sense. I think the whole thing about the girls turning into crabs is almost incidental, almost like the author just decided to come up with the craziest explanation in order to drive home that there actually is no explanation that makes sense.

 

[What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)]

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). Watched it for the second time. The first time I saw it was around 7 years ago, when I understood very little of the story, though the film did leave an impression on me (particularly the haunting ascent music). So I was hoping to understand some more this time round...with little luck. There's a subtle discontinuity about the whole film that makes it very dream-like. The sudden shifts in location, the deep sense that something is not right...from that point of view it's very well done. But other than that I still struggle to make heads or tails of it. Maybe that's the point. I feel like I need to visit a Freud or a Jung and ask them what the film means.

[Is the Raiders March your favorite theme John Williams has ever written?]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

What type of person comes across this year-and-a-half old post of mine and decides to put the sleepy Reaction on it?  Weird.

 

Maybe they were just really tired...

[Is the Raiders March your favorite theme John Williams has ever written?]

If you mean "theme" as in a melody that is re-used throughout the score, I don't think I could ever give a favourite, however the first theme that came to mind was the A.I. Theme, which I really adore. But I also really love the Slave Children's Crusade theme (its rendition in the ToD end credits is perhaps my favourite section in any JW score).

 

If you mean "theme" as in a title theme/track, I would probably go for either The Towering Inferno titles, or The 1941 March.

[John Williams Caption Competition!]

FIX IT NAAAUUUUGHHHHH!!!!

 

[John Williams Caption Competition!]

 

...and then they told me they didn't have any more turtlenecks in stock...

[John Williams Caption Competition!]

 

I have the high ground!

[Cinema Paradiso (film & score)]

I ugly-cried at the ending when I first saw it. One of my favourite films of all time.

 

The score is really good. I find it slightly ironic that the most famous theme from the movie was written not by Ennio Morricone, but by his son. At least, that's what I've heard, the reality might be different.

 

 

[John Williams Fan Club Theme]

And here is what it sounds like.

[The Classical Music Recommendation Thread]

On the topic of cello concertos, here's one of my favourites...written by John Williams' composition teacher!

 

 

[CUTTHROAT ISLAND (2-CD) - Music Composed by John Debney - Quartet Records]

3 minutes ago, Holko said:

there's that section in The Battle where the strings are supposed to carry the melodic line but they're off to the distant far left...

 

Timestamp?

[Your Favourite Jerry Goldsmith Score]

I haven't listened to all Jerry Goldsmith, though a while ago I did go through a bunch of 15 minute suites of his scores on Youtube. But I'm still not that familiar with his Star Trek work, for example (in fact I'm listening to it now )

 

That said, my favourite so far is Total Recall. Someone who doesn't know anything about music might dismiss it as a silly action score, and in a way it is silly, but on closer inspection it reveals amazing artistry. And it's an enjoyable listen from start to finish.

 

It's so hard to choose with Goldsmith, though, because all of his works are so diverse. With Williams, even though he has also written in different genres, I feel that you can always pick out a single internal language in his soundtrack work. With Goldsmith it's not so obvious, and he's better at being more chameleon-like. But then I've listened to far more Williams than Goldsmith, so that might just be a bias of mine.

 

EDIT: Just finished listening to The Enterprise for the first time. As if I needed any more confirmation that Goldsmith is a genius! Brilliant track, almost a perfect encapsulation of epic/heroic musical tropes of that time (not in a bad way). Lots of Debussy influences.

[The "(Fill in the Blank) Has Died" Thread]

Got to see him once at the Southbank Centre performing Chopin's Preludes. A formidable force of piano playing. RIP

[The Composer's Thread]

Here is something I've been working on. It was originally intended as an exercise to get back into composing after at least a year of not doing anything. But I decided to publish it in the end. The idea was to pretend that I was writing a track for an Elder Scrolls game. I hope you like it!

 

 

(Btw the fact that I used the same inspiration as @TheAvengerButton above is purely coincidental! We obviously just share similar tastes. )

[Mark Graham just picked up a John Williams sketch and is "in a rush"! Any ideas?]

What I would give to be in that room now...

 

[What is the last piece of classical music you listened to?]

 

Dum....dum..dum......

[What is the last piece of classical music you listened to?]

 

Takes a while to get used to the instrumentation but ultimately it's quite charming!

[Star Wars: John Williams Original Handwritten Music Manuscript for the Opening Auction]

It should've been written out to me.

 

On a more serious note, does a recording of the initial run-up exist anywhere?

[What is the last piece of classical music you listened to?]

 

It's impressive how full it sounds for a string quartet.

[JWFan turns 25!]

Beautiful

Here's to many more years of the JWFAN community!

[Composers you used to like, but now dislike?]

OK, if we're talking about the composer as a person, then I can't say there's anyone in the film music world I used to "like" but now "dislike". But I have certainly fallen out with some people's output. I think the big one for me is Hans Zimmer. He was my entry-point into film music ("Up is Down" from POTC 3 was one of my first loves). But I'm not such a huge fan of his latest work. I was listening to Dune the other day, and aside from the opening track which I found quite exhilirating, the rest left me cold. But because of his 90s/00s output I'm (still) convinced he is a musical genius.

[What is the last piece of classical music you listened to?]

 

[New Interview with John Williams reflects on the beginnings of his career, a lifetime in music, and his love for orchestras.]

Trigger warning:

Spoiler

JW uses a musicological term in the interview.