Mitth'raw'nuorodo

Qui-Gon's/Padme's Funeral(s) pretty much hit the nail on the head for me as far as a Dies Irae sort of Williams piece should sound. It has the gravitas and weight, and you could easily change the lyrics from Sanskrit to some part of the Latin Mass.

Oh! Also the Alliance Assembly theme from Return of the Jedi. It's so noble and majestic that hearing some development of the theme and a full-fledged arrangement would be marvelous.

Shmi's theme is my favorite, all the way! Anakin Is Free is one of my favorite tracks from The Phantom Menace. The pan flute solo and everything that follows it is so tender and beautiful! I also like the Death Star theme a lot and wished it had appeared more, both in RotJ and in R1. I also LOVE the Alliance Assembly theme. It deserves more appearances.

Battle of Hoth is definitely up there! I would also include all his fugues (like the Shark Cage) and the entire Naboo battle in TPM.

I think it'd be cool, just for fun, to turn the A New Hope Imperial themes into a concert arrangement, like the Vader theme, the Death Star theme, and the Imperial Fanfare. It'd be kinda tricky since they're pretty small, but it would sound cool, in my opinion.

Mine is definitely Tintin. I mean, it's mostly because I read Tintin all the time growing up and listened to John Williams all the time growing up, so the combination is one I would never have imagined! But it is an amazing score, especially the swashbuckling pirate stuff and the breathtaking Flight of the Falcon! And the quirky Adventures of Tintin opening number. Who would think to have a jazzy number with harpsichord?? So Tintin would be my top pick.

I quite like the timpani solo-ish thing at the end of The Adventures Of Han. It gives it a heaviness and buoyancy at the same time, and makes it seem more frantic and fun!

Sure. I just find his scoring when he uses themes to be much superior to pieces like The Starkiller or Torn Apart, where it's mostly sad-sounding strings kinda hanging around. I appreciate the Barber influence, but it just has no emotional weight without the added force of themes that echo throughout the saga.

I'm a die-hard Williams fan, but my favorite Star Wars score is probably Solo! It has this boundless energy, wit, romanticism, and pizzazz that no other score I've listened to has matched. I could just listen to it over and over, especially Mine Mission, Break Out, Reminiscence Therapy, and Into The Maw. It's an instantly iconic score with plenty of new themes, but also great references to old themes where necessary. And some of the references are just so clever! Like the actiony reference to the opening fanfare in Break Out or the awestruck SW theme during L3 and Millennium Falcon. All in all, I love the score to Solo.

As a music composition student NOT at Julliard, I'm so jealous!

Scherzo definitely comes close! The thing that makes the Falcon chase is the driving force of rhythm it has. The rhythm he uses is catchy, tense, memorable, yet complicated, and it drives the whole piece, much like the off-beat accents of the main part of the Asteroid Field. I haven't watched TFA in a while, so I'm not sure if the music gets badly mauled, but the OST versions anyway are great! I think it's just as catchy as Asteroid Field. I also don't really consider that rhythm to be tied to anyone in particular because it doesn't really appear enough to get associated with anybody. I think of it as a special rhythm just for that scene (which, admittedly, does make a brief appearance after the rathtar attack) that is just as memorable and catchy as Asteroid Field. In contrast, I Can Fly Anything and Ways Of The Force are a little too haphazard for me to like them as much. They don't really have a single driving force behind them, and they move around a lot. That's why I, at least, prefer The Falcon to any of the other actiony pieces in TFA. I think we have to measure what makes a good Star Wars score separately from what makes a good conventional score because it has that tradition and backlog that most other movies don't. It should rely on themes and even action pieces from previous films; in George Lucas's words, "It rhymes." That's not to say it shouldn't be original; far from it! But using all previous themes to their max potential is a key part of a good Star Wars score. Which is why I loved, for instance, how Michael Giacchino used both the ANH Vader theme and the Imperial March in his score. He used Vader to his max potential.

The website says that the original Return of the Jedi piano book had Han Solo Returns! But I can't find that arrangement anywhere on the Internet! Anyone have any idea where I could find it, short of tracking down the book itself?

I think his magnum opus is the entire Star Wars saga. It's really all one big score that's been divided into parts. Don't shout at me; I'm standing by this opinion! For instance, many would probably say that the Ring cycle is Wagner's magnum opus. Those operas were released years apart from each other, but they're really continuations of each other. So we should be able to say with confidence that the Star Wars saga (or cycle, if you want to be Wagnerian) is indeed Williams' magnum opus.

Exultate Justi, Olympic Fanfare, Hail To The Winner Anakin Skywalker, Adventures on Earth, and the last part of Battle of Endor III.

I don't think that's quite fair. Something that I think is really cool about the TLJ score is that it's entirely motivated by motifs. And conversely, TFA isn't so much. During the entire TLJ score, Williams is hitting you with old and new themes and motifs to both mimic what's going on onscreen and add layers of meaning. On the other hand, TFA's score doesn't really callback much; the underscore is mostly bland strings moving around in an uncertain way. And I think that's actually a weakness in a Star Wars score where you have six previous movies-worth of themes to use. TLJ's strength was that he both used every theme to its max potential and also found time for those 15-30 second original bits as well. And the original stuff (like the tragic end of Main Title and Escape or the opening to The Fathiers) is, for the most part, loads better than the original stuff in TFA (with the exception of the TFA Falcon chase, which is incredible and is basically a new Asteroid Field). I agree that his use of the Force theme, Rose's theme, MotR, etc. can get a little monotonous, but it fits in the boundaries of what he's trying to do, and there's loads of new themes and one-off moments as well.

My unpopular opinion is that I simply can't understand what people love so much about the TFA score. Apart from the dazzling new themes and "The Jedi Steps and Finale," most of the score is mostly boring string underscore with no personality and not much melody. There are no great one-off pieces that are mostly new and interesting material, as in TLJ's "The Fathiers" or, of course, ESB's "The Asteroid Field." In contrast, although TLJ's themes appear far less frequently throughout the score, there are just as many new themes and also interesting material that isn't based solely on themes. Passages like the tragic end of "Main Title and Escape" and "The Supremacy" are head and shoulders above most of TFA. TFA is actually my least favorite of any Star Wars score, not just JW SW scores. Now I still love the new themes, and "March of the Resistance" is one of my very favorite SW themes ever, but the score itself is something I don't really love at all.

Yeah, I don't understand how TFA is beating TLJ. Although it introduced many more new and memorable themes than TLJ, the scoring that's not themes is just so boring compared to how JW scored TLJ. And there's lots of fun one-off musical moments in TLJ, where you don't get anything like that in TFA. Obviously, I'm a huge Williams and SW fan, so I like the TFA score, but it's probably my least favorite SW score. And TLJ is one of my favorite.

Okay, here we go. I want to do one for each Star Wars movie since I've listened to them so many times. Ep. IV: I love the first minute and a half of "Wookiee Prisoner/Detention Block Ambush." The echoey sound of the pizzicato strings and that timpani solo is not really a type of underscore you hear again in any Star Wars movie. Or maybe I'm just experiencing Stockholm Syndrome from hearing it so many times in Jedi Outcast. Ep. V: The first twenty seconds of "The Training Of A Jedi Knight/The Magic Tree." Those magical pizz strings with the bells playing sounds so mystical and exciting and beautiful at the same time. And then that mischievous version of Yoda's theme on top is great. Ep. VI: The Alliance Assembly theme. It only appears during "Alliance Assembly," but it's such a rich and noble and serious theme. I wish it had appeared more. Ep. I: In "Fighting The Destroyer Droids" (Ultimate Edition), I love the snare solos starting at 1:13 and then the martial motif at 1:28. It feels like a destroyer's theme, but it never shows up again, so I guess we'll never know. Ep. II: Really the entirety of "Zam the Assassin and the Chase Through Coruscant" because we'd never heard SW music like that before and didn't really again until Solo: A Star Wars Story. But more specifically I love the famous electric guitar solo and the percussion solos. The first percussion solo is 2:18 through 2:32, the first electric guitar bit is 3:18 through 3:26, the second percussion solo is 4:21 through 4:55, and both the percussion and guitar get a solo moment together at 5:10 through 5:26 (mostly percussion, but the guitar makes a very distinguishable appearance). Ep. III: The swirling operatic strings at the beginning of "Grievous Speaks To Lord Sidious" and leading into that martial brassy theme and eventually choir. The best part goes from 0:00 to 0:52. So stirring! Ep. VII: This one's harder because when he isn't presenting a main theme, it's mostly underscore without a lot of melody or personality (you can see my opinion of the TFA score peeking through here, doubtless). I love all the brass fanfares in "I Can Fly Anything," like at 0:23. And the trumpet screams at 0:48. And the off-beat trumpet stabs around 1:06. But there's no long segment that's not a theme that really speaks to me. Ep. VIII: I have three for this since it has a lot more personality and fun little one-off moments. My favorite has to be the end of "Main Title and Escape." That whole tragic passage from 6:13 to 6:44 often makes me tear up. The brass writing there is so powerful! My second favorite moment is, of course, the opening of "The Fathiers." It's so bubbly and energetic and is totally original, not based on any previous themes! The first ten seconds are the best part other than the glowing brass rendition of Rose's theme. And my third favorite is from the FYC in "The Master Codebreaker." John Williams goes full old-school scoring when we see the codebreaker, with those sweeping strings playing something that sounds right out of the 40s. Specifically 0:49 through 0:59. So lavish! Anyway, that was a lot, and maybe I'll do another about non-SW scores, but SW is, after all, my first love, so I really wanted to do a moment from each Williams score. My favorite non-SW JW moment is when the Arab swordsman shows up in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The bombastic brass playing a Middle-Eastern-sounding theme and then those brass swoops up are great! 2:22 through 2:28 of "The Basket Game," specifically.

Hello there.

Anybody have any idea when piano books for Solo and/or Incredibles 2 are likely to be released? I always manage to miss the release of these piano arrangement books, and I'm curious if anyone knows.

I didn't get the pun in the villain's name! That's clever.

Except maybe the last really tragic section of Main Title and Escape. It's just so emotional; it's like a punch in the gut. And I don't think Main Title and Escape is very similar to Attack on the Jakku Village at all! Seems a lot different in mood and tone to me. Especially that last part. Plus there's a ton of new motifs in TLJ; Rose's theme isn't the only new one. Check this out for the other ones: http://www.academia.edu/33487589/Complete_Catalog_of_Star_Wars_Leitmotifs_Compiled_by_Frank_Lehman

I went to the concert too! Absolutely loved Adventures of Han (when am I ever going to hear that live again? Probably never)!! E.T. and Shark Cage Fugue were also incredible! I loved that we got Williams pieces from all three of the new movies he's done. And the Throne Room . . . incredible. I loved that they used the Revenge of the Sith end credits Throne Room suite; that's always been my favorite end credits suite of all time. I actually teared up during those moving renditions of the B section of the Throne Room; it was so emotional and well-played. Agggh! Why can't he do five more of these performances in Baltimore before he leaves? I need to attend more film music concerts.

Two things in the soundtrack that really reminded me of John Williams. The Han/Q'ira love theme reminds me a whole bunch of Born On The Fourth Of July. At about 0:52 or so in this recording. Also, the brass swoops up in Into The Maw when it's showing the big creature seriously remind me of something very similar when it shows the swordsman in Raiders.

A brass-playing friend of mine noticed a classical piece that John Powell may have been referencing. Gustav Holst, a late 19th century composer, wrote a number of suites for military bands. His second suite contains a movement called "Song of the Blacksmith." The entire vibe of Powell's "Mine Mission," starting at 0:15 through around 3:20, is exactly the same as Song of the Blacksmith! The militaristic beats and instrumentation are quite similar (although Powell also adds strings), and you can really hear the similarities! Why would Powell do this? Well, Holst's piece is about a blacksmith, and in it, you can hear the percussion of him hammering away with his tools. "Mine Mission," it will come as no surprise to learn, takes place on Kessel, where miners are using hammers and other tools to chip away at the rock. Powell evokes the sound of the blacksmith because the miners are doing something very similar! Check it out.