aviazn

So cool. Alison Bruzek is a friend of mine—I was very happy for her when I saw her byline on that story!

The funny thing is, when Williams borrows from temp stuff, a lot of the time, I wind up much preferring Williams' paraphrase of the temp than the original temp itself. The chase and finale of E.T. and the last movement of Hanson's second symphony come to mind. The E.T. cue is a blatant stealing of all the major musical elements of the Hanson movement, beat for beat, structured in precisely the same order, but each one has a little rhythmic or melodic twist that makes it fresher, bolder, and brasher. If you asked me which one I wanted to listen to, I'd pick the E.T. cue every day of the week. To me, that's an almost impossible level of craft—that Williams can take a template, filter it through his own sensibility, and instead of winding up using it as a crutch, actually improve upon it. I would say though that the borrowing in ROTJ doesn't quite rise to that level, but it still feels distinctly Star Wars-ian.

I love ROTJ—probably my second-favorite SW score—but I thought it was commonly accepted that it was temped with lots of popular stuff from that era. The Anakin's Dark Deeds/Treason of Isengard is a dead giveaway. I'm with those who prefer Anakin vs Obi-wan over BOTH, which seems stitched together with elements of Duel of the Fates, the brass stabs from Finlandia, and the climax of Neodämmerung from Matrix Revolutions.

I actually like the harsh, dry OST mix of TFA, but will take almost any performance of either March of the Resistance or Scherzo for X-wings over the OST. I also much prefer Princess Mononoke's score in the Symphonic Suite album presentation. Yes! I wish it were available for rental; it would be great programming for a lot of orchestras.

Posted this in another thread, but still makes me lol. From the YouTube comments on the Disney upload for The Spark: "If John Williams is dead then how is this possible?!"

Nice! Guess I'm late to the game. I agree—very cool. I often think of that quote where JW compares writing themes to sculpting, and how it involves endless melodic tinkering before finding something that feels inevitable. It's fascinating to see both ends of that process here. I'm not even a huge fan of Rose's theme, but while the TFA cue is charming, Rose's theme is undeniably stronger melodically.

Was that confirmed? Yes, I think that’s the one.

Hmm, well, it's in Faleel's release, and it's titled "Unknown Cue (mellow)". Don't think it's posted anywhere except directly by Fal.

Anyone noticed how harmonically similar Rose's theme is to the "mellow" unused cue from TFA? Seems like a melodic reworking of that material.

Huh, guess I'm in the minority! I'm talking about the last 15 seconds, those last repetitive chords. Compared to the intricate triplets rhythms in the last two bars of the Imperial March, or even the scale that tops off March of the Resistance, or the playful little string runs at the end of The Adventure Continues, it falls pretty flat to me.

Seems like a full program. Doesn’t look like there’s enough time slotted for the nominees for the TLJ to be anything but Rebellion. A shame. I don’t mind Rebellion as an album track, but I find it totally underwhelming as a standalone concert piece. Two themes I’m pretty meh about and one of the weaker concert endings Williams has written. It honestly reminds me of a Giacchino finale.

That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t think he’s stuck the landing in any of his original material.

True, it is, I'd forgotten that! But I still can't get over the mismatch between the interior shots with all the fake turbulence and the exterior shots of the helicopter, which show a very gentle, controlled descent. Always thought it was cheesy, even when I was a kid.

I’m on board with that. I’m not a huge fan of the lighthearted adventure tone of the film in general. (Though clearly Williams delivered exactly what Spielberg wanted.) I also think the whole helicopter descent sequence is poorly conceived on Spielberg’s part. The weird onboard turbulence shots and Grant fumbling for his seat belt seem left over from another draft of the script where it was a truly harrowing action sequence.

Those “Selections” are a standard school arrangement. I even remember playing it in high school! It’s Jack Mason…I don’t know who that is. But, yeah, I doubt it’s indicative of how Williams would handle the material. https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/west-side-story-selections-for-orchestra-sheet-music/4174580

Presumably he would, as he was for Fiddler on the Roof. Too bad that's not an Oscar category anymore!

For better or worse, I think this is right. Fans will certainly miss the JW sound, and there will be plenty of think pieces from pop culture writers who will lament his absence while also being unable to articulate exactly why. But it seems most of the public—if they even care—would be happier if the trailer cues were the actual score.

Some good judgement from the folks at the KT back then!

Why assume the music is supposed to represent only Luke? Maybe it represents the confrontation between Kylo Ren and Luke—a duel of the fates, or a battle of the heroes. In that context, as Ren stands on the verge of fulfilling Vader's goal of exterminating the Jedi, it makes perfect sense for echoes of the Imperial March to be swirling around. I mean, you can also parse it as music for Luke—you can argue that by insisting on the F-C-Ab triad and not changing even when the harmony shifts and implies the actual Imperial March with the Db, the music is reflecting how Luke is harnessing the lessons he's learned from his failures but rejecting his father's impulse to end the Jedi order. I would guess that the chord progression that is shared with the opening figure in The Jedi Steps is meant to imply Luke's Force-link to the temple island. But really, who knows? At the least it's all absolutely evocative of both The Jedi Steps and the Imperial March, which is certainly the intended effect.

You could also claim it's based on The Jedi Steps. The chord movement is the same. I think it's meant to be evocative of both (Imperial March and Jedi Steps) in intervals and texture, but is not strictly derived from either.

Star Wars: The Force Hits Snooze Star Wars: The Long Goodbye Star Wars: Infinity War, Part 1 Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see another trilogy-ending title in the form of Re-something of the Noun. Star Wars: Rey-turn of the Jedi Star Wars: Rey-venge of the Rebellion Star Wars: Repeat of the Ending

The Last Jedi

So true. In my playlist I dropped The Rebellion Is Reborn right before Rey's Journey, so it acts like an intermission or entr'acte cue—and then Rey's Journey kickstarts this awesome second act.

A nice appreciation from Alex Ross in the New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-field-guide-to-the-musical-leitmotifs-of-star-wars Especially liked the references he raises at the end:

Wow. Kinda incredible that this news drops in an unrelated interview like that.