THE BFG OST ALBUM Discussion

[artguy360 1,843]

I don't know if this has been mentioned but apparently JW did all the conducting for BFG himself so that really was just a temporary arrangement due to his health issue which seems no longer to be an issue. Bodes well for the future!

[crumbs 14,306]

Not if William Ross has anything to say about it!

[publicist 4,643]

The long-lined soothing tune is very 'War Horse'/'Lincoln'-ish and will probably the 'heart' of the score which is good. The latter clip has the dreaded Potter/'Arrival of Tink' whimsy i hoped he would have abandoned by now so it is exactly what i expected...

 

...but the light waltzy feel from 11:00 onwards to 12:00 is a continuation of the best part of 'Harry's Wondrous World' (the lightsome part in the middle) so i guess if it's derivative, it at least draws from the good stuff.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

1 minute ago, publicist said:

The long-lined soothing tune is very 'War Horse'/'Lincoln'-ish and will probably the 'heart' of the score which is good. The latter clip has the dreaded Potter/'Arrival of Tink' whimsy i hoped he would have abandoned by now so it is exactly what i expected...

 

...but the light waltzy feel from 11:00 onwards to 12:00 is a continuation of the best part of 'Harry's Wondrous World' (the lightsome part in the middle) so i guess if it's derivative, it at least draws from the good stuff.

The long-lined theme is nice and reflects what is Williams' more "personal" sound nowadays.  I just don't find Williams' comedy scoring to be that interesting.  It's too on-the-nose and makes whatever scene it accompanies feel like a Looney Tunes skit.  

[publicist 4,643]

Worse, it's a dead horse flogged again and again since 'Home Alone' and one would think the JW of 'Sleepers', 'Rosewood' and The Lost World' (etc.) had retired it but it seems to bring some perverse joy to him to repeat it ad nauseam (like Horner's danger motif and like that it's also heavily borrowed from classical sources like Stravinsky's 'Firebird' and several Prokoviev symphonies).

[crumbs 14,306]

Geez, the guy is 84. Think you can cut him some slack for not reinventing himself with every project.

[publicist 4,643]

Why should i?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Ever heard of the concept of mercy?

[publicist 4,643]

With rich and celebrated people that give a shit about what i think? No...

[Amer 2,097]

Sounds magical and somewhat in Harry Potter universe but lets wait and see. So far the theme sounds warm, uplifting and magical to me. I'm excited.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

27 minutes ago, publicist said:

With rich and celebrated people that give a shit about what i think? No...

 

Ah, so you have a chip on your shoulder?

[Thor 7,492]

Well, I didn't get any tickets (as you might have surmised if we're friends on facebook), so I won't be able to see the film before the press screening in late June. Oh well. At least I got to be there and watch Spielberg take the red carpet, just 10 meters away. I filmed the bit about him waving to the audience, which is also in the footage some of you have posted, so no point in sharing that. The music that plays is definitely Williams, and is probably from THE BFG (although I -- too -- thought it might be from LINCOLN, a score I haven't engrossed myself in properly).

[crumbs 14,306]

To me it sounds straight out of Williams' 90s lexicon, with obvious connections to the flute work in Hook and the whimsy of Harry Potter. Sounds absolutely adorable and poles apart from the style of writing he did on TFA (demonstrating, as always, his versatility as an artist).

 

You always know we've a great Williams score on our hands when the pompous critics are slagging it off for being noticeable. In their perfect little worlds, films would have no score at all!

 

The critics who "get it" and labelled this one of Williams' most emotional scores in years, well... it would be hard to top War Horse in the emotional scoring stakes, but if The BFG has, well ... *drools*

[Arpy 4,145]

So part of a theme plays and instantly it's derided. I'll wait for the score to be released and see the film to form an opinion,  not just hear an excerpt from a clip that probably doesn't represent the score...

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Nobody has a problem with the theme.  It's the comedic material that follows it.

[crumbs 14,306]

I don't have a problem with any of the material. It all sounds wonderful!

[publicist 4,643]

I don't care much either way, tbh. It's what i expected, it will probably have a great suite and (hopefully) some good, longish set pieces and just like that it will find a place in my iTunes. 

 

[Alex 2,835]

I kinda got a Jamea Horner vibe

[Marcus 390]

It's quite clever: The broad, lyrical cantilena actually spells out "B(b)-F-G", in that it emphasizes the tonic, fifth and major 6th. 

 

Loving all that I've glimpsed so far.

[Jay 37,346]

27 minutes ago, Marcus said:

The broad, lyrical cantilena actually spells out "B(b)-F-G"

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Cool

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[crumbs 14,306]

2 hours ago, Marcus said:

It's quite clever: The broad, lyrical cantilena actually spells out "B(b)-F-G", in that it emphasizes the tonic, fifth and major 6th. 

 

Loving all that I've glimpsed so far.

 

Mind... blown.

[Will 2,215]

Amen. 

2 hours ago, Marcus said:

It's quite clever: The broad, lyrical cantilena actually spells out "B(b)-F-G", in that it emphasizes the tonic, fifth and major 6th. 

 

Well, I'm not very knowledgeable about technical musical stuff so I have no idea what that means, but it sounds cool! 

9 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

So far,I love the Hook-ish statement of the main theme that starts at 11:05 but don't really care for the Mickey-Mousing that follows.

 

I largely agree. The mickey-mousing is good, better than much of the non-Williams stuff these days, but it's nothing spectacular. But the long-lined statements that precede it...Very powerful and beautiful.

 

[crumbs 14,306]

New trailer, looks quite lovely indeed. Fantastic visuals as you'd expect from Spielberg, and surprisingly un-Kaminski visuals. Certainly a refreshingly colourful palette by the look of things. No Williams score, though, but he does get first billing after Spielberg in the credits. 

 

Just noticed Big Ben in place of the Disney castle, with the time set at the "witching hour." Neat detail!

[King Mark 3,631]

23 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

 

I think it sounds great, a bit like Harry Potter  I was hoping exactly for this

I think I like it more than TFA already

[Tom 4,651]

Very effective trailer.  As for the "mickey-mousing" criticism, remember the target audience (hint: it is not us). 

[King Mark 3,631]

I have a feeling THIS will be a score we'll really be hunting down any unreleased music

[nightscape94 965]

No problem with the music at all.  What I expected, yes, but it's delightful, especially the part which I can hear a bit more clearly at 15:29.  Defined opinions should be side aside until we can hear the colors properly.

 

 

[mrbellamy 6,278]

2 hours ago, crumbs said:

New trailer, looks quite lovely indeed. Fantastic visuals as you'd expect from Spielberg, and surprisingly un-Kaminski visuals. Certainly a refreshingly colourful palette by the look of things. No Williams score, though, but he does get first billing after Spielberg in the credits. 

 

Just noticed Big Ben in place of the Disney castle, with the time set at the "witching hour." Neat detail!

 

Rylance looks really entertaining in this. 

 

5 hours ago, alextrombone94 said:

I kinda got a Jamea Horner vibe

 

Yeah, the darker whimsy stuff at 12:20 especially reminds me a lot of Horner. Though to be honest it's just their brands of Russian pastiche blurring together

 

19 minutes ago, nightscape94 said:

No problem with the music at all.  What I expected, yes, but it's delightful, especially the part which I can hear a bit more clearly at 15:29.  Defined opinions should be side aside until we can hear the colors properly.

 

Yeah, I agree with that, I'm excited to hear it properly. Hearing it blasted over loudspeakers gives it a kind of canned "theme park" vibe.

[nightscape94 965]

The beginning of the one theme @ 11:15 reminded me of the scherzo from Schumann's 3rd symphony.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Now that the "cat is out of the bag", I hope we get higher quality previews of the score soon.

[Richard Penna 3,684]

Sounds nice enough, but the bit before the 'mickey-mousing' is a bit unmemorable to me - not really hearing a solid theme.

[mrbellamy 6,278]

I think it's a decent little tune. Classic in the making, maybe not, but I guess that will depend on how it's treated.

[Loert 2,511]

I tried to notate and play the piano melody from 10:41. It's very rough (and I will probably regret doing this when the actual OST comes out...there are likely to be inaccuracies!) but I think I got at least the basic melody line down:

 

 

No need to mention that this is 100% Williams. The planing chords are very reminiscent to those of A.I for instance, and the beginning of the melody is reminiscent of Lincoln's "With Malice Towards None".

 

(apologies for the slow playing but I had to be careful not to wake the neighbours!)

 

EDIT: Damn, I missed out a bar at 0:44! Will fix it tomorrow.

EDIT2: Updated the audio (old version here)

[Cerebral Cortex 3,357]

Fantastic! Thanks a lot for your efforts, Loert.

[Sandor 797]

AWESOME loert..!!! Thanks..!

[Jay 37,346]

Your recording immediately makes me think of Lincoln

 

The kind of melancholy / grand finale tone that he's had since War Horse persists!

[Will 2,215]

2 hours ago, loert said:

I tried to notate and play the piano melody from 10:41.

 

Thanks! I keep watching the red carpet videos because the music is so good, but it's kind of brutal to listen to people repeatedly yell "Steven!" while you're trying to focus on the score. 

8 hours ago, crumbs said:

Certainly a refreshingly colourful palette by the look of things. 

 

Yes! It looks absolutely gorgeous, rarely do films attempt to put such a bright explosion of varied color onto screen. 

 

Quote

Just noticed Big Ben in place of the Disney castle, with the time set at the "witching hour." Neat detail!

 

Cool, I hadn't spotted that! 

[TheUlyssesian 2,477]

Some more reviews that i found

 

Within 10 minutes he has plucked precocious bespectacled child, Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) from her orphanage and is leaping over oceans, mountains and through clouds to a soaring John Williams score.

http://lwlies.com/festivals/the-bfg-first-look-review/

 

Inexplicably, even soundtrack legend John Williams falters here - the score is really very bland. 
http://film.thedigitalfix.com/content/id/79090/the-bfg-cannes-film-festival-2016.html

 

The occasionally pretty images captured by DOP Janusz Kaminski and omnipresent orchestral work of John Williams keep demanding that we feel for Sophie and her gargantuan friend, but Spielberg’s erratic tonality, overly-familiar technique and heavy-handed graphics renders what should have been a soaring adaptation of Dahl just plain dull.

http://screen-space.squarespace.com/reviews/2016/5/15/the-bfg.html

 

Spielberg’s film begins inauspiciously. Huge dollops of CGI, not to mention John Williams’s heavy-handed music, obscure the charms of Dahl’s simple story. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/14/steven-spielberg-s-otherworldly-the-bfg-the-legend-returns-to-cannes-to-take-on-roald-dahl.html

 

 

 

 

 

I seems modern film reviewers are incapable of appreciating or understanding symphonic orchestral film scoring. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

36 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

It seems modern film reviewers are incapable of appreciating or understanding symphonic orchestral film scoring. 

That really seems to be the case.  It's getting to to the point where only the lamest and least effective scores can go without receiving the "heavy-handed" label at least once from critics.  That is unless it relies on an obvious gimmick (The Artist, Atonement) or it's written by a pop star-turned-film composer.

 

 

[publicist 4,643]

Since any dismissive or critical mention - valid as it may be in some cases - will shot down here mercilessly it's futile to argue that some of these reviewers seem have to have a pretty clear idea what they are offered and also seem pretty able to appreciate it, they only question the dramatic arc of the movie and how the score is called upon to patch up the lack of it (paraphrasing).

 

Interestingly, the opinions on it are pretty divided with some perceiving what others single out as flaws as huge benefits - i have no big interest in the movie but i sincerely hope that due to the slim core story Spielberg was brave enough to get a bit impressionistic with the 'fantasy' sequences and letting his visuals linger beyond the mechanical requirements of the storytelling. This is the kind of indulgence that brings out the best in composers and Williams especially.

[Quintus 5,399]

Which videos are people watching to hear the score snippets? The latest trailer? 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

The premiere videos (youtube and twitter) a few pages ago have them.

[Quintus 5,399]

Ah right, cheers. 

[Amer 2,097]

The usual stance for Journalists/critics is to basically critic the current movie making story telling formats and all the tools that support it. In as much they meander over the gullible techniques and film making forays' thinking of them as contrived and superfluous. The true merits are thus ignored.

[publicist 4,643]

'True merits' of course translates into 'stuff I like'. If only 10% of JWFan were able to do writeup's on films and scores like some of those allegedly heinous and incompetent hacks in film journalism this would be a much more interesting place to actually have discussions about film and music.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Fuckin' a. 

[Quintus 5,399]

This is the same as me complaining that the place is stale and boring, but still posting anyway. 

[publicist 4,643]

Just like life, actually..