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"Jedi Steps" - The Concert Arrangement Version


Jay

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There's been discussion of this piece scattered in various threads, and I figured it was prime time it got its own thread to increase visibility of this piece

 

Here are two performances of it on Youtube, anyone know of any others?

 

 

 

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The second of those clips is obviously the best of the two in terms of sound quality but the tempo is too slow.

 

Hopefully we'll get a proper recorded version on a CD sometime.

 

Very interesting that a small snippet of Torn Apart appears in the middle of The Jedi Steps concert version.

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I'm not as intimately familiar with this score as you guys (yet, anyway), but could some of you musically literate folks tell me what the big differences are between this and the version on the CD?

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22 minutes ago, Thor said:

I'm not as intimately familiar with this score as you guys (yet, anyway), but could some of you musically literate folks tell me what the big differences are between this and the version on the CD?

 

Well, the film cue is 2 minutes long, and this is a 4 minute concert arrangement of the theme from it.

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I thought the second version was a studio recording until I heard the clapping at the end. Quite a polite audience, not even one cough noise

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Okay, the Utah Symphony played the Force Awakens Suite the other night and I just wanted to be sure it was the same. In the version with the finale there's this really cool part at the end, but I need to go listen to it again to remind myself what I thought was really cool.

 

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5 hours ago, Thor said:

I'm not as intimately familiar with this score as you guys (yet, anyway), but could some of you musically literate folks tell me what the big differences are between this and the version on the CD?

 

The first 1:30 or so are the same as the film cue, I believe. Everything after that is an extended development of the theme, a gesture from "Torn Apart" makes its way in there but I think everything else is new material.

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5 hours ago, dfenton85 said:

 

Very interesting that a small snippet of Torn Apart appears in the middle of The Jedi Steps concert version.

Interesting indeed. Maybe it's just me, but after hearing it in that context, this bit at 2:38, now really seems to be related both to Kylo Ren's hesitation theme, as well as being a modified reprisal of 0:45 (part of the OST Jedi Steps track). They're not exactly the same chords, but the cadence and orchestration are similar. How cool would it be if JW meant to hide Kylo Ren's theme in the Jedi Steps all along?

 

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If you remember, that bit underscores Kylo almost relinquishing his lighsaber.

 

https://youtu.be/yw-PFWJDObI?t=134

 

Perhaps Williams is drawing a parallel between this and Rey's final act on the Jedi temple. Should we call it "Temptation of the Light?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, Sharkus Malarkus said:

If you remember, that bit underscores Kylo almost relinquishing his lighsaber.

 

https://youtu.be/yw-PFWJDObI?t=134

 

Perhaps Williams is drawing a parallel between this and Rey's final act on the Jedi temple. Should we call it "Temptation of the Light?"

 

 

A rather brilliant comparison. I'd never linked the two scenes thematically but they are strikingly similar. Ren extends his saber but is drawn to the dark side and murders Han. Rey extends Luke's saber and presumably he accepts her gesture.

 

I guess there's no real musical link in the final film but I wonder if there was an early alternate with that intention? There did seem to be an alternate of The Jedi Steps on the Blu-ray documentary somewhere.

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@chuck, that's "Jedi Steps and Finale", which is (more or less) the same as the OST track; That is not the Jedi Steps concert arrangement version, as heard in the main post of this thread.

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23 hours ago, Jay said:

There's been discussion of this piece scattered in various threads, and I figured it was prime time it got its own thread to increase visibility of this piece

 

Here are two performances of it on Youtube, anyone know of any others?

 

 

 

 

Utterly fantastic, thanks mucho! :)

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On 08/08/2016 at 7:31 PM, Jay said:

 

 

 

 

 

Ack, this is awesome. Williams needs to record a proper version and put it on a special edition TFA album. And I'm so chuffed he refrained from wheeling out his Force theme for this proper concert arrangement of the new piece. It's better without it. 

 

Seriously, whoever is in charge of the next film would be a fucking madman not to use this theme: it is pure Star Wars/Indiana Jones MacGuffin golden era Williams. 

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45 minutes ago, alextrombone94 said:

Wonder if the Main Titles in Episode 8 will lead into this

 

That's a neat idea. I'm hoping that Williams' desire to flesh this out into a concert arrangement means that he at least intends to use this musical idea again. I'd really like to see this be a recurring theme of sorts for this trilogy. 

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53 minutes ago, alextrombone94 said:

Wonder if the Main Titles in Episode 8 will lead into this

 

This have been said before but it's more likely the credits will segue into something First Order-related.

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45 minutes ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

 

That's a neat idea. I'm hoping that Williams' desire to flesh this out into a concert arrangement means that he at least intends to use this musical idea again. I'd really like to see this be a recurring theme of sorts for this trilogy. 

 

I got the sense from Williams's TFA Seventh Symphony featurette interview that the piece was written specifically for that scene and didn't have a larger role. 

 

And I actually think perhaps Williams expanding the theme in a TFA concert arrangement makes it less likely it'll return.

 

That said, I could be (and hope I am) wrong. Perhaps Williams wasn't planning on using the theme again but when he sees VIII he'll decide to reprise it. We'll see.

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2 hours ago, Will said:

 

I got the sense from Williams's TFA Seventh Symphony featurette interview that the piece was written specifically for that scene and didn't have a larger role. 

 

And I actually think perhaps Williams expanding the theme in a TFA concert arrangement makes it less likely it'll return.

 

That said, I could be (and hope I am) wrong. Perhaps Williams wasn't planning on using the theme again but when he sees VIII he'll decide to reprise it. We'll see.

Well we know this scene will be revisited in 8

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36 minutes ago, Fennel Ka said:

Well we know this scene will be revisited in 8

 

 

The months seem to be passing by with no official word that Williams will be scoring it..I'm getting worried

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The film doesn't even have a title yet, I wouldn't worry.

 

They'll be editing for the next few months then will probably start thinking about the score. Plenty of time for JW to make a decision, especially when he doesn't really need to write anything for another 8 months or so.

 

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44 minutes ago, king mark said:

The months seem to be passing by with no official word that Williams will be scoring it..I'm getting worried

 

Disney, are you sure you're telling us absolutely everything?

 

telling.png

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As far as we know, the tentative plan is Ready Player One in November and Episode 8 after that, sometime next spring. I'm pretty optimistic about it now, I wasn't at first but it's so interesting to me that Williams has gotten these big projects suddenly lined up so close to each other and yet everything is falling into place to allow him the most luxurious schedules possible. Star Wars is already done filming, RP1 will be soon. Two massive projects with 18 months of post-production each? I thought RP1 would surely cause a conflict with its March 2018 release, but I can't believe he's doing that this year and leaving 2017 so wide open. As always, we have to keep his age in the back of our minds but he's been looking pretty fit lately, seeing him at his concerts and with the kids who pranked him. So far so good, and hopefully he can also fit in Edgardo Mortara the same way he planned to do Bridge of Spies.

 

It's annoying that there's been no official Star Wars announcement yet when we got it so early with TFA, but Episode VIII is still over a year away. I mean, I don't even think Disney's put out any Rogue One statement or promo with Alexandre Desplat's name on it either.

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10 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

It's annoying that there's been no official Star Wars announcement yet when we got it so early with TFA, but Episode VIII is still over a year away. I mean, I don't even think Disney's put out any Rogue One statement or promo with Alexandre Desplat's name on it either.

 

Couldn't find a press release either, so they probably made it a soft announcement (maybe not wanting to make a big deal out of Williams not scoring a SW feature film?)

 

Importantly, Desplat was announced the week after the title of Rogue One was announced, if that's any indication of when JW might be announced for VIII.

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Well yeah, but that was a Desplat interview where he said he was going to do it, which is about all we have with Williams and 8 right now too. I can't remember seeing anything at all from Disney about Desplat....not a confirmation tweet, nothing. But there may be some credits at the end of this week's trailer.

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10 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Well yeah, but that was a Desplat interview where he said he was going to do it, which is about all we have with Williams and 8 right now too. I can't remember seeing anything at all from Disney about Desplat....not a confirmation tweet, nothing. But there may be some credits at the end of this week's trailer.

 

Poor Desplat, he was writing as early May and in the last 2 months half the film's been re-shot. Hopefully the score isn't affected too much... :mellow:

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No, he wasn't. He was in Poland at the end of May and said he will start working on it in a month or two.

 

22 hours ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

 

That's a neat idea. I'm hoping that Williams' desire to flesh this out into a concert arrangement means that he at least intends to use this musical idea again. I'd really like to see this be a recurring theme of sorts for this trilogy. 

That would be probably his intention since the man himself listed this piece as one of his favourites from TFA score.

 

Karol

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On 8/9/2016 at 3:03 AM, chuck said:

This one was from the Boston Pops...

 

 

 

This is just an audio recording

 

 

Nice, they take the Scherzo much faster than the OST.

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2 hours ago, crocodile said:

No, he wasn't. He was in Poland at the end of May and said he will start working on it in a month or two.

 

Well this interview was posted at the start of April where Desplat said he was starting writing, "in a few weeks," so that's what I based it off.

 

 

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Hmm... Not too impressed, I'll stick with the OST cue. (I can't get enough of that end credits suite. Why does he write these things after the recording sessions? Is it due to lack of time on his part, or is he just not interested in having a proper recording of this, or does he add this as a bonus for orchestras?

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It's nice to have a concert arrangement like this, but if it was on my iPod I'd probably always skip it. I wonder how/if he will develop Poe/Finn's heroic theme. It's a shame the best performance of that theme didn't make it to the standard OST release

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To me, this represents Williams at his best. I remember when TFA came out there was a lot if speculation as to why the theme didn't occur in the movie more, and what it might represent. Star Wars Oxygen discussed it quite prominently. Come to think of it, there's still a chance we'll get a Williams recording of this. That is if Williams carries the theme over to Episode VIII. If it becomes an important representation of Rey's (or Luke's) journey the OST might feature the concert arrangement as is Williams' custom.

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I don't like it that much. I think the power of the original comes from the momentum. ... after the second statement of the theme you have the horn call and immediately the major statement on trumpet with the tremulous strings underneath it. It gave the sense of a cathartic crescendo.

 

This dissipates that momentum by making us wait for that big statement.

 

This is a very fine theme. I really do hope he uses it,  specifically to show Rey's connection to Luke. The cue had tremendous dramatic impact in VII. Williams of course knows when to tighten the screws for dramatic itensity.

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3 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

I don't like it that much. I think the power of the original comes from the momentum. ... after the second statement of the theme you have the horn call and immediately the major statement on trumpet with the tremulous strings underneath it. It gave the sense of a cathartic crescendo.

 

This dissipates that momentum by making us wait for that big statement.

 

This is a very fine theme. I really do hope he uses it,  specifically to show Rey's connection to Luke. The cue had tremendous dramatic impact in VII. Williams of course knows when to tighten the screws for dramatic itensity.

 

I do agree that the film version is better, although the concert arrangement is terrific too. My feelings may be due to the more optimistic tone of the film version as compared to the darkness of the concert one.

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