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Music that evokes wonder


leeallen01

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Just thought I'd start a topic where people share their favourite pieces that really boosted the wonderment on-screen. Like the reveal of something for example. A moment where you just thought "wow!" When hearing the music to the images.

 

I'll kick things off with a favourite of mine. 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Thor said:

It's a bit of a general term, so it can mean all sorts of different things -- but Spielberg and Williams movies are full of 'awe and wonder' moments. A personal favourite is the first view of the dinos in JP.

Yes that's another favourite of mine too. The whole sequence is beautifully choreographed musically .:)

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46 minutes ago, Thor said:

It's a bit of a general term, so it can mean all sorts of different things -- but Spielberg and Williams movies are full of 'awe and wonder' moments. A personal favourite is the first view of the dinos in JP.

(Y)

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This is a less pronounced form of wonder, I feel... maybe more like awe-inspired bliss. Regardless I'm always struck by the subtle power of the peace.

Of course, being a rejected score, it wasn't used in the film! But imagine if it was... it would have lent the scene a lot of beauty.

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For me, the big music moment for RotJ in my mind has always been the choir underscoring the final few moments of the Luke vs. Vader duel (from when Vader mentions harming Leia to when Luke chops off Vader's arm). Less wonder and more awe, I suppose.

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The Map Room: Dawn from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now that is some awe of biblical proportions.

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I've shared this one before in the Favorite Non-Williams Musical Moments thread, but I think this is a good example of music more subtly evoking a feeling of wonderment. 

0:26 - approx. 0:45 in the clip, 0:59 - 1:34 of Flies and Spiders from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug OST.


And then all of this. Perfect simultaneous pairing of wondrous visuals with wondrous music. 


And, lastly, as a slightly unorthodox and potentially controversial selection, I'll throw in the bit where all of the Autobots transform for the first time in the first Transformers film in one continuous shot:

 

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16 hours ago, Incanus said:

This came immediately to mind and the piece really lifts the whole scene to a higher level.

 

 

Also the concert arrangement found of this piece on the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration album is a superb elaboration on the theme.

 

Oh yes. The concert arrangement is even better than, say, "The Plane" or that above cue. Absolute gold.

15 hours ago, Thor said:

It's a bit of a general term, so it can mean all sorts of different things -- but Spielberg and Williams movies are full of 'awe and wonder' moments. A personal favourite is the first view of the dinos in JP.

 

Speaking of that cue, this is perhaps a weird place to mention it, but I've always been absolutely in love with the synth bells and (presumably non-synth) winds thing (I think) starting here and lasting until 6:39...

 

 

Such a subtle touch but so great! Whenever I hear this playing in my head those bells are always brought to the forefront of the mix, so to speak, that's how much I like them.

 

And yes, the awe and wonder in that scene and score is truly epic. Hammond limping along on his cane, chuckling at Grant and Sattler's amazement ("We have a T-rex") as this cue plays, especially the part with those bells... Absolute perfection.

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Always really liked this one shot of a train from Casino Royale (0:00 - 0:12 in the clip below). It's very brief, and a shot that might not have seemed all that noteworthy or memorable, especially if scored by a lesser composer. Because, really, why should it be? It's just a train driving along a simple countryside. That said, Arnold is able to pair the scene with music that really makes the event of a train passing through simple countryside feel like a really big deal. To me, it really does drip of wonder and escapism, even though it is, at it's core, just a shot of train... driving alongside the countryside. It shouldn't be as cool as it is.  But I guess that's the mark of a great composer: being able to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. 
 


Music only: 

 

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16 hours ago, TheWhiteRider said:

Obvious.

 

 

 

Woah I'd never heard that one before. It has an expansion of the bit I love in "Detach," near the end (although I think I like the orchestration in "Detach" better).

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One track that came to mind seeing the thread, curiously, is "Journey to Blofeld's Hideaway" from On Her Majesty's Secret Service -specifically when Bond begins his journey up over the Alps. There's a sense of wonder in the beauty of the Alps in that first half of the track, especially when listed in isolation.

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On 22/09/2016 at 11:42 AM, Thor said:

It's a bit of a general term, so it can mean all sorts of different things -- but Spielberg and Williams movies are full of 'awe and wonder' moments. A personal favourite is the first view of the dinos in JP.

 

For me JP is unparalleled as far as this topic goes. It utterly rocked my senses to their core when I heard it (alongside the images), it was an epiphany in my young life. Mind-blowing. 

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