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War Horse – A Review and an Analysis of the Original Soundtrack Album


Incanus

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It seems a lot of film music fans define Williams with his output from 75-82. I think those years were very non-Williams.

Tell that to all those who fell in love with his music during that period, myself included.

People are too attached to those few years where he was trying something new.

Who are you to tell me that I'm too attached to anything?

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Far and Away is on a completely different level from War Horse. As is Angela's Ashes.

The Patriot is generally a more satisfying listen, with a more expansive emotional palette and a knockout love theme that eats the "bonding" theme from War Horse for lunch.

One score with which War Horse does compare favorably is Amistad, although the latter's highlights are as good as anything in the former.

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John Williams has been writing brilliant music from his beginning as a composer until... well probably until the day he dies. Everyone will of course have their own personal preferences of when his "peak" was. It's certainly an interesting topic to discuss, but shouldn't be taking place in a thread dedicated to the themes of the War Horse OST and Incanus' wonderful review of said OST.

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Question for those of you who have seen the film: Is the OST in chronological order?

I would guess it either already is completely chronological, or if not then only one or two cues tacked into the end of a OST track are out of place and that's it.

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Question for those of you who have seen the film: Is the OST in chronological order?

I would guess it either already is completely chronological, or if not then only one or two cues tacked into the end of a OST track are out of place and that's it.

Based on the track titles and what I've heard of the clips so far, I would say that the album presentation of the score is pretty in-line with the film I can say for sure that the last four or five tracks are chronological. I'll check back next week about the first 10 tracks or so.

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May I just say...

3:15-3:40 of "Bringing Joey Home and Bonding"

Makes me misty eyed. Every damn time. It is hear-rending and beautiful in a way only Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams can be with their gentler music. The echoing and lingering melody...held by the players just a moment longer, followed by a moment of hesitation just before the strings gently ease into deeper chords that tear your heart out.

Words cannot do justice to the magic that takes place from 3:22-3:32 within that frame of time.

And it's all fucking buried in the middle of a comedy track. No other composer working today could accomplish such an amazing contrast, yet alone accomplish it so well.

Onions get chopped every time I listen to this lovely track...

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I have so many misty-eyed moments in this score.

- The statement at the beginning of Remembering Emilie.

- The Homecoming, 3:35....I'm in heaven. Particularly at 3:50 when those strings make such a subtle base.

- Learning the Call - 0:30 - don'tcha just love those 'rolling' strings. I can picture a horseride over the landscape.

And I'm loving to bits the buildup throughout Plowing. Even when it lowers slightly at the 3 min point, there's still an undercurrent there which so satisfyingly culminates in the two huge thematic statements and lovely woodwind solo.

The themes in this score are literally rolling through my brain. This really kicks KotCS completely out of the park in quality for me.

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I have so many misty-eyed moments in this score.

- The statement at the beginning of Remembering Emilie.

- The Homecoming, 3:35....I'm in heaven. Particularly at 3:50 when those strings make such a subtle base.

- Learning the Call - 0:30 - don'tcha just love those 'rolling' strings. I can picture a horseride over the landscape.

And I'm loving to bits the buildup throughout Plowing. Even when it lowers slightly at the 3 min point, there's still an undercurrent there which so satisfyingly culminates in the two huge thematic statements and lovely woodwind solo.

The themes in this score are literally rolling through my brain. This really kicks KotCS completely out of the park in quality for me.

I agree with everything you said...down to the other moments.

With each listen, this score creeps further and further up my John Williams favorites. I don't want to be hasty, but there is a possibility when all is settled and done this will be a top 10 or even top fiver.

And finally, to the lone three people disappointed by this amazing score:

Sucks for you! :lick:

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I'd actually agree with Steef. In fact, I think that reasoning is why I am gradually holding War Horse in higher and higher esteem.

When I first heard it, it seemed slow and plodding, it wasn't quite as immediately gratifying to me. As I listen more and more and begin to grasp the context of the score my appreciation for its individual tracks started going up. And the discovery continues.

I've always said around here that I think the best music sounds deceptively simple. And yet when you closely inspect it, you realize that simplicity is the result of an intense amount of thinking and work on the part of the composer. The number of notes may not be huge, but so much thought has been put in to each and every one that each beat of the music is a story on its own. With scores of that caliber, as you listen and listen, you find something new every time, no matter how long you've been listening.

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo Da Vinci

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I'd actually agree with Steef. In fact, I think that reasoning is why I am gradually holding War Horse in higher and higher esteem.

When I first heard it, it seemed slow and plodding, it wasn't quite as immediately gratifying to me. As I listen more and more and begin to grasp the context of the score my appreciation for its individual tracks started going up. And the discovery continues.

+1

I had to get used to the slow, deliberate style of this score, and I didn't find it immediately gratifying.

In fact, the piano solo in Remembering Emilie did nothing for me at first, but once I listened to the album in order and I heard the rendition in The Reunion, it suddenly opened up.

This score is brimming with emotion that Tintin completely lacks for me.

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My reaction to War Horse is that it sounds deceptively fresh. I would say that it comes closest to any Williams score in a long time to creating its own sound world, its own distinct soundscape. And that's an achievement unto itself. Clearly there was a connection Williams felt with the film and its visuals that manifested itself in his music.

But -- and of course this is where the heavy subjectivity is fully evident -- there's a point in listening to this score at which the initial freshness gives way to something that seems fairly well trodden -- just in a different guise. The protestation here is that to expect anything beyond that is to expect the composer to deny his own style. But I will maintain that when I listen to "Dartmoor, 1912" or "No Man's Land," I can hear the gears grinding, I can hear the noise of Williams the craftsman at work in his shop. When I listen to "The Mecha World" or "Abandoned in the Woods," Williams the magician the swiftly and imperceptibly transports me to another world.

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I halfway agree, the swollen pathos of some of the later cues (and the big action sound of NO MAN'S LAND) sounds very much like the same hoary old Hollywood clichés we're used to - and nobody would congratulate i. e. JNH on accomplishing that - but it's in the more elaborate rural writing in the first half i find real pleasures.

The HOMECOMING cue is as close as you can get to concert music, so i guess what's contained therein is what Williams found at the heart of the movie.

I'd say a good 8 out of ten in my book.

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The closest to this one is, I think, Far and Away. In terms of tone and quality, I mean.

But -- and of course this is where the heavy subjectivity is fully evident -- there's a point in listening to this score at which the initial freshness gives way to something that seems fairly well trodden -- just in a different guise. The protestation here is that to expect anything beyond that is to expect the composer to deny his own style. But I will maintain that when I listen to "Dartmoor, 1912" or "No Man's Land," I can hear the gears grinding, I can hear the noise of Williams the craftsman at work in his shop. When I listen to "The Mecha World" or "Abandoned in the Woods," Williams the magician the swiftly and imperceptibly transports me to another world.

These are good points, of course. But is it fair to expect Williams to reinvent the wheel this time around? It's conservative and old-fashioned film as they get. Besides, he's not the kind of composer who's made his name by bending the rules.

Karol

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Well, I seem to be in the minority here.

I was blown away when I first heard it, and I still am.

Yeah I actually had the same reaction. I was blown away by this music on my first listen and all the numerous subsequent listens have not diminished that feeling. It has heart and soul of a classic JW score, dash of that innocent wide eyed wonder, the familiar yet fresh Williams sound and a delightfully luminous spirit. I feel that the music somehow gathers all that is great about Williams' music from different decades into a one score.

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I don't understand gkyver's post either. The score is pretty much universally praised by everyone who's heard it, and then he posts that he must be in the minority that he was blown away by it >shrug<

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I thought the discussion was whether you are taken by it upon your first listening or whether you need to warm up to it, as those statements clearly say:

I'd actually agree with Steef. In fact, I think that reasoning is why I am gradually holding War Horse in higher and higher esteem.

When I first heard it, it seemed slow and plodding, it wasn't quite as immediately gratifying to me. As I listen more and more and begin to grasp the context of the score my appreciation for its individual tracks started going up. And the discovery continues.

+1

I had to get used to the slow, deliberate style of this score, and I didn't find it immediately gratifying.

In fact, the piano solo in Remembering Emilie did nothing for me at first, but once I listened to the album in order and I heard the rendition in The Reunion, it suddenly opened up.

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There were some recent posts along those lines, but overall people have been extremely positive about it. I think its a wonderful score, easily my favorite JW drama score

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How can a score that has just been released be in anyone's top 10 or even become someone's favorite JW drama score? Have you guys even had time to compare it to every other Williams score from the past 40 years?

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How can a score that has just been released be in anyone's top 10 or even become someone's favorite JW drama score? Have you guys even had time to compare it to every other Williams score from the past 40 years?

I've listened to a bunch of JW drama scores in my day and I like War Horse more than all of them. What's wrong with that?

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How can a score that has just been released be in anyone's top 10 or even become someone's favorite JW drama score? Have you guys even had time to compare it to every other Williams score from the past 40 years?

They might just have good intuition.

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I'm not putting it in any lists or anything, I'm simply saying I like it more than his other drama scores.

Way too soon to be putting either score on any lists IMHO, especially since I haven't seen either movie

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I think the viewing of the film will only raise this score's worth in my eyes.

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I'm not putting it in any lists or anything, I'm simply saying I like it more than his other drama scores.

Way too soon to be putting either score on any lists IMHO, especially since I haven't seen either movie

I don't think it's too soon, in terms of listenability.

I've heard the album all the way through at least twice now and I already prefer listening to it than many of JW's other scores. Hence, it goes higher on the theoretical list.

For Tintin, viewing the film actually didn't help much; I still think the same of it (i.e. a decent score, but not one that really appeals to me much).

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How can a score that has just been released be in anyone's top 10 or even become someone's favorite JW drama score? Have you guys even had time to compare it to every other Williams score from the past 40 years?

I've listened to a bunch of JW drama scores in my day and I like War Horse more than all of them. What's wrong with that?

There's obviously nothing wrong with that. But it puzzles me nonetheless. I would understand it if you meant that these are the scores you listen to the most these days (for whatever reason). But my personal favorites (or best, greatest, top x, whatever, it's all the same) are the result of decades of listening and experiencing the music countless times. I think some perspective is needed.

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