karelm

The film and score are so masterful and deeply moving, this sequence always brings me to tears. This film exemplifies two masters of their medium at the pinnacle of their craft. Sublime, mature, rich, complex, efficient, and ultimately deeply moving. This is from a moment in the film where so much is happening subtextually. A masterpiece of film making, scoring, and storytelling. The film never scores the action, only the subtext or inner thoughts of the characters. Something Spielberg and Williams hinted at in all their prior collaborations but here it is in full display. A few reasons why this film hits me so hard - I think it was 2014, I was flying back from Baltimore, Maryland, after performing there. That was after a wonderful experience performing with Marin Alsop and the amazing musicians and friends in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Since I had to fly with my trombone in a seat without it blocking any passengers in case there was an evacuation, I was boarded first and in the front row. Next were a group of 20 senior citizens that were all part of the Honor Flight Network (a non-profit organization whose mission is to transport Veterans to Washington DC to visit memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifice). This was one of the most enjoyable flights I had ever taken making the five-hour flight feel like only 30 minutes it was over so quick. The man sitting next to me was known as the “kid” because he was the youngest one at 87. He was a rear gunner on a B-17 bomber. I told him I was a pilot which excited him as we began talking about what he saw and experienced flying dozens of dangerous missions, the fright of the Luftwaffe, friends he lost, and the incredible randomness of great tragedies. He almost started tearing up recalling a routine mission with several of his friends where all on board died because the plane simply flew into a mountain. I could feel the cold, noise, smell, fear, cramping, claustrophobia inside the rear and belly turret of these long missions over enemy terrain. He said the introduction of the P-51 Mustang was a game changer because they would now have armed escorts on their dangerous missions who were as agile (probably more so) as the Luftwaffe. They frequently didn't even know what happened to their friends. After difficult missions, they simply returned and noticed airplanes missing or bunks unoccupied. No word of what happened to their friends...are they now POW? Did the plane ditch in the sea? Were there any survivors? They had no easy answers. How terrifying it must have been to fly these missions before the P-51 where it must have felt like they were a large sitting duck! Now at least, they had a chance. Halfway through the flight, many of these men had to go the bathroom so my front row chair became a rotating door of great stories from these incredible veterans. One consistent story I heard was how much they all revered one of the passengers on the flight above all else. Finally, he made his way to the front row seat awaiting the bathroom. When he sat next to me, we started talking and I saw his cap "101st Airborne Screaming Eagles" Infantry division. My jaw dropped. He was a paratrooper on D-Day who jumped from a glider behind enemy lines in the middle of the night during the Invasion of D-Day. Against incredibly bad odds, he survived the battle telling me that night, he lost half his company. Just imagine, in a 24-hour period losing one out of two people you trained and bonded with. These guys were around 17 to 22 years old at that time and I couldn't believe I was looking them directly in their eyes hearing them recount these horrific experiences firsthand. This scene from Saving Private Ryan, the 101st is crossing paths with Captain Miller's (Tom Hanks) character as they look through the dog tags of paratroopers killed. I met those men. It was incredibly humbling to meet these true heroes and I was reminded of them each time I see this film. I will never forget meeting them and hearing their stories firsthand.

I love this very fine album.

Damn! I remember him on my Lost scoring sessions. They were all top notch, and I didn't realize how great they were. Emil Richards literally proudly showed me his custom percussion instruments that he identified as being made from airplane parts. In the booth was Dan Wallin who was a true professional. Focused and mixing in near real time. Our session was just three hours and he had it mixed live. Superfast to keep us on time and budget. He was a true pro. RIP.

Not strange. The platform fears that self pledges can be opportunistically used to reach the threshold, hence producing partially cash-constrained projects, besides constituting unethical behavior as it is a deceptive practice to those who've contributed in good faith: ‘‘Kickstarter operates under the premise that you need the whole amount for the project to work. When people pledge to your campaign, they aren’t just buying something, they’re also pledging because they believe that without the support, the project will not reach its goal and will not receive any of the pledged funds.” Self-funding is considered a breach of trust of those who've supported the campaign because you're effectively saying I want to pay less for the project than I would have had to by taking the money others contributed for my own needs.

They're not allowed to chip in the difference to fund their project. "Pledging to your own project is not allowed by either Kickstarter or our payments processor. Doing so violates our guidelines and may lead to suspension of your project."

It was Herb Spencer. With that said, JW's sketches are extremely detailed and as Conrad Pope says, an orchestrator for JW's film is a glorified editor. He's specific about the instrumentation, rhythms, voicings, ornaments, doublings, solos, etc., all in the sketch.

Yes, along with Elgar's Cello Concerto one of the best of the genre. Also very satisfying to perform. I played in the orchestra on this piece in a concert and was struck how well it feels and how exciting the ending bars were. I've noticed that with all Dvorak I've performed, it's very well executed even if you don't play much, each note has purpose. In contrast, Robert Schumann, I played throughout it but felt much of that served no purpose and wasn't exactly clear what I was needed for.

I think it's very interesting that he has books on Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Brahms (multiple books), two copies of Britten's War Requiem, multiple books about Cole Porter, even Stockhausen, a looming head of Copland, etc. This really does reflect on his sound world, but I don't see Vaughan Williams.

The originals are at JAKMS but the resulting full scores are what's in the leather-bound copies. The hand sketches are like first draft, not the cleaned up, revised full scores though with JW, there might not be much difference except one is cleaned up, legible, and the other might have lots of short hand making it hard to follow. A simple example, maybe an instrument switches which system it's on from bar to bar. The orchestrator would clearly understand that shorthand, but it would make the full score difficult to read. Think of it as a handwritten notepad of a story with lines scratched out versus the edited, typeset resulting copy. This is a picture of his library with the leather scores. They are full scores. I can make out Empire of the Sun, Jaws, JFK and a few other gems. John Williams, Hollywood’s Maestro, Looks Beyond the Movies - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

It had everything I thought to check. With that said, I didn't think to check some of those! I did see the soundtrack and also arranged cues meant for the soundtrack album but might not be in the film. I do recall a cantina band or two but those weren't my main focus. I was working on the music of official Star Wars projects so got permission to study the originals. It's crazy to think I was sitting alone with the Herb Spencer original pencil scores and could literally have changed it if I felt like it. Exactly how I felt! I actually briefly considered running out as fast as I could with those! Luckily, I didn't act on that urge.

My pictures while examining those sheets. Was such a thrill to hold the original, hand written full scores! Three piles, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.

It's common knowledge that Goldsmith was a chromogen not unlike Bernard Herrmann. Marco Beltrami said that Goldsmith had a chip on his shoulder that he never found his Spielberg or Lucas which I thought was a dig at JW. This sort of stuff isn't really that big a deal because it's so common. We tend to compare ourselves to our peers rather than to ourselves and at the top levels like these two were, it can be fiercely competitive but doesn't mean that much. It's sort of just an emotional response but if given a moment to think more clearly on it, I think Goldsmith would refine his criticism to more of a backhanded compliment. When JG died, his daughter published online about 50 pages of a bio she was writing about her dad. I think the book was either never completed or the project fell through, but I read it and she quoted JG commenting on many of his contemporaries. Again, it wasn't personal, just chromogeny comments when comparing himself to others feeling he didn't get an award someone else did for something he felt was inferior, type of thing. So what. Saying it doesn't make it true and isn't insightful to what he even really means.

I've attended some of these and recall some real gems. LA Phil is very, very supportive of young, unproven composers. Was it the 100th anniversary year included 100 commissions, it was a few years ago so can't remember what the celebration was. It's not unusual for a program with Dvorak to be paired with a world premiere and I don't think I've heard a failure. Some have been outstanding and almost always by composers I've not encountered before, and I am an adventurous listener.

Oh, come on. You think the biopic of the first conscientious objector who refused to fire a weapon and would receive a Medal of Honor when there was no such thing after saving 72 men in the battle of Okinawa isn't a worthwhile story? It's a very well told story of a side of war never heard. Those who refuse to bear arms but are still willing to die for their cause.

What do you know of Johnny's grandfather? I understand he was a composer too.