Williams's Most Haunting Cues

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Which cues of his cause the hairs on your back stand on their end every time? One that hits me really hard is the track 'No Road Home' from EMPIRE OF THE SUN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1-a5OCIYgs

0:00-2:19.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

The opening choral segment of Stored Memories. Hell, the whole cue.

When Sir Richard's sarcophagus is revealed to a solemn reading of the grail theme, and the earlier statement when Marcus and Indy are in Henry's study.

The Force theme at the start of Tales Of A Jedi Knight. You've already heard it during the binary sunset, but this setting is the one that made the biggest impression on me the first time. It's very haunting; it sounds distant, archaic, steeped in history, and makes the imagination run wild envisioning what that history could be.

[karelm 2,903]

Haunting is JW's middle name. Which of his scores does NOT have a haunting idea? For example: Jaws, when the orca leaves doc. Close Encounters when the people on the hill think they see UFOs (that are in fact helicopters) plus the first time they see devil mountain or the UFOs at the end, Star Wars Force, Raiders Ark, Empire (throughout), etc. Mr. Shark, I think what you describe as haunting, I describe as "sense of wonder" and who else encapsulates that spirit better than JW? It is his DNA. Seriously, who else comes close to that sense of haunting wonder?

[Incanus 5,713]

Just a few off the top of my head:

Hatching a Baby Raptor from JP

Search for the Blue Fairy from A.I.

Hester's Theme and the House from The Fury (the harp reading of the main theme always gets me)

As the Water... from Memoirs of a Geisha

The Face of Pan from Hook (yes yes the opening has that Delerue quote but the main flute melody is just one of the most sublime pastoral things JW has ever created. The concert version wonderfully expands the original ideas). Williams really captures the mythical dimension of the character and his meaning and even a bit of Pan, the piper god himself, in the music.

[Red 75]

The choral passage from "Farewell Neverland".

[Bilbo 3,709]

Still sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

[Faleel 5,340]

JAWS: Into the Estuary, when Brody is watching the Shark swimming away (I think)

Raiders: Reunion In the Tent, love the Ark theme statements in this.

AOTC: End of Finale and Across the Stars.

ROTJ: The Levitation, the statements of the Force theme are the best in the saga IMO.

[Thor 7,478]

Well, one would need to define 'haunting', I guess. It's a pretty wide word.

But one of my main reasons for having Williams as a favourite composer is his particular penchant for what I call 'the religious sound' (alternatively 'the spiritual sound'). So all of the tracks in that category also fall in the 'haunting' category, I guess.

[Faleel 5,340]

Well, one would need to define 'haunting', I guess. It's a pretty wide word.

I would define it as:

Emotionally resonant, distant, or fragile sounding.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Mr. Shark, I think what you describe as haunting, I describe as "sense of wonder" and who else encapsulates that spirit better than JW?

I wouldn't really use 'sense of wonder' to describe the track I posted. Instead, I hear a potent mix of desperation, horror and sadness.

[karelm 2,903]

Mr. Shark, I think what you describe as haunting, I describe as "sense of wonder" and who else encapsulates that spirit better than JW?

I wouldn't really use 'sense of wonder' to describe the track I posted. Instead, I hear a potent mix of desperation, horror and sadness.

Makes sense. You're right I think your track is haunting and some I proposed are more "sense of awe/wonder".

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Yes, I retract my Indy/Star Wars examples as they stray a bit beyond haunting in a depressing sense. But the AI one embodies that completely for me.

[publicist 4,643]

I add DRACULA's end titles, especially the yearning-yet-lonesome oboe reading, which always resonated with me as the most elegant romantic depiction of 'haunting'.

[KK 3,307]

Perhaps a bit too dark to fall under "haunting", but this always sends the chills down my spine:

[King Mark 3,626]

Recently. The Visitor on Himmel Street and Rudy is Taken haunted me for a couple of hours after I saw the film .Those scenes hit me pretty hard

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

edit

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

In Prisoner of Azkaban there is this wonderfully haunting moment where I think the camera is flying over the Hogwarts Express as it winds around the misty scene and you have these distant and incomplete echoes of A Window to the Past.

It's genuinely my favorite John Williams haunting moment. And it's about 5-7 seconds tops.

The music itself is misty. What's more haunting than mist?!

[King Mark 3,626]

Yoda lifting the X-wing is a contender for top spot of all times

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

I add DRACULA's end titles, especially the yearning-yet-lonesome oboe reading, which always resonated with me as the most elegant romantic depiction of 'haunting'.

That's a good one, Pub! Speaking of oboes, I really like "Return To The City".

I think that the first part of "Brody Misunderstood", is really haunting. The soft horns are really nice.

[nightscape94 965]

Some stuff on Munich is pretty haunting.

[Hlao-roo 389]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPqF3zpmhmg

[Faleel 5,340]

Tractor Beam from SW.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

Do you mean the track that used to be called the first part of "Inner City"?

[Faleel 5,340]

No, I mean the first part of the 97 SE track Tractor Beam/Chasm Crossfire.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

I'll check it out.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

It's the bit you thought it was, Rich.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

Ah! Thanks, Sharkey. BTW, and while we are on that particular subject...is there a synthesiser in that track, or is some sort of brass?

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

All you're hearing is what you hear in the rest of the score - 6 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones (occasionally a 4th on bass trombone) and 2 tubas, along with 2 bassoons and 1 contrabassoon.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The entire score to Images, but more specifically when the strings flutter in at 3:18 of "In Search Of Unicorns."

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

Good choice, Koray.

Howzabout the end title to "Presumed Innocent"?

Actually, "Ghostbreaker" is pretty haunting. Ghost? Hanuting? Get it? It's the way I tell 'em

[Ludwig 1,120]

Mr. Shark referred drew my attention to the haunting sounds in this cue and they've been faves ever since. The first 15 seconds are especially bone chilling, and the resolution to a minor chord at 0:12 sounds like inevitable doom:

http://youtu.be/bbJOiI3vLB4

[indy4 155]

Secrets of the Castle from PoA

Death of ----- from War Horse

anything from Dracula - the End Titles, Lucy's Abduction especially

Anakin's Betrayal

Confluence

Cinque is Captured

Leaving Ingrid

...and of course "Crimebuster" from Heartbeeps!

[Incanus 5,713]

Death of ----- from War Horse

...and of course "Crimebuster" from Heartbeeps!

You can freely mention the Death of Topthorn indy4. The film has been out for 2 years. No need to avoid spoilers in this case.

Oh and yes Crimebuster haunts me too.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Am I the only one who can't listen to Stored Memories without massive mental preparation?

[Incanus 5,713]

Am I the only one who can't listen to Stored Memories without massive mental preparation?

I think The Search for the Blue Fairy is even more so to me ( I am in the minority who likes the solo soprano over the film version though) but yes Stored Memories demands that from me too. It is in itself such a wonderful musical journey.

[Sandor 796]

Any track from Schindler's List.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Am I the only one who can't listen to Stored Memories without massive mental preparation?

I think The Search for the Blue Fairy is even more so to me ( I am in the minority who likes the solo soprano over the film version though) but yes Stored Memories demands that from me too. It is in itself such a wonderful musical journey.

I prefer the soloist too!

[Faleel 5,340]

Do you mean the track that used to be called the first part of "Inner City"?

Its in The Last Battle also.

[Balahkay 627]

This one has always given me the willies.

[Once 604]

Most of Images, Memoirs of a Geisha and Azkaban has a very special meaning to me, and as a result I find there to be a lot of haunting moments in them.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

This one has always given me the willies.

This greatest soundtrack ever is a synonym to the haunting music, sometimes little bit scary but always somehow haunted.

I tried also to post some tracks from it but it didn't work. Again.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Mr. Shark referred drew my attention to the haunting sounds in this cue and they've been faves ever since. The first 15 seconds are especially bone chilling, and the resolution to a minor chord at 0:12 sounds like inevitable doom:

http://youtu.be/bbJOiI3vLB4

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about - especially the build up between 1:40 and 2:22.

BLACK SUNDAY is another incredibly haunting score from the maestro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYRsrfJZvhI&list=PL1DF0FC837D85DE50&index=5

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

I'm not very good in English but these(and the EOS one) are very good definition what I understand the word haunting means.

And one of the greatest gifts of Mr. Williams is to create these kind of atmospheres.

[Quintus 5,399]

Missed this till today (because it's in here).

How about the part where an unusual little explorer wanders in awe through the dark and vast woods of a strange alien world in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

I've always loved that bit. It's almost religious in feel.

[Faleel 5,340]

Mola Rams Speech/The Evil Potion from TOD.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

The begining of "Padme's Ruminations". That solo female voice gets me every time!

[Glóin the Dark 1,220]

It might be an obvious choice, but no other John Williams piece (and few other pieces of film music) can make the hairs on my back stand on end as much as this. Its stark intensity somehow manages to remain fresh and devastating despite its familiarity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFmoVfi9ie4

[Naïve Old Fart 9,507]

I am unable to access this. What piece is it?