Maestro

I think I answered this question here before, but the short answer is: John Williams does not keep up with contemporary films or composers. He just doesn't watch most movies, period, and certainly isn't listening to the scores. He has a personal relationship with / affection for the Newmans, but I doubt he's heard most of their scores—let alone Hans Zimmer's or Bear McCreary's or Ludwig's...

I'm speaking at their Salon Series in an hour! Just signed 100 books for attendees and their store.

If anyone was turned away by the paywall, I made the decision to make this series free to all. I think you'll enjoy it. Tim

I wish I knew! But there will hopefully be translated editions in the near future, and I would very much hope French would be among them.

I never did, but it's something worth pursuing!

Only on this forum would an essay about the history/dynamic of John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith inspire heated discussion about... a parenthetical statistic about credits. Never change, JWFan!

It's admittedly hard to quantify what counts as a "feature" when Heidi and Jane Eyre are in the mix. But you've caused me to rethink my count! It's either 110 or, if we admit those two TV movies, 112.

I don't know the exact movements, but these were among the works in the temp: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/azkaban-temp/pl.u-r2yBLgGCjb73D4

Incredible! Thank you so much for doing something I was too daunted to try and do myself, Marc. It's wonderfully thorough, and I'm grateful.

Some clown is also giving a pre-concert talk on that Sunday: https://www.bso.org/events/jan-22-25-john-williams-prog

Thanks for the compliment, and I appreciate all of your feedback! Everyone is entitled to gripe or praise any aspect of the book they want. I'm reading a biography of a filmmaker right now and am both riveted by the information and constantly annoyed with the writing approach, so it helps me appreciate and sympathize with the role of the reader in this whole equation. I stand by the creative choices I made (specifically the inclusion of my personal judgment on the films and scores), but I'm not so delusional to think they're critique-proof or just not to some readers' liking. I will say, as someone who can't stand when people refer to a film score cue or track as a "song," that I only would have used that word as an adjective or descriptive metaphor for a melody—never as an accidental miscategorization. At least I hope so, anyway!

If anyone's interested: I'm hosting a virtual town hall with Doug Adams in an hour (9am PST): https://usc.zoom.us/j/97959008621?pwd=S6ggkMYaY8PvBcR8uXEbe2cqFZgKUR.1

Haha—I clearly have Roman numeral dyslexia! This is already an issue in the book itself, and I even thought about it with extra energy today, ultimately concluding: Yep, that's definitely 7!

A little teaser for next week's special post for paid subscribers. (How's that for a carrot!) https://substack.com/@behindthemoon/note/c-179782306?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=7jjoz