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"Earthwake" -- sounds like the perfect name for an environmental issue movement! Time to wake up and save the earth, folks!

Yeah, right. Because as a film music fan, the first guy you think about when a new Star Wars film is announced, is "Fuck yes, Nathan Johnson!" That interviewer is bs-ing something fierce.

This is how I divide his career. The 50s represents a student period, so I would keep that separate From about 1960-1974 we have the Early Period Here, Williams really began his career in the concert hall and for the screen. At first, he kind of divided the two fields, trying to write "serious" concert works and lighter film and TV works. As his concert career did not really take off, Williams seemed to begin to devote more creative energies to his dramatic works, now also using the name "John" for them. Jane Eyre perhaps represents his first fully mature work. The next period I call the Heroic Period which lasted from 1975 to about 1986 The death of his first wife, Barbara, is the event that divides the periods and, as Williams has said, marks a major turning point in his life and art. Williams's music in this period is marked by two things: subject material that reflects heroic themes and events, and characters; and, music that represents a struggle with and triumph over challenges in life. The transition piece here is the Violin Concerto, which, like his trio of disaster scores in a sense, deal with the emotions of a sudden calamity. After this, Williams seems to have become more personal in his music, even as he began scoring more and more high profile works. The intense forces of nature and exhausted triumph in Jaws. The reaching for something higher in the artisic triumph that is CE3K. The straightforward, ambitious heroics of the Star Wars movies, Superman, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, with their love themes that range from yearning, to acceptance (Death and Transfiguration quote in Superman) to romantic renewal. And, finally, the utter triumph and joy in the last sequence of E.T., where Williams, now at the pinnacle of American music, gives a symphonic statement that calls to mind the Finales of Beethoven's Heroic period. This period is followed by what I guess I can call the Reflective Period. This is a rather brief one, lasting from 1986 to maybe 1996. Here we find Williams thinking about his legacy, trying to craft music that can stand alone in a sense. He returned to more concert music writing. And, his film writing underwent a change to a more subtle approach. Scores like Empire of the Sun, Born on the Fourth of July, and Schindler's List are prime examples, but even his blockbuster scores, like The Last Crusade, Hook, and Jurassic Park are marked by this shift. For me, this represented Williams at his compositional peak. Next comes what I call John's Experimental Period, which started in about 1996 and lasted until 2005 or so. (KOTCS, and the late 00s concerti represent kindsof inter-period works) This period was marked by Williams beginning to be more eclectic in how he approached film projects. He began to be a little more adventurous with many scores, even more operatic, even, than he had been before. The Prequel Scores, A.I., and Memoirs of a Geisha are some prime examples. His concert works also began to really push the boundaries of modern romanticism. Finally, we have John's Late Period. Starting in about 2011, Williams started to write music that has felt a little reflective, where he has streamlined things, but has returned to a sort of straightforward vitality. Yet, the music he has written for film in this period are quite distinct from anything he has done before, even in recent years. Semi-retirement has allowed him to be more selective with his projects, and spend possibly some more time on them. Also, I find he has made strides in terms of structure in his concert works.

https://youtu.be/9E4yxmserwg This feels totally different to the stock before, sounds like we have a look at an action cue? Could be wrong!

Yes and no. He scored a handful of scenes in 2009/2010 (recorded early 2010), then Spielberg continued to cut the whole film together, and many of the scenes he had already scored were now different lengths, different configurations, gone entirely, or whatever. So in 2011 he not only scored for the first time all the scenes he had never scored in 2009/2010, he also recorded a slew of inserts, revisions, extensions, and replacements to those original cues. They were all performed by the same musicians in the same venue with the same recording team, and no entire themes disappeared or were replaced or anything, but yea, a bunch of scenes in the final film have a whole other earlier version sitting in a vault. He also wrote 2 entirely different Main Title cues before settling on the jazzy final one (which itself went through a revision)

There were no test screenings. Those are silly rumours started by some fan sites, even claiming George Lucas was brought in to "fix" the movie

Thanks to post this on black Friday mate!

Whenever I grow a bit tired of speculation, I imagine someone reading all our anticipation threads five or ten years from now, and envying us---those who had the joy of not knowing and speculating together, and then would experience the joy of being surprised by and knowing the final Star Wars score, and be there to celebrate the immediate excitement together like a big Ewok party. This feels very final to me. Maybe we will still have the chance to follow, speculate about, and cherish a new Indiana Jones score of the 89 years old Williams; or maybe not. Maybe this is the last film score ever of the great John Williams.

Since when did Disney have test screenings for Star Wars? Seems more likely the haters on YouTube are just trying to create clickbait.

I want a boxset for all the boxsets - with space for future boxset box releases. The John Williams 'John Williams Boxed Set' Boxset. Coming Fall 2142 from La La World Records and Holovids.

Regardless of one's impression of the movie, I think it's hard to deny there is some great music in Indy 4, with a lot not officially available. As for the Disaster Box Set, ordered at 3:01 EST while standing in the Modern Museum of Art in NYC with my wife sort of starting at me.

Turtlenecks Through Time

It is MUCH more likely than the audio guy in the booth grabbed some random recording of the main SW theme, than it is that Disney actually gave them a file from the Episode 9 recording sessions. There's no reason to.

Ah, you're right. It's subtle but you can hear it backing the strings in a few places at the start, here: As you say, it's a wonderful amalgamation of orchestration where all these different textures blend seamlessly and create a pleasing, even sound. ... then you compare it to the 'whack you over the head' subtlety of TFA's mix: It's just so... uneven. There's no warmth to the recording and everything sounds disparate. I know some people prefer this style but it's not my cuppa tea. It sounds like an unfinished master that hasn't been balanced properly, with percussion/brass mixed too hot and way too much separation between instruments. So yeah, the dry brass and loud xylo is pretty disconcerting from this clip (especially if JJ asked them to revert to a TFA-style mix). When you compare it to the recording acoustics of the prequels, there's just no comparison in terms of orchestral balance. The xylo is allowed to be front and centre but all the different sections (flute, trumpets, timpani and xylo) are given equal weighting in the mix: A

IDK it sounds well-mixed to me

Probably the worst spotting in JW's career is this moment going unscored. What was he thinking? That blood splatter needed a xylophone hit or two!

Arranging vs. composing vs. orchestrating has been and always will be one of the most hotly debated -- and controversial -- arguments in the Hollywood music circle since the days of Steiner and Korngold. Williams comes from an era where collaboration and collegiality between fellow composers and musicians were key factors, and probably even more crucial than who ended up being credited on the title card. He grew up with people like Al Newman and Stanley Wilson, who were fine composers themselves, but they also were excellent in administrating people and make good choices in moments of time-crunch. I think this is a testament of Williams's admiration of Conrad Pope's skills as arranger, and probably another way to see how much in his mind he makes distinction between composing vs. arranging an existing piece of music. I think this doesn't take away from the level of musicianship and artistry of this project.

So we now have the answer to two predictions (whether we'll hear a fragment of the score in advance, also whether JW was still recording on the 11th of Nov). These clever people got both answers correct! @A. A. Ron @Alex @ATXHusker @Balahkay @Darth Porkins @Evanus @First TROS March Accolyte @Jay @Joelius Caesar @JTWfan77 @Mattris @Not Mr. Big @Ricard @Score @SilverTrumpet @Smeltington @TheUlyssesian @woj @ymenard

What a ludicrous statement. In what way would Disney be a runner-up? There must be a thousand corporations doing more actual harm to people. A company like Dow Chemicals would surely come before them. What actual harm has Disney done to anyone? Withholding movies from repertory theaters, or not paying theme park employees as much as they should, is not the same as poisoning water supplies.

I found something rather interesting. Not really important at all, but interesting. I've been going through my rip of Jedi: Fallen Order (I've only examined a handful of files thus far). There appears to be a little bit of prequel music, but I'm not sure how much, or if there's any unreleased material. What is interesting however is that, and Gordy talked a little bit about this a few months back, is that ALL of the in-game music, including the music from the films, has been mastered in 7.1 surround sound. According to one of the EA devs, it sounds like JFO is pretty much the first game to utilize a full 7.1 mix. For instance, I just loaded up the game master of "Lament" from ROTS, and it is indeed in true 7.1 surround sound. Unfortunately at this time I am unable to get the files on lossless quality using current tools, only compressed OGG files. Just thought that was interesting. I'll continue to sift through the files to see if I can find anything else.

Wouldn't it be crazy awesome if it turned out that TROS is the longest score in Williams' career?

I answered all the questions. I hope the movie does not feel as exhausting.

That family is so fucking dead

Oh go eat a shark dick!

I don't think we are that unreasonable. I think the disgruntled fan from here would write something like this:

You don't have to. You always have a choice.

Thought this was a fun interview which revealed a few interesting nuggets we didn't previously know. I think the Hook signing was already revealed by Rian, but one can infer from Nathan's comments here that he actually lost this gig to Williams. Another interesting layer to that mysterious period between TFA and TLJ where JW's ongoing involvement was unclear. It seems Nathan actually got to attend the recording sessions though, so don't feel too upset for him. A dream come true for any aspiring composer. A nice gesture from Rian who surely arranged that as an apology for not getting the score. https://collider.com/knives-out-composer-interview-nathan-johnson/

How can you trash someone who literally said he worked on this as an exercise, and for mere 3 hours? Not everyone is f*****g Dmitri Shostakovich. Let people have fun with Williams' music the way they see it. It is a testament to his legacy that composers in training are using his themes as a basis for personal experimentation, whatever it's goals might be.

That's a pretty interesting discussion! I personally classify Williams' career like this: The late 1950s to the mid-1960s: The jazzy era, as he was still Johnny Williams. The mid-1960s to the early 1970s: Beginning of film scoring career and early successes specially with director Mark Rydell Early 1970s to 1975: The "music for the disaster movies of Irwin Allen" era From Jaws on 1975 to Temple of Doom on 1984: The apex of his career as a film composer, on which he wrote some of his most beloved and iconic scores.. From The River on 1984 to Far and Away on 1992: The "trying new stuff" era. Not wanting to be known just as a action/adventure composer, William scored movies from more diverse genres such as Empire of the Sun, The Witches of Eastwick, Stanley & Iris, Always, Far and Away, along with the Oliver Stone movies and the Home Alone movies (which, despite their success at the box office, were less "fantastical" than most of Williams hits so far). More traditional blockbusters besides the HA movies were only The Last Crusade and Hook. From Jurassic Park on 1993 to The Patriot on 2000: An era on which Williams planted the seeds for later works, whether on action adventure movies (the JP franchise, The Phantom Menace, The Patriot) or on smaller drama movies (Nixon, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Seven Years on Tibet) From A.I. on 2001 to Munich on 2005: The era on which Williams music has a distinct, more modern sound. His music was introduced to a new generation with the Potters and Prequels, but they remained different from his 70s/80s classics, much like his dramatic stuff had a new, distinct flair (A.I., Minority Report, Memoirs of a Geisha, Munich). From The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on 2008 to today: The later era of Williams music, that is a little more subdued, a little less "show-offy" and maybe a little more intimate. What do you guys think?

Technically we did... years ago.

Squee! It's really happening!

The music is more of the same - scurrying, "The Falcon"-esque lines in flutes and good dialogue exchanges within orchestra, which for me is a good thing

Or any of the corporations making billions digging up finite resources to burn for fuel. The disproportionate, cult-like obsession people have with Disney and the "harm" they're causing to society is indeed perplexing, if you have any grasp of reality and the harm some companies are actually causing to our planet. Oooh, "woke Disney" and their evil social engineering, infecting Star Wars with radical ideas like, "enslaving and abusing animals is bad." Those monsters!

The 8-horn section on this score was phenomenal !! Here's my transcription and cover of 6m3 "Take to your ships"

Updated to include Minority Report and Monsignor. Hopefully we can tick a few more off before the end of the year

I am sure RCP will present the board with a more economically advantageous option. A smart film scoring app that will render composers obsolete. A transfered consciousness of Lorne Balfe.

Performed by "The President's Own" United States Marine Chamber Orchestra and the Cathedral Singers November 10, 2019 Washington National Cathedral (Washington, D.C.)

Bush With Snow (2019 - Jerry, The Illustrious) To boldly go where no Jerry has gone since last year...through the snow!

From Prague...

Make of this what you will, but this dude claims that none of the Disney Star Wars films have done test audience screenings.

It is one of his more prominently mixed scores in recent times but I think that is what Spielberg was going for - an oldfashioned feel with loudly mixed music. And hey, it's all good when the music is this good. It's also rare that you actually get to listen to the score in the cinema. I actually saw both this and Tintin twice in the cinema just to listen to the score again in context.

So cool, I'm actually building a LEGO model of that very same cathedral

I'm enjoying the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's ROTJ concert this evening. Jabba's Baroque Recital wasn't performed live during the film, but they had two people playing it outside the concert hall beforehand (amongst other pieces arranged in a similar style). I'm hoping they'll announce The Last Jedi dates at the end.

Not With My Daisy, You Don't!

Oh I'm seven seconds in and I just want to cry! The music is thrilling