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This concert was so fantastic! I live in the Netherlands and unfortunately, hardly any film music (left alone John Williams) concerts are performed, so I really wanted to visit a John Williams concert in the UK. Actually, I intended to visit the RPO concert in the Royal Albert Hall, but sadly I couldn't make it that date, so I was happy to find that the BBC Concert Orchestra was going to perform a Williams concert too! I booked a ticket and travelled all the way to London to see and listen to the beautiful music played by the orchestra and the London Voices. The selection of musical pieces was great, and I was thrilled to hear the Home Alone music too I also adored the performance of the Schindler's List Theme - it's such beautiful music, and I think I'm a fan of violinist Charlie Siem too now haha, he played with such great emotion! I'm so happy I went and I can't wait to hear the concert again on the radio on December 14! I recommend everyone to listen!

Breaking Dawn Part 2 Atrocious film, but pretty good score. This has a much wider palette than I've heard from Burwell, ranging from his intimate piano pieces to epic, choral action music. He brings his work to a satisfying close. And I was very excited to hear direct reference to Desplat's New Moon! Apparently, Eclipse is quoted here too, I read, but I didn't listen to Eclipse enough to have the familiarity required to pick up references. I imagine it's at around 1:15. Good for Carter Burwell!

Probably one of my favorite uses. I especially like how after the church scene Williams incorporates Carol of the Bells into "Setting the Trap." Its use has so much more meaning than I originally thought.

Clever spam.

I'm sure he wrote what he felt was best for the films and what he was asked for. Williams always treated Star Wars films as separate single entities, each one with its own needs and musical identity. Of course the themes and a certain style of orchestral gesture are the glue that tie them together. Reprising and making variations of previously composed material is something of a luxury for the film composer, but it's always the film itself that dictates such an approach. From what I see, in the prequels Williams used the themes first as reference points to the audience, mostly as a hint at things to come (i.e. Vader's theme foreshadowing in Anakin's theme). The fact that Anakin's theme was discarded completely in EpII is because what we see is not "Anie" anymore, but a totally different character, hence it would have been out of place to use that dreamy lyrical piece to accompany the heroic gestures of a punk teenager. He could have written a new theme that could morph even more closely to the Imperial March, but the film as it is didn't give him such opportunity. EpII is a love story, hence JW and Lucas decided to use a new love theme to carry most of the musical narrative. The same goes for "Across the Stars" in EpIII (albeit the theme appears clearly in at least a couple of moments). The love story isn't at center stage anymore and it's referenced only in a few moments. In this case Williams preferred to accompany some of the dramatic moments with elegiac string writing, even though the references to older themes are there, but very subtle (like Anakin's theme in "Immolation Scene"). Williams actually addressed Anakin's character with new motif, which is incorporated into Across the Stars as the dark C section of the piece. The same figure appears in pivotal moments in Episode II and further as subtler interpolations in Episode III. Anakin's Theme was obviously something associated with the innocent child, not the troubled and frustrated teenager or the angry obsesssive adult incarnation of the character.On the whole the musical continuity of the Prequels is weaker than of the OT because of the nature of the films, that usually discard most of the characters and places and other leitmotific opportunities or change them so that there is no chance for recurring ideas to come back in their original form. First film had a number of themes yet only DotF appeared in the subsequent films with Anakin's theme making fleeting appearances. The Episode II motifs were all story related, meaning that they were discarded at the end of the single story line. Darth Maul, Jango Fett, Qui Gon Jinn all died and their motifs with them. So these films became rather episodic and followed less the larger leitmotivic development in their musical structure.

I'm sure he wrote what he felt was best for the films and what he was asked for. Williams always treated Star Wars films as separate single entities, each one with its own needs and musical identity. Of course the themes and a certain style of orchestral gesture are the glue that tie them together. Reprising and making variations of previously composed material is something of a luxury for the film composer, but it's always the film itself that dictates such an approach. From what I see, in the prequels Williams used the themes first as reference points to the audience, mostly as a hint at things to come (i.e. Vader's theme foreshadowing in Anakin's theme). The fact that Anakin's theme was discarded completely in EpII is because what we see is not "Anie" anymore, but a totally different character, hence it would have been out of place to use that dreamy lyrical piece to accompany the heroic gestures of a punk teenager. He could have written a new theme that could morph even more closely to the Imperial March, but the film as it is didn't give him such opportunity. EpII is a love story, hence JW and Lucas decided to use a new love theme to carry most of the musical narrative. The same goes for "Across the Stars" in EpIII (albeit the theme appears clearly in at least a couple of moments). The love story isn't at center stage anymore and it's referenced only in a few moments. In this case Williams preferred to accompany some of the dramatic moments with elegiac string writing, even though the references to older themes are there, but very subtle (like Anakin's theme in "Immolation Scene").