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The point is that many directors are simply in love with Glass-like minimalism, which has become a true staple in dramatic movies scoring to the point of now being a cliché. I see why many people like it in movies, though: the repetitive patterns, the usual stripped-down "piano-cum-strings" orchestration, the small melodic nuggets, the emotional directness of diatonic chords etc. can really serve the drama and the actions in a very unobtrusive way while giving a sense of elegance and class. The point is: after the man himself (Glass) brought this technique to its likely maximum impact in film music on a score like The Hours (imho one of the most seminal scores of the last 15 years), I wonder how many variations and deviations can be done within this quite already constricted musical language. It would be refreshing if some director would ask the composer to approach a minimalist-influenced style while looking at the whole spectrum of it, i.e. not just the usual Glass/Nyman template. Take a look for example at how Morricone used minimalist technique many times, but he never sounded like Glass or Reich. Even John Williams approached minimalism gestures in some creative way (A.I., Minority Report, portions of Memoirs of a Geisha).

There was nothing like seeing Star Wars in 1977... except for watching CE3K a few months later, and Superman the following year

Randy Newman.

Well, so was Lighting of the Beacons. In the TE, the bit when Gandalf is talking to Pippin about his "task" is a different version than the EE/CR version, with different orchestration (string 'ostinati' I think) and performance and of course without the stuff for Sam's warning, so I wouldn't rule out ANY changes, but there will probably be no real major changes.

You can alternate between them. Not only do you seem interestingly eccentric you also keep people on their toes that way. Of course, you don't want to overuse Randy Newman. Otherwise it will become cool (and cliche) and you could subsequently say "Randy Newman!" only with the addition of "And I was saying that before it was cool, so it's ok" in order to lower people's eyebrows. Karol Far be it from me to become a hipster at this point. I am not that far gone yet.

It was great to see you too. Hope you remember to let me know when you visit UK later this year. Karol

Karol already said it all in his splendid report, so not much more to add than to say it was one of the best concerts I've ever attended for sure. Personal highlights were of course Elfman and Bonham Carter performing, but also very much Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks!, Planet of the Apes, the "Christmas Eve Montage" segment, and a couple of easter eggs like the extended solos. I had a good time at the pre- and après-concert meetings too, of course - really great meeting Karol and others, and always a great pleasure seeing the MainTitles gang and Thor again. Looking forward to a next occasion!

I remember seeing Star Wars when it opened in the UK in early 1978: I had seen a black and white photo of the film (showing the moment when Luke and Ben, as they ride into Mos Eisley, are stopped by Stormtroopers) in our local newspaper and I think that had been my first encounter with the movie. I was hooked, of course, from that first screening. I was only five years old. The movie I really remember being excited for , though, was Superman: The Movie the following year. That same year must have been when I got my first recording of some of JW's music when my mum and dad got me an album of themes for sf movies and tv, conducted by Geoff Love. I don't think I got a John Williams soundtrack proper until The Empire Strikes Back on vinyl or Jedi on audiocassette in '83. I even remember 'Darth Vader' making an appearance in the toy department of our local department store in around 1980. That was very exciting.

"You have no power here... Howard the Shore" #ConradPope.

Guess I've just missed that. Thor was sitting much closer to the stage then myself. Anyway he's one of my favourite bits from the show (not that you can see anything): Karol

Oh I like Doctor Parnassus too, very underrated score. While not exactly film scores, or not at all, but... I just came back from a BBC Philharmonic concert in Nottingham where they played Manuel de Falla's The Three Cornered Hat Suite suite no 2, Prokofiev's second Violin Concerto, Maurice Ravel's Daphnic and Chloë Suite no. 2. and, most importantly Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. The whole evening being basically a tribute to Sergei Diaghilev's famous ballet productions. Each piece was better than the previous one. And it really takes a live performance of Stravinsky's piece to understand and feel just why is it held in such a high regard - it doesn't make quite a same impression heard even on best recordings. And Nottingham concert hall's spectacular acoustics were clearly the star of this evening. I also have to say, Ravel's piece made a great impression on me - something I might want to investigate while preparing a next list of music shopping (just joking, I don't make lists like that): Karol

I doubt they tinkered with digital technology back in 1975 The OST album is definitely a re-recording, no question about it. It was very much the common rule back then to re-record selections of the score for commercial album purposes. Mancini did it all the time and Williams did too quite a number of times even before Jaws. What is great is that Williams rethought and rewrote quite a few cues, expanding them in a very concert-like fashion (think about "Out to Sea" and "Preparing the Cage" of course, but also "Tourists on the Menu", "One Barrell Chase" and the end credits cue), including the now-iconic concert arrangement of the shark motif he still plays in concerts (even though he added an even more extended coda during the Boston Pops years). Also, the orchestral performance is overall better, much more refined, precise and nuanced. Some may feel it lacks the "rawness" of the original film recording, but the fact Williams was able to conduct and record without the contraints of synchronization produced what is imho a pretty much definitive performance of this score.

http://youtu.be/OEaXaigFTus

Karol