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The recording on the "Be Glad Then, America" CD is not conducted by Williams. It's a re-recording conducted by Lt. Col. Jason K. Fettig, and is available for free as an MP3 on the President's Own web site: http://www.marineband.marines.mil/Portals/175/Docs/Audio/Web_Exclusives/201505_web_exclusives/for_the_presidents_own.mp3 In addition to appearing in full at the end of the video that @Thor posted, the Williams-conducted recording was available as an MP3 on the President's Own web site at one time, but has since been replaced by the Fettig-conducted version above. He's also conducted at least two concerts with the Band, one in 2003 to celebrate its 205th anniversary and again in 2008 to celebrate its 210th anniversary (which I attended).

I LOVE all three scores so its basically juts ranking 5 star scores against each other, which is essentially pointless; I love them all and will listen to all three regularly for the rest of my life. And any new and upcoming JW fans should check out all three as soon as possible for sure

Just saw these various performances (which are rather very good) played by the CSO Cincinnati Pops for a program called American Soundscapes. these were uploaded last December, 2016. Enjoy! Star Wars:The Force Awakens Raiders of the Lost Ark Empire of the Sun Close Encounters of the Third Kind

I always liked how bad it looks when Colonel Vogel waves his fist in front of the screen of a blimp taking off, how it looks like when you shake your fist in front of the television.

I've found a new theme. It represents Jyn and Galen. Like a father/daughter theme. Not sure if we're saying spoilers on this thread but SPOILERS! It appears as Jyn is watching the hologram of Galen here at 1:10 - 2:00 on piano, and then switches to strings from 2:00 - 3:00. Then it appears again, but more emotional, as Galen dies in Jyn's arms here at 5:58 - 6:55. And appears one final time as Cassian says "your father would be proud," here at 2:46 - 3:16. It also appears in the suite for Jyn at 1:55 - 2:28.

Amateurs.

I quite like the idea of Ben Whishaw, although juggling the Bond and Who schedules might be difficult (and Q is probably quite Doctorish already). I think Ayoade could be interesting. If they ARE going to go down the 'first female Doctor' route, Olivia Colman please.

Otisburg? OTISBURG?

Would you like to see a long arm, Otis? Would you like to see a very, very long arm, OTIS?!

I have your same ranking for the films (minus a couple of greater-than symbols ) Scores: TLC > TOD > ROTLA > KOCS

It's a poem.

Don't forget Intercourse, Pennsylvania!

Yup. Usher walking up and down the aisles just gave me a stern look and pointed at me. Felt exactly like when I was a kid getting caught doing something against the rules in class, haha. Luckily I was all the way at the end of the row against a wall so confiscation would've been very disruptive.

I can't imagine any other scene where that might have been written. But it seems the film was heavily reshaped throughout post-production, with JJ unable to determine the tone of scenes until after hearing the music.

I went through a period last year where I was listening to that "Be Glad, America" album in its entirety almost every day for like a month. Just as a listening experience thing, that fanfare was such a cool way to open the album. LOVE IT. The part from 0:20-0:48 just makes the hairs on my neck stand up. But I also love the long line melody that starts right after that. It's such a cool piece.

The President's Own is definitely one of the things I'm proudest of helping fund with my tax dollars. I love the fanfare that Williams wrote for them. One of my favorite of his short-form concert works.

Wow, that's pretty great

It's better than: Independence Day ( LLL) Godzilla (LLL) Return Of The Jedi (OST)

A playlist of the most recent John Williams concert works recordings: https://open.spotify.com/user/12175214313/playlist/76E6Ej0crUaSocWLc4EMEN

This is the only one I found on Youtube (in six parts): Also a couple of other videos of Kunzel himself -- including one where he conducts Williams, but not with Cincinatti -- but most of the Youtube clips are album tracks, not live concert footage.

It sounds like the big romantic section is led in by the simple piano notes. I have tried to hum that lead-in over the piano notes and the piano works as counterpoint, so maybe the piano notes are the basic structure of the melody, or I'm just hearing things.

IMHO it fits the parade grounds sequence too well to be a coincidence. Although it's an oddly 'loud' piece for a heavy dialogue scene. Usually he restrains himself for such a thing.

Well that was an eyebrow raising click-bait that got me. Well done Kalamazoo. Well done.

We need a director that supports mass killings by Batman.

Update from Creature Features.

But three discs this time, please!

Considering this is in 2018, I doubt they'll premiere anything from a movie coming out before Christmas this year.

"Tender Duel of the Fates" as I like to call it.

A new recording of Schindler's List Theme (ZZZzzz)... but a new recording of Throne Room and Finale from Star Wars too!!! Music from the Motion Pictures / Griffiths, Brandenburgisches, Staatsorchester Frankfurt Release Date: 11/11/2016 http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2225647

Ye gods, what a bleak list of franchise crap, prequel/sequel turds, and reboot shit. There is but one light remaining.

I don't expect Dunkirk's score will bring anything new to the table either

And people say Americans don't understand irony. Germans are much worse!

"BB enters". That's my cue.

This kind of sleek steadycam shot is something Lucas never did and I don't like it too much either. The visual lexicon of SW movies has always been very consistent throughout the six previous films--the kinetic camera movements were usually saved for big action set-pieces only, while the camera rarely moves too much around characters in dialogue or set-up scenes. Lucas (but also Kershner and Marquand) always used a very classical composition style and framing. It would be nice to see Abrams being consistent in his movie as well, but what do I know? I think it's gonna be a very different kind of Star Wars film, in terms of directing style. For me, the direction of Star Wars and the way it's shot is the most uninteresting thing about films. The first thing I welcome with this reboot is framing and movement which is hopefully more spirited and exciting than those old workman like efforts.

Here is the new poster: Looks great. Very melodramatic.

Does anyone else think the opening 15 seconds of trailer 2 would be perfect over the Lucasfilm logo? The music over the shot of the downed Star Destroyer? It just perfectly evokes the mystery, the magic, the wonder and the intrigue of Star Wars. It doesn't end in the same key the Main Titles begin, though if anyone can make it work, JW can.

I think there's definitely a pre and post TPM world concerning the hype of a movie. TPM really put cynism and skepticism on the map concerning highly anticipated movies

No one should be the new anyone, they should just be a good version of themselves.

I heard some interesting spy reports on Episode VIII's major plot points: Karol

Note "everybody's writing and making the music", so it's not just John Williams. Ghost composers!

A thread for people who readily like to be spoiled is pretty depressing but I suppose that's the way people are these days. It's all instant gratification, entitlement and then very vocal disappointment. Which I translate in moronic stupidity.

"Anything not officially released" is the most narrow/specific definition of spoilers there is - any other definition involves the judgment of the person sharing them, which may not align with everybody else.

Everything Star Wars sounds dumb, until you hear it enough and then it sounds like part of Star Wars. "Dark Lord of the Sith," etc etc.

Best of all, Abrams seems to want to indulge those people, you know, with his matte paintings and other old school techniques. Is he making the movie for himself and his generation? I laughed at the video when they were stressing the fact that they were filming in "a real actual desert". Yeah, because Tunisia has that fake CGI desert. The amount of people falling for all this practical effects nonsense is hilarious. It's a marketing tool and people are gobbling it up.

I think you have to empathize with his/her position. Many people (myself included) feel that anything even remotely approaching that idiom is hallowed ground. But a lot of those same people aren't aware of how much of an amalgam JWs music is, either. John "public domain" Williams, his haters used to say. Like, to the criticism leveled at me here - could you equally say that Star Wars is just a slavish re-interpretation of King's Row and The Planets? Fuck yes you could. Moreso, even. Would it be equally dismissive and reductive? Absolutely. But is there a kernel of truth in it? Uh, you betcha. I mean... have you heard King's Row? So while his/her criticism isn't actually an accurate musicological analysis (my piece has nothing thematically in common with the cues mentioned), it isn't really meant to be (I hope). It's a, "Fuck you, wannabe; you're no John Williams." And I think the spirit of that we can all get behind. 'Cause it's true; nobody is John Williams but John Williams. But the elements which comprise JWs music aren't uniquely his, either; they're common ingredients culled from many composers and many pieces in a long history of symphonic writing. Writing that way is how I've been trained for 35 years as well, and a composer's sound is greater than the sum of any one phrase or progression, modulation or orchestrational device. If my music "feels" like John's music, it isn't because I'm lifting his melodies (I don't; I don't have to), it's mostly because we steal the same devices from the same core composers. We both love VW, Respighi, Barber, Britten, and a dozen others; we're both session Jazz pianists who voice chords in a similar way, and even though we could identify the root pieces of music in virtually every one of JW's scores, we realize this doesn't affect the unique, inspired way he crafts a cohesive, dramatic narrative from those devices. In short, what a composer has to say is what matters; he doesn't have to invent an entirely new language to say it in. Sure, if you listen to E.T. back-to-back with Hanson's Romantic, you might cringe at the damn-near plagiarism. But Williams understands the material; gets its essence; knows how to cook his own dishes with the ingredients. A lot of chefs use cilantro; not all chefs are equal. Same thing. There are a lot of Williams imitators; so-called "pastiche" composers. You can hear their random woodwind runs and slapdash harp glissandos a mile away. Few of them posses compelling thematic ideas, and virtually none of them can sustain a long-form developmental arc. "The Race" is a study in such development; two themes, constantly evolving, intertwining, and influencing each other, serving a single, 3-act dramatic arc. It's a skill composers used to be trained for, and aren't anymore; and there's no way to fake it. This is why today's scores consist of a series of what may be perfectly-appropriate, cool-sounding cues, but which don't together create a long-form, cohesive story. The new Batman theme sounds exactly the same in the first scene of the film as it does in the last scene (literally), whereas the Force theme from Star Wars undergoes many developmental transformations during the drama; tentative and plaintive to match Luke's feelings in the beginning, militaristic and confident by the end of the film. That's what's missing, now. The unique quality of John's music isn't the chords he's stolen, or the melodies he's appropriated; it isn't the orchestrational devices he borrows, or the modulations he's lifted. It's the unique way he weaves these elements into a new, cohesive package. Any well-trained composer, with access to the same materials, will craft music which has things in common with what's come before it, but will also be inescapably unique, because we're all unique individuals. One of my podcasts for up-and-coming composers talks about this very thing, if you're interested. Finding Your Own Voice So give "publicist" a break; he/she feels strongly - maybe irrationally - territorial about JW's work. I do, too - he's the reason I became a composer. In the end, whether the music comes from me or not, I bet "publicist" doesn't want that type of music to die with John Williams. And those of us who've spent a lifetime studying the traditions are well aware of how high the bar is set. We keep at it anyway. And sometimes, even our failures turn out pretty well, too. _Mike