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The Rise of Skywalker again... This time I tried to "restore" the full cue 1M8 Approaching The Nursey (orig: Approaching The Emperor). In fact, this cue is still partially used in the movie in the right scene, though with a lot of editing. Also, in a very abbreviated form, this cue is present in the second part of the first track of the OST. The scene has undergone many changes, in particular, the Palpatine's speech has been shortened, and his off-screen lines (in the first half of the scene) doesn't match the sync hints in the JW's sketch. Also, it looks like some shots of the fleet in the middle of the scene have been added (in the movie Imperial March from 1M15 Vader's Castle sounds). The second half of the scene is difficult to reconstruct, since the material was obviously re-shot/re-edited/re-dubbed, so I decided to leave almost only the sync hints (sorry for such kind of "restored" video, but this is a TROS). Interestingly, the first appearance of the Psalm of the Sith in the unused part of the cue can be found. There is a similar but abbreviated string rendition in the "Join Me". The next rendition (horns and low string tremolos) is in the "Anthem of Evil" (I don’t know what cue it actually is).

Lukas Kendall has written a blog post about Carrie Goldsmith's unpublished Jerry Goldsmith book https://www.lukaskendall.com/post/the-unpublished-jerry-goldsmith-biography

Why? I love Gia's Spidey theme! One of the more memorable Marvel movie themes, in a universe where themes are sparse! My top Marvel themes: Avengers theme Spider-man theme Ant-man theme Dr. Strange theme

Thanks for the tip. I supposed that would be the case. The work is due to recording with the Albany Symphony, under David Alan Miller right after the American premiere. My guess is that, as with most of the Albany Symphony recordings, this one will be out on Albany records.

To the piece itself, it has an Arts and Sports Vibe, which, funnily enough was Miguel's prediction for what the piece might be way back when (well, a couple weeks ago). There are two moments where it feels like it might break out into the Rose's theme version found in The Fathiers. But the main melody has a nice 80's News ring to it, while also unique. I found the Jupiter strings borderline distracting--it feels like a direct lift and will likely serve to fuel the "Williams rips off Holst" crowd. I would be happy if Williams cites it as inspiration in an official piece notes, if there ever be such a thing.

Looks like we found track 1 for Lockhart's Lights! Camera! 2sic!

My wife and I are out driving to friends but the timing worked out perfectly and we heard Casablanca, then the recorded Yorktown March. And then the big (well small) new piece which we both loved. My wife said after it finished “I want that.” I assured her I would capture the stream later tonight and put it on her phone. (And once again proving she is my true soulmate as she has been for nearly 30 years.) Now enjoying BFG’s suite. (The Olympic theme was nice too as always. Which was done for ABC for the LA 84 games not NBC but who is going to correct him?)

Doh! How could I have left that one off my list? Senior moment hehe I've also got Iron Man 3 theme and GOTG theme in 6th and 7th place.

That rounds out the top 5!

Agree, but include Captain America's Theme as well.

Haven’t watched ep 3 yet, but the T’challa/Starlord one was great - leaps and bounds better than Captain Carter. It established a world and told a story within it, where Carter just seemed to be cramming the story of First Avenger - But With a Twist! into 30 minutes.

Truth be told, Lynch's Dune was cryptic and yet enticing enough to peek behind the curtain and made me absolutely want to read the book. That desire might've not been as strong had the movie been a stronger adaptation of the novel. So I kinda get what Lean was saying, although I can really wholeheartedly agree. The world the Lynch's Dune movie promised (more than it delivered) was just too fascinating

As a fan of many books, and as someone who usually prefers to read the book first, I'm fond of films that are made (also) for fans of the books. If a film manages to satisfy those who already know the book, that's certainly a sign that it's more than an advertisement for it.

Liberty has always been my favorite of the celebratory commissioned pieces.

I adore the middle passage, especially that simple little cello (bass?) fourth/fifth (?) drop at 1:56. I always thought the Cowboys Overture was exclusive to this album, but even if it's not, I declared By Request an essential release just for this fanfare.

Admit it you're sad that it's not Balfe!

Gorgeous gorgeous score and album. One of my current favourites. Karol

Right, that's ANH done, so on with ESB: The Imperial March OST, LSO/Williams: Very good, remembering again that they would have been virtually sight-reading. At 1:06, the horn is too quiet but otherwise there's not much wrong with this. NPO/Gerhardt: Well, to begin with, this isn't really the same thing! Until 0:27 it sounds to me like they're playing the snippet from where Han's being prepared for Jabba's Frozen Foods Emporium. So there's that. Once it starts to sound more familiar, it's also pretty good. just after 1:00, the strings really start to push the tempo to the point that it's a bit too fast for the quieter middle section. At 1:45 the horns sound almost clownish rather than menacing. The crescendo at 2:26 is a bit cheesy for my taste but, to be fair, it is notated in the HL score. One of the trumpets splits a note at 3:03, which reminds us what a horrific stress-test this piece is. Boston Pops/Williams: My word, this is slow by comparison! At 0:53 the harp sounds like it's late, but actually it's spot on with the score, so big up to the harpist. At 1:38 onwards, the triangle's rather too loud and intrusive. At 2:38, I can actually hear the winds and piano playing what's notated - not just tonic notes on the beat, but a challenging twiddle around the note - well done! In the last 10 seconds, it's great to hear two different sizes of cymbal being used; I'm pretty sure it was just the one set on the previous recordings. Utah SO/Kojian: As discussed a while back, this is far too fast. It's particularly brutal on the poor flutes at 0:44, since it's physically impossible to flutter-tongue that fast. George Korngold should have reined Kojian in at that point (or vice versa, since we'll never know whose silly idea the tempo was). Sadly, in the circumstances, there's no point discussing anything else about this version. Skywalker SO/Williams: Ah, this is better all-round. As well as being the right tempo, it actually sounds properly menacing. The dynamic contrast at 0:46 is quite rightly shocking in its suddenness. At 2:14 right through to the end, the rhythm is so tight and has such bite, it's genuinely exciting. VPO/Williams: There are some great things about this recording, not least that the brass were still able to play at this level at the end of a long concert. JW's mouthed 'wow' we see on the video is in now way undeserved. Unfortunately, like the Kojian, the chosen tempo leaves it dead in the water in this shootout, but this time it's just far too slow. The final nail in the coffin is the unexpected rall in the last bar - no idea what The Man was thinking, but I'm afraid it's a No from me this time. My verdict: Skywalker SO, by some distance. If this doesn't raise your pulse and have you air-conducting, call an ambulance - you may be dead from the neck up. Honourable mention to the OST. Since I've got the time, let's fly straight into: The Asteroid Field (see what I did there? ) OST, LSO/Williams (RCA D1, T6): Again, not the Concert Suite but worth starting here as a jumping-off point. As others have mentioned, I'm not sure I don't prefer this to the Concert Suite. The first 1:13 is good, and the way it collapses in relief at 3:21 and goes into the love theme is wonderful. You then get a beautifully tasteful bit of mickey-mousing of the Falcon looping at 3:40 before being guided to a sense of new uncertainty about our heroes' location at 3:50. If only all film music could be this good; what a shame it's never(?) been re-recorded in this form. Maybe one day. NPO/Gerhardt: A great exciting beginning, although it's a shame the brass is far too loud at 0:09 and drowns out the great work being done elsewhere at that point. Rhythm is generally a bit shonky, especially in transitional moments: 0:55 and 2:55 are two particularly jarring examples. It's a pity, because the individual players are generally doing a really good job, but they're just not together enough as a band. Oh, and one of the violins sounds like it's got a wasp stuck in it at 1:34. Boston Pops/Williams: Another great start, but the ensemble and rhythm are off here too. Brass accents at 0:11 are late, as are the trumpets at 0:18. Thankfully, it improves from there, although the cymbals at 0:22 onwards sound apologetic. The violins don't sound terribly sure about their high note at 2:45. Generally, though, this is far from bad. Skywalker SO: A shade slower than the above two versions, but it's perhaps then not a coincidence that the band is actually together pretty much throughout. The final few bars in the other two sounded a bit random, as if no-one was quite sure what was going on, but here it sounds like the players know what they're up to. My verdict: Tricky, this one. If you want a tight ensemble and can live with a slightly relaxed tempo, Skywalker; if it's all about the tempo for you and you're prepared to smile indulgently at a few slightly ramshackle moments, Boston.

I love the rest of the arrangement it’s only the ending that doesn’t work. The original album version of the theme has the theme fade out to represent the shark disappearing back to the depth.

Public tickets for this are now on sale! Originally got Orchestra row P online, but my call to the box office was answered right after and they were able to get third row seats! Off to the side, but third row is third row. Surreal I’ll be seeing the maestro in such an equally legendary venue.

Cobra Kai Renewed for Season 5 Ahead of Season 4 Premiere

I can see both Tintin and BFG going into the sort of Dennis the Menace, Pagemaster category, the kinds of movies and scores that aren't pop culture touchstones but help make some nerdy kids' ears perk up to high quality music. And I imagine the new Star Wars is already its own animal, of course, not just the new themes but his use of the old material in 7-9 will basically be how a lot of kids really associate and take ownership of it as well. Even if they've seen the originals or prequels it's not gonna be the same for them as hearing it in a shiny new movie, new recordings, even better if they got to see/hear them in a movie theater. That's sort of the beautiful thing is it won't make a difference to them what were the things he wrote 40 years ago or when he's ripping himself off stylistically or what, they won't have been poring over his career like that, so everything will hit them like a brick wall. If they do notice anything, it'll be an exciting discovery, not zzzzz boring like we all think. And they're not gonna give a fuck about the sound mixing either, there's 100% stuff they'll notice in magical little ways that we can't appreciate. I think about that a lot in regards to when I saw Harry Potter, I had no concept that he had been writing shit like that before in Hook, which is a movie I definitely had seen beforehand and loved the music. But I remember my mom even mentioning to me like "Yeah it kinda sounds like Hook!" and I was like "What is she talking about, no it doesn't, it sounds like Harry Potter!" Kid logic. Like it remains to be seen exactly what kind of effect Williams is having on this generation but it's unfathomable to me that this stuff will fly by unnoticed to kids who are hearing John Williams in these instances for the first time. Even if they've seen their parents' favorite movies or just heard his music before randomly, it's not the same as locking into something new for themselves. That'll be the real value of these things, we can listen to them our way and debate their grown-up artistic merits and that's all fine but I think there's something to be said for the way these kinds of scores are meant to work on a person who has very little context for anything. He's still making a valiant effort to write the most sophisticated music he possibly can for children, especially those born with the right instinct for the good drugs.

This was one of my first and most played albums when I starterd my cd collection. In those days, CDs were very rare commodity, let alone a Williams cd to come by. Played this to death. Recently upgraded to new SHMCD format from Japan which is interestingly allowed me to hear more details, Over the years I have come to absolutely adore Liberty Fanfare (1986) and yes its more mellow and warm than the Olympic Fanfare. Its more in Williams reverential relective mode. I love the short brass ostinato rythm which he sort of reprised in the 'Space Camp' Theme,

This particular announcer has been doing this kind of errors since forever... for a while he kept saying that Williams first film score was Sugarland Express. And this went for a few seasons, whenever they were playing some excerpts for Spielberg films.

Listening live now. It's always cool when a perfect recording of a concert I attended gets released Well the Overture sounds even more wonderful now that I can hear it properly again. The Pops played this really well! The announcer explained that it was the world premiere of the new piece "that captures the elegance and excitement of one of Hollywood's grandest traditions"

Today we've got another dark/light combo, starting with an understated Malfoy discussion followed by an awkward Slughorn dinner party. We hope you enjoy Cue No. 18: Accusation of Malfoy and Cue No. 19: The Slug Party!

DUNE Hans Zimmer Based on one of the IMAX posters

Hey folks! I made a few updates to The Music of The Mandalorian back in July, including the addition of revised write-ups for Chapter 5 and Chapter 6. These entries are a continuation of the series of posts which began back in April, with similar reviews having already been added for Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. In addition, the site hosts isolated score videos for notable sequences in Chapters 4, 8, 11 and 16. I hope to do more of these in the future. Of course, for anyone not yet familiar with the score, I recommend glancing through the thematic catalogue, which has been compiled for easy access by several fans of the score over the course of both seasons. As for the remainder of the write-ups and timestamps, I do not expect to chip away at them significantly for some time, as there are still a lot of revisions to be made since they were originally posted nearly two years ago. Wow! Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 will likely take the most time, as my writing on Season 1's two-part finale was particularly extensive. Fortunately, reviews of the two volumes of music for Season 2 are more recent and will be posted promptly thereafter! The goal is to have these entries up in time for the release of The Book of Boba Fett in December. Also, there is what one could call a special feature in the works that I am very excited to share. More on that some other time though! Thanks for reading and cheers!

By Request was one of my very first CD purchases, in fact I got that and the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration at the same time in the early 90s. Those two CDs were the first I ever heard The Cowboys, 1941, etc. and made me want to really start collecting all of JW’s stuff beyond the big blockbuster scores. I used to really dislike Liberty Fanfare but it’s grown on me somewhat, though I agree that it doesn’t belong on a ‘greatest hits’ album.

Those 31 discs certainly look impressive, but given that the only versions I watch are the extended ones, and I have those on DVD, BD and UHD, I see no reason to upgrade. As I suspected, apparently there will be no deleted scenes on this release. That said, the Cannes reel is nice, and something I’ve been wanting to see for a while. And the reunion will be fun to watch. But overall, this is hardly the definitive edition many of us had hoped for.

And it's really a shame because the OST of PotC2 isn't at all representative of the score. I always thought it was the weakiest one until I listen to it in its complete form. I hope one day Zimmer will change his mind on that matter.

Dennis Hopper was a legend. Dennis Hopper is a legend. #NeverForget

Thank you SO much for posting about this! I just bought tix as well. Can't wait! There are still a few seats available!

Overture for the Oscars would be a fine opening for the Berlin concerts! It contains so much of Williams' recent styles and harmonic elements.

Hee, hee. Lean and NOSTROMO? Talk about not finishing the book

Again nobody suggested not being able to say whatever you want to say, the request was to use the spoiler-block feature when doing so. It's easy to use.

Free Guy - shades of The Truman Show, The Lego Movie and Ready Player One in this amusing comedy about a background character in an online game who becomes self-aware. With Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi and Channing Tatum (plus a host of voice cameos).

I asked Marc Timón, and he said to me that it would not be broadcasted

That's not a link to buy the live recording, but a recording of the piece. CRB has worked that way for ages with their playlists. Haven't had the time to compare, but by experience, the live stream is usually better.

A highlight of 2016. Breezy and elegant, with plenty of piano and string flourishes. His best work, IMO, and more rewarding than THE PUNISHER, which is the one everyone seems to single out all the time.

Except it does if the film is supposed to be one's first exposure to the story. This movie is meant to serve multiple audiences, not just fans of the book. It'd be a great waste of resources and time if this was purely for a small portion of the movie going crowd that might hate the changes anyway.

This has probably come up a bunch already on this forum so I apologise, but has anyone else noticed that Spotify has loads of JW the guitarist albums under the Maestro's discog?

This was the extended concert version that has been around since Williams prepared the Star Wars suite in 1977. It's been recorded MANY times... by Mehta, Gerhardt, Kunzel, Dudamel, and JW himself, among several others.

Talk about whatever you want, just put it in a spoiler-block so people who want to go see a film without being spoiled won't accidentally get spoiled

Solo a Star Wars Story Deluxe Edition by John Powell How to train your Dragon Deluxe Edition by John Powell

I've read the word Jihad is also used in the film. The book did use both "crusade" and "jihad", although the latter was more frequent

I wish the TV series got rid of the villainesque teacher from the original movie. I don't think he adds anything, more the opposite. It's the reason why Season one was good. He wasn't in it.

We all know it's going to be Junkie XL...