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Ha! I’ve pre-ordered this book so I’ll try and skip this page. I was very fortunate to meet Alan Rickman thanks to my work with Patrick Doyle a few years ago. Well, nearly 10 now! They were both very close friends being part of the London theatrical scene in the 70s and 80s. Shameless (!) photo below.

Still listening to my Rise of Skywalker 5 CD set

Fun stuff

I'll (naively) hold out hope that Disney might hire Mike M. to produce expansions of all 5 scores to coincide with the final film. ....because that worked for Star Wars, amirite?

... when you prefer Indy music over indie music.

The Palau de la música català has just published the Prelude and Scherzo as played by Gloria Cheng las summer, for free. Here you can watch it: https://www.palaudigital.cat/destacats/videos/preludi-i-scherzo-de-john-williams

I reflected on this a lot over the years and even more since I began the Legacy project. Several things mentioned above here are true and I agree with such statements. It’s possible to do a critical evaluation of JW and put him into a definite historical context. In this regard, Williams is very much a fixture of the 20th century, as he grew up, matured and found his success throughout the second half of the 1900s, so he belong to this specific timeframe and absorbed its wide variety of influences, as many of the greats who lived in the same era did. Anyway, what I understood is that JW is pretty much a unique and irreplaceable figure in the history of film music, but also music in general. The fact he found fortune and glory in the glitzy commercial world of Hollywood (to which he will always be inextricably tied) doesn’t diminish his formidable skills as a composer who has been able to synthesize and revive a musical tradition (i.e. the classical Hollywood scoring style) and let his own voice be also heard loud and clear nonetheless. He has always been popular and sophisticated at the same time, a quality that is really rare to find. I think he’s the musical equivalent of a Charles Dickens or a Mark Twain in this regard. He fuses unbridled Mozartian genius with a Haydn-like balanced sense of sophistication. Hollywood offered him an ideal platform, in which he was able to express his own talent. He was the right person in the right place at the right moment of history, surrounded by talent and creativity since his early days there and part of a generation who also loved jazz and modern music. There won’t be another John Williams as there never was another Twain, Dickens or Haydn. He will always be a benchmark, a fixture and a role model for many many composers and artists for centuries to come.

We watched episode 4 last night Man, this show is a pleasure to watch because of the score - it's so good! It's so fun to watch a show and hear good, memorable themes pop up that you associate with characters or cultures, it really enhances the viewing. It's like when you re-watch a movie after getting to know the score, and pick up on what all these themes are associated with, and when. But this time it's a show, so we get this great album up front to learn all the themes, and then get to hear these themes taken in new directions with each new episode for a couple months. I'm glad that it was only the first 2 episodes for me that felt like the concert arrangements I knew from the album were slapped directly into the episodes; Episodes 3 and 4 have featured cool variations of the themes that nicely integrate right into their scenes. I also liked that "Plea for the Rocks" moment in the show. Halfway through, and I'm really loving this score, on album as well as how it works in the show!

Basically being a pastiche composer. Emulating others instead of developing his own style. Writing thin, clunky scores that go plinkety-plunck with very dry recordings. Action music is too simplistic, emotional themes are all structured the same way, etc. That ‘hack’ feeling they feel is how Bear’s work has been making me feel. I still have yet to hear a distinct voice in anything Bear does. The paragraph where he states that his Middle Earth isn’t just inspired by Shore but by… literally everyone made me laugh out loud. No wonder I think he sounds anonymous.

Something truly hits different seeing this footage knowing that Williams will be scoring it. Really just gives the whole film and air of legitimacy it wouldn't otherwise have. I'm for some reason reminded of the moment at Celebration when Williams started to play the Raiders March and after a single note the whole audience immediately knows what it is. Just the idea that it's the same guy adding to a musical legacy that has already been cemented in the history books and is recognized the world over is really compelling.

Looks good and I like James Mangold, but.... I just don't have any faith in Lucasfilm anymore after the last few years of shitty Star Wars projects.

Looks sensational, even in low quality. Very impressed by the cinematography, also ILM's work. Such an abundance of amazing looking scenes for Williams to score... think we're in for a treat with his score.

Star Wars is so much better without the “Volume”

Wow, you're so right! I don't remember a time without Johnny. My earliest memory was seeing Star Wars with my family and definitely the music blew me away along with the strange visuals and fun. My brothers got to see it before me because I was too young and my mom, now 88, wouldn't let me see such a "scary film full of monsters". But they were so excited and thrilled they convinced the whole family to see it. I sat on my mom's lap and I still remember that first experience! The B flat orchestral blast was so shocking to me! The music was what I most connected with and Jaws was played again that summer of 1977 where I heard my second JW score and was again blown way by him. I was 4 or maybe 5 years old and the score was by far the most memorable element to me. By the time I saw Close Encounters, JW's score was the drawing power. He's so special and unique in our lives. He isn't just Walt Disney. He's like Disney + the Queen + Elvis + Beatles + Michael Jackson in one person. He's a real treasure and we're lucky to realize that while he's still with us and creating new music!

It’s a great score but that is quite the statement.

A lot of recent commentary about the passing of Queen Elizabeth mentioned that she was a constant for so many people, and I think the same can be applied to JW. I remember a time when composers like Michael Giachinno and Alexandre Desplat weren't part of the industry. Older fans will remember the same about Elfman and Zimmer. I remember hearing about the deaths of titans like John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner. But John Williams has been a constant presence in the film scoring world for the living memory of a vast majority of film score fans. There will come a time when future generations will look back at JW in the same way that we look back at composers like Herrmann and Max Steiner. Legendary composers who have long since passed. I'm really glad that I get to experience the era of John Williams and all that entails such as the excitement of a new score and of course being able to see him in concert.

It's actually kind of impressive how utterly determined you are to dislike this show and its music. McCreary could write the literal Ainulindalë and you'd still find some way to trash it.

I was listening to Gold's Series Four today. I'm way more of a Moffat guy than a Davies guy (I mean, they're both great). But wow. Gold didn't get better than this. Three and Four are Peak Gold. He wrote some great music after this and he certainly wrote some killer themes. (I am the Doctor is so good you can be fooled into thinking you're tired of it. You're wrong.) All the years of original Who where they tried to re-do the theme. IMHO they really did it once (Howell) where it came close to equaling the original. (Yes, I like Glyn. Yes, Debney has its charm.) Then Gold comes along and dashes off four of them!

I think a lot of those complaints reveal more about the person saying them than the composers themselves. Just like one composer could be described as either "drawing from many sources " or "having no identity ", another composer could be described as either "having a distinct voice " or "being a one-trick pony ".

My favorite scores of 1992, ranked Batman Returns, Elfman Basic Instinct, Goldsmith Far and Away, Williams Sneakers, Horner Home Alone 2, Williams Dracula, Kilar Porco Rosso, Hisaishi Alien 3, Goldenthal Lethal Weapon 3, Kamen Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Walker The Last of the Mohicans is a popular score from this year that had never really clicked with me, and I need to get more familiar with all the other Jerry scores from 1992 (Mom and Dad Save The World, Medicine Man, Forever Young, Mr. Baseball, Gladiary rejected, Public Eye rejected, and Love Field), all the Silvestri scores (Death Becomes Her, FernGully, Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot, The Bodyguard, and Sidekicks), as well as all the other Horners (Thunderheart, Unlawful Entry, and Patriot Games)...

Hey John, Alan Rickman thinks your music is hideous. I know, but he's dead.

I hope Johnny gives 'em what they want... frequent use of the Raiders March. I disliked the choice to use it sparingly in TLC. It's a crowd pleaser.

Only 3'42"? I want my money back.

I think of it as the kind of prefiguring (ahnen) of a form the leitmotif will later take, which you get either in overtures or even within the body of leitmotivic works: technically, the presentation of the motive associated with the sword in Das Rheingold ("So grüß' ich die Burg / sicher vor Bang' und Grau'n!") is "jumping the gun" in terms of the way that motive will be gradually rolled-out in Die Walküre.

Watched both Poltergeist and It Follows last night. Really enjoyed both. The expert execution of simple premise in the latter really impressed me. Karol

Do John Williams’ real sequel scores count?

Can’t wait to hear only a quarter of it on album

As has been mentioned, he isn't necessarily/exactly a Golden Age composer. But he is probably the last major film composer who learned his art when film music wasn't an established genre. Instead, he was "classically" trained, and applied that training and his instincts to film scoring. As a result, I think there's a lot of art in his work, whereas these days, film music is an established genre that is taught, but much more as a craft than an art form. I suppose that means that a person studying both that and "serious" art music may have a "better"/more fitting education than Williams himself - but someone who just studied film music, unless they also have (like Williams) a massive amount of inherent/autodidactic talent, is almost by definition not in the same league as him. Add to that that neither the contemporary expectations towards film music (at least for most major productions) nor the production schedules are very tempting for composers actually interested in the art of composition, and it becomes clear why it's unlikely that someone of Williams's stature is likely to come along in the foreseeable future.

I rather enjoyed that last episode in particular, the Imperials are being characterised impeccably so far. Really cool to see the ISB functioning as an actual organisation and the immediate consequences of the uprising on Ferrix. Poor Karn is out of a job now, will he try and go for an Imperial position or will this push him towards the Rebellion? Only time will tell! There were oodles of references to pre-established things that fit seamlessly in the narrative and helped really ground it in the Star Wars universe, and especially the old expanded one. Was not expecting to hear about Rakatans or see what looks like Starkiller’s Sith helmet from the Hoth DLC of TFU 1 in Luthen’s shop! Speaking of Luthen, there was an interesting hint of sadness with the way they portrayed him assuming his alter ego. He legitimately looked happy to not wear such utilitarian clothes but then went straight into business mode. You may say ‘he’s just practising his role’ but listen to the music, it’s adding quite a solemn feel to it, and I hope we explore about how mentally taxing it is to constantly be deceiving others with a fake identity - which seems to be the case so far

Listening to the musical commentary that Doug Adams did with theonering.net, it blew my mind when he said the opening melody that kicks off “My Dear Frodo” from Unexpected Journey was an iteration of the Sons of Durin theme. I always loved that tune and thought it had just fallen by the wayside with other ideas from Unexpected Journey. Glad to find it survived in some form in the other two scores. Shame it didn’t pop up one last time in its first guise to bookend the trilogy in the last film. (0:00-0:37) (3:07-4:00)

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2022-09-28/review-john-williams-at-90-and-with-a-new-violin-concerto-is-celebrated-at-l-a-phil-gala

Kinda sad that 90% percent of this will be about the singers when John Barry wrote most of the songs and created the "Bond sound"

Mom and Dad save the World is better than Basic Instinct. But I just realised, what for me was more or less the quintessential thriller score from the 90s, Copycat by Christopher Young, might be somehow inherrited from Basic Instinct.

Magnificent, thanks for sharing! There's a lot to dig into in that Prelude, isn't there! And afterwards, fascinating to hear the difference in tempi and approach between Gloria Cheng and Lang Lang. I have to say I much prefer Cheng's take.

I'm there for Chris Pine as Kirk. That's pretty much it. (I like Gia's Star Trek. But then I like Rosenman's Star Trek.) Between Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition I have gotten my Star Trek and JJ isn't it.

Wonder if any unused concepts from previous films finally emerge in this one? Was always partial to the unused plane dogfight in Frank Darabont's Indy 4 script. Also the scene where Indy gets drunk in a museum while looking at artifacts he collected.

THE UMPIRE STRIKES BACK IN TO STELLA

Yeah, Anthony Hopkins’ cat loved fentanyl.

I prefer the film the way it is, but North's music is still one of the greatest rejected scores.

One of the best things to see for a film score nerd, for sure. You will love it. Karol

You forgot the Stones. The one thing, that I dislike about such threads is, that they become particularly morbid, talking about the time when Williams will be gone and what that is supposed to mean. They guy has a marvelous history, but he is alive and kicking and I hope he has a vivid future ahead. I am really curious and looking forward, what he will bring us and do throughout this decade. He is an absolute phenomenon. And if he decides next week to stop composing and spend the rest of his live growing wine in California or weed in a roof garden in New York, so be it.

Fragment of the end credits, with music from the first film quoted. Sounds like a great recording: And I know they're only early Twitter reactions (which are always positive) but the film is getting a lot of love from people who've seen it already. Sounds like it's as much fun as the original. Let's hope it lives up the hype!

The show's not bad - the score again plays to Djawadi's strengths and weaknesses. He can draft a memorable theme and some great moments, but - oh boy - is he terrible at SCORING. He, or his team, just can't do anything beyond ostinatos for scenes with dynamic action. It works okay here as it does in GOT where the music is minimal and percussion-based, but anything with dynamic integration with music and on-screen action seems a no-no. Or perhaps that is some silly 'intellectual' choice he has made but it does not help scenes where stuff actually happens (like the GOT white walker battle which had disastrously bad scoring). Same points apply to Eternals - a brilliant theme, but just terrible incidental scoring.

Seeing the teaser, I have to reiterate: this, aside from The Fabelmans, is THE film that I am most looking forward to seeing. I shed a tear; this is going to be phenomenal.

Gotcha I still prefer my order to listen to the concert arrangements, because it places that one where it's theme is used within the underscore instead of as a brief title card bit

I think people are discussing music they like listening to on their albums, not movies that would have been improved with a different score

Alan Rickman must be a Brian Eno fan.

I would actually say that, as of now, he is a front runner for awards nominations. His character is not an easy one to portray and Considine hits every note and plays every layer of the character perfectly. I have a lot of respect for Considine as an actor and person for him to allow the show to do to him (both physically and mentally) with him. He is not the brightest one in the room and he looks terible in the latest episode, but he really makes it work

It’s a trap!