Simon R.

Oh shoot, indeed. I didn't read careful enough

And I say you are wrong on both accounts. It's real and it's Williams. I hope you have some good sauce for that hat.

That works much better. So it isn't about her timbre/playing style in general. It just sounds wrong, feeble and indelicate on "Across the stars". This recording sounds much better, as does Mutter's performance. So I take it back, depending on the material, I could probably like her

Sounds pretty dreadful, that "Across the Stars" violin performance. I guess I just discovered I don't like Mutter's timbre/playing style.

You don't get hospitalized immediately for a "routine illness". And you don't cancel events almost two weeks out. I don't buy it. I hope Williams will be OK but I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't.

Actually no, I don't - it was more a general comment to the notion that the director has "final say" - that is rarely the case. The producers are highest in the hierarchy.

I am sure the producers/Disney execs had much more of a final say than RJ had. Usually the money (wo)men want a lot of influence.

I realize it is not RGB natively, but as far as I've been able to figure out, a Blu-Ray's video track(s) are always sourced to be in the limited 16-235 range.....? But for arguments sake, let's say it is actually sourced in full RGB range (0-255), that still is way behind what UHD Blu-Ray and new 10-bit displays can show, and will still cause banding, which is evident on all Blu-Ray's trying to show smooth colour gradients.

It's not so much the resolution as the color depth limits and compression limitations of the Blu-Ray format. Also Blu-Ray only uses limited RGB/levels of 16-235 - a leftover from analogue PAL/NTSC technology. Which means there is actually only just over 200 grey levels, and actually the 8-bit color space is not even utilizing the full 8-bit scale, because of this "limited RGB" resolution inherent in the Blu-Ray format. With 4K you get 10-bit which gives you 1024 grey levels and obviously so much more colour information. And the UHD format can actually contain 12-bit video. Not sure if anything is released in 12-bit yet though - I don't think any tv's are more than 10-bit panels anyway. But it makes even finer colour definition possible. Colour reproduction is now close to the actual digital master you see at cinemas, and with newer (OLED) displays that get better and better at showing the full colour space and full contrast of the source, you can now get close to the same display quality (and in some instances much better, depending on the quality of your cinema projector) compared to digital cinema. The 4K resolution is just an extra bonus that makes most sense the bigger tv you have of course.

I never said Blu-Ray looks like shit, did I? But compared to UHD Blu-Ray, it just has some big technical limitations that shows the formats age now that we have OLED 4K displays and such, that can finally show movies close to the original source material.

Not true. Blu-Ray is 8-bit, UHD is 10-bit. Makes a world of difference. And the codec is also much worse on Blu-Ray. No matter what you do, you will never be able to avoid banding on Blu-Ray.

I agree. I wonder how you can listen to Williams music and be a fan of it, yet be so clueless about his style to the point that you believe that a generic trailer track like this could be Williams. On the other hand, those people could find endless hours of listening joy by Youtube'ing random "epic" and "epic trailer" music. So I suggest they do that and add to their listening collection...:)

Anyone who even faintly believes this music is Williams should be ashamed of him/herself.

No, a Blu-ray will never be able to replicate fine colour changes because of the 8-bit limitation. It is very obvious in many films. Also fade-ins and outs can be very troublesome. Same for dark scenes. It has nothing to do with resolution or upscaling. Many films look good, sure, but the format is showing its problems now on 10-bit OLED panels etc. Not that 4K is 100% perfect, and obviously some UHD movies are mastered better than others, just like on Blu-ray.

Lovely. Blu-ray is beginning to show its limitations. 4K with 10-bit colour, HDR, much higher bitrate etc. looks very superior to Blu-ray. So much banding and compression artifacts going on on Blu-ray. Hadn't expected this so soon. I hope Empire of the Sun, Indy and other Spielberg films will get the 4K treatment soon.

And just because someone made that mistake in 1981 doesn't mean anyone should repeat it now, 36 years later.

Of course he couldn't. You think he'd be able to write a great pop smash hit too, just because he has 6 decades of 99.9% symphonic writing under his belt? An electronic score requires a totally different foundation based in synth programming/synth production knowledge. Unless you consider Presumed Innocent and A.I.'s use of synth good by any standard - if that is the case, by all means, Williams can pull it off. Those are not my definition of synth scores, it's more or less synths adding a little flavour of a more or less successful kind. But a modern, REALLY synth based score... No. I am sure that nobody would ever tell Williams to write a synth based score.

True. He should definitely not go mostly synth - and I am sure he won't, and that Spielberg won't ask for it. He should get another composer if that's what he wants. Synths is not Williams' force and to ask him to do a synth based score would be just stupid.

OK we seem to agree then:) My point is also that the kind of movies where a JW score would be fitting is significantly lower than in the 70's, 80's, 90's. So I am thankful he was at the right place at the right time most of his career. Everything JW we get now is just an added bonus.

I very very much doubt that. Actually let me rephrase that. I am absolutely POSITIVE that this is not the case. Because - there are so many movies today that wouldn't work with a JW score, so the notion that every director and producer are begging John to score their movies is very far from reality.

Movies are edited as they are shot these days, so the first (or "0" cut) could be ready within days or weeks after principal production wraps. Of course half the movie of this kind will be green screen and unfinished in every way, visually, but there'll still be a lot to go by. Funny how it seems so many people thinks it's Williams (or any other composer for that matter) who decides if he "wants to" score the next SW/HP movie. Obviously that decision lies with the director and producers. Great news anyway! I hope he'll get a chance to develop the Jedi Steps theme - without a doubt the best (and only) great new theme in TFA. Can't say I'm a huge fan of TFA - I think The BFG was much more inspired and felt more like a "real" score. Hopefully he'll get a chance to make a great score for the next SW instalment.

For me, analyzing the music doesn't make it any better. The score might have a big "thematic density" if you analyze it thoroughly - I just react to the music emotionally, I am not interested in analyzing it. I just think all of his earlier scores sound so effortless - the themes and stylistic/dramatic transitions just seem to flow so naturally. In this score I think a lot of it sounds forced - like Williams didn't have the capability to make the music flow as well as he used to. It might be due to how the film flows, I haven't seen it yet, but it is the first time I feel that way about a score of his. A lot of cues also have very unelegant endings on the CD. Seem like very technical endings, not musical ones. And I don't think Williams usual do a lot of rewrites for the album that make them more musical (I know he sometimes do concert versions of major themes and such - that's not what I am talking about) - so again, this is a major difference on this album from his earlier ones. On another note: I still think the very last theme on the score (and probably in the film as well), "The Jedi Steps" is the best - it is truly a great Williams theme. It has so much potential - could be expanded, mutated etc etc. and I hope it gets a prominent position in the next film. I have no idea what it reflects in the film but I think it is a pity that THIS wasn't one of the big new themes. This is Williams at his best.

That's ok - it is afterall just that; my opinion, people are welcome to disagree

Definitely not. It is too unfocused both structurally and harmonically IMHO. The best theme on the album is in track 15, Han and Leia. Second best is The Jedi Steps (quite wonderful, also heard in one of the trailers), March of the resistance, The Scavenger, The Starkiller and a few other tracks are stand outs too. I never thought there would come a day where I would say this, but unfortunately I don't think John Williams' music is as extraordinary as it used to be. Right up until (and including) Tintin I think his work has been more or less consistantly sublime, but this score only comes 80% of the way. It is still solid film music, but it lacks the themes to make it stand out, and also the level of detail and finesse in orchestration and thematic material is lacking compared to his past works. I think we are past his best works for sure now, but I will still look forward to anything he does, just not with as much anticipation. And of course he has left a huge legacy that I will be ever thankful of.

I have a hard time imagining the woodwind soli being sampled; there's just too much warmth and expressivity to them; it's phrased too beautifully. Then again, I've never worked with samples, and know next to nothing about them. If this isn't by Williams, it would be difficult for me to imagine who else it could have been written by. It would have to be someone very deeply versed in not only the superficialities of Williams' technique, but also his poetic sensibilities. No trailer composer I've ever heard has displayed such affinities, nor have any other current media composers that I'm aware of. Whoever this is, I'd say the Force is with him/her... Seriously, I don't know what happened here! I clicked the link on the front page, and the first time it played something different. Or I f*cked up and clicked something wrong... Because it played a trailer and a track that started with some celeste glissandos and a french horn solo. Now I clicked (again) and I hear what you are hearing. Doesn't sound sampled and could very well be Williams. I actually think it is. Especially that last flute note/harmonic shift sound very Williams - and the high strings ostinatos.