nicholas

Once again I must leap to the defence of "Stepmom." I wonder if part of the reason people don't like the score (on the whole) is because of its stupid title? Listen to the oboe tune in "Taking Pictures." Surely worth the price of the disc on its own?

I know exactly what he was doing. Sitting at my mother's bedside, anxiously holding her hand as she pushed... You see.... John Williams .... is.... my father....

I think "Ray and Rachel" from "War of the Worlds" is worth mentioning. Some wonderfully inventive harmonies. And of course "Epilogue."

I agree entirely about poor old Stepmom. I particularly love the oboe melody in "Taking Pictures", and the French feel of much of the score. In places it could almost be Ravel. Why are people generally so averse to it?

My whole life would have to be Newman's Fox Fanfare. You think something great is just about to start ... but then it never does. Apart from that, I'm fine.

Unbelievably, I have never heard "Return of the Jedi", although I own all the other Star Wars scores. I cannot really account for this omission. The other day I bought my young nephew a Star Wars compilation album by the Utah Symphony, recorded back in 1982 or thereabouts, and I was really taken with the Jedi music, particularly the haunting Luke and Leia. And yet people tend to relegate "Return of the Jedi" to third place amongst the first three scores - perhaps this has influenced me against it. What are its good points and its bad points? Also, what version should I buy? I don't necessarily want every scrap of music composed for the film, just something that does the score justice.

About four years ago I bought a CD of Samuel Barber's First Symphony and Piano Concerto. I played it, then put it away, rather disappointed. Last week, in a bored moment (and I have many of those) I took it out and, for some reason, put the slow movement of the symphony on. I was utterly taken aback by it. How did I miss it first time round? Which John Williams score/piece did you: a) love on first hearing, and continue to love B) feel disappointed by on first hearing, but grow to love c) feel disappointed by on first hearing, and continue to be My own answers would be: a) Hook B) War of the Worlds c) The Violin Concerto

Judy Dench in a false beard.

Ah, Milton Keynes! This is a huge new town in the English midlands. I remember their TV promotions in the 1980's: "If only all towns could be like Milton Keynes." Oh yeah. Who needs Venice? Is it POSSIBLE to get any more off the original subject?

I thought the effects in "Tron" were amazing. It was like Pak-Man had come to life.

Doesn't Homer say something like "John Williams must be turning in his grave" in one episode. I think the Springfield orchestra is attempting to play Star Wars or something...

In The Simpsons episode where Mr Burns is mistaken for an alien by Homer the school band attempt to play the 5-notes from CE3K. They do fine until a tuba gets the last note wrong.

In England we call it "an embarrassing lack of self control."

My reaction? UN. Be. Liev. Able.

Hook, definitely (should it be referred to as "H"?). And the unfairly maligned Angela's Ashes, to my mind the most purely musical album (ie no mere 'background' music) of all JW's output with the possible exception of Schindler's List. Frankly, it would be easier to say which ones you shouldn't get. Can't think of any just now. Nixon, possibly? ("N"?)

I suppose I must have had some subliminal awareness of "Lost in Space" since I can just remember the title visuals - stick men floating against a black sky - and the music is quite quirky, I seem to recall. I remember being struck by the symphonic sound of Star Wars and its space setting, though it never crossed my mind to think of it as having a distinct existence away from the film - particularly as a friend had the double LP and used to ram it down my throat all the time. No, the first real impact was Close Encounters. I was so struck with the music as "sound effect" (characterised by a deep base note) that I bought the cassette (remember those?). From then on I think I've bought just about everything Williams has done.

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm afraid I do not have the technology to provide a clip of the music but I can make a feeble attempt to describe it: it starts with a fairly low-key ?clarinet solo. This then leads into a gently rocking figure for the strings in 3/4 time - or thereabouts. Other instruments enter, mostly soloists, and there is also a 'plinking' sound, like a very high bell (but not a triangle). The music is subtly discordant. Listening to it again last night I thought I could hear the entry of a solo piano after this... Against a background shot of the twin towers at night the music is very evocative. If anyone has a copy of the DVD and could take a look I'd be very grateful.

Can anyone help me to identify a piece of music? It accompanies the titles of the very moving 9/11 documentary "In Memoriam" which came out, I believe, in 2002. It is melancholically jazzy, in the manner of Gershwin or Copland, and features the clarinet fairly prominently (although it is not Copland's concerto for that instrument, which I know). Any info. gratefully received since I would love to listen to the piece in its entirety. How wonderful if it turned out to be Williams!!

Two 80s horror films come to mind with quite decent special affects, although they wouldn't stand up against present day computer generated ones. They are "An American Werewolf in London" (with the still shocking transformation scene) and, funnily-enough, "Fright Night", which had a similar scene. I say funnily-enough because "Fright Night" was that rare thing, a horror film which managed to be quite funny without undermining all of its scariness. I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about the scores of either...

I love his very haunting music for "The English Patient," which seems consistently to be under-rated. Ok, it's occasionally repetitive, but I do like the Bach pastiche, the instrumentation and the combination of different genres works very well.

Thanks for the information. Perhaps a lost masterpiece? We may never know...

In liner notes JW's Symphony is always mentioned amongst his other concert hall compositions yet there seems to be remarkably little known about it. Does anyone know when it was written? who commissioned it? and has it ever been performed? Has anyone actually ever HEARD it???

I must say - being British - that I'm rather surprised at the comparatively positive response to "God Save the Queen." For me it's hard to imagine a duller tune, even when enthusiastically arranged by Arthur Bliss. It sounds like something from a "Teach Yourself the Piano for Beginners" book. Give me Parry's "Jerusalem" any day. Great tune, and Blake's poem so much more than sycophantic patriotism. I love the Israeli anthem after hearing JW's beautiful arrangement. Is the similarity to Smetana accidental?

Interesting subject! For me it was, perhaps surprisingly, in Close Encounters, when the husband and wife (sorry, forgot their names, haven't seen the film in a decade!) kiss on the road at night. The scoring is perfect - just a high note on the strings which grows into a chord. It has an amazing stillness. I've mentioned it before on another post, but it was the moment when I realised the transforming power of music in film and became a devoted fan of the maestro.

On a rather more general note about "The Lost World" - somehow I have always found it impenetrable, and it has joined that tiny minority of JW scores I hardly ever re-visit. To me it seems to be one long and indistinguishable action cue (apart from the main title), yet many people rave about it. What am I doing wrong? How can I be converted to it?