nicholas

The end of "Inspector Morse" was pretty sad - both the series and the character.

An alien arrives on earth in the early part of the 19th-century. The first human he meets is Schubert. In a terrifying robotic voice the alien commands, "Take me to your Lieder."

You'll find a wonderful version of the theme arranged by the Maestro on "Cinema Serenade" (the first album) with Perlman on violin. Anyone else a fan of this CD? I don't have the second. Is it worth getting?

What about a mile high figure of JW carved from marble spanning the mouth of the Hudson River like a mighty colossus? His head could revolve and steam come out of the ears, for some reason.

I notice your Visiting Fellow is James Macmillan. As far as contemporary "serious" composers go you can't get much more accessible than him. Apparently a nice chap too.

It's called "The Cinema Store" and it's actually on Upper St Martin's Lane, near Leicester Square Tube station. They always seem to get imports very early (long before the big London stores), although sometimes you will pay a small premium. Well worth a visit.

I bought mine in London on December 28th - specialist shop on Charing Cross Road. They had dozens in stock.

What are FAQ? (Joke.)

Recently listened again to The Mighty, by Trevor Jones. Heart-rending and inspirational. Rather a good film too, I thought.

Continuing the theme of sublime to ridiculous - I used to sing bass in an Oxford College chapel choir. One day evensong coincided with Valentine's Day. The organist - who shall remain nameless - played variations on the theme from "Love Story".

"Team America" was the funniest film I've seen in a long time.

"Stanley and Iris" is pretty dull. But I must defend "Stepmom", despite its stupid title. Strangely for an all-American film the music is rather French harmonically - like Ravel. And "The Days Between" has an oboe melody that must rank as one of JW's best.

I welcome a fresh opportunity to discuss this. I bought the soundtrack last night. I must say my initial impression was rather muted. Nothing particualarly grabbed me. But then the score suddenly seemed to take off in the last three tracks, particularly the finale. There's a thrilling section of string writing which is very similar to the end of John Adams' violin concerto - in fact I am sure Williams could not have written it without the Adams in his mind. I know it is going to be a score that will grow on me.

Surely this sort of discussion is more suited to a different sort of website. We should be discussing whether John Williams fancies her.

John William's has a reputation as the consummate professional composer. After all, his salary is paid for out of each film's budget and I am sure that his chief concern is to craft a score that perfectly compliments each film he works on. However, I find it almost impossible to imagine that he could pen a score as complex as, say, 'Hook', without conceiving of the music as a quite separate entity away from the film for which it was written, particularly as some of the best music is, 'in situ', obliterated by sound effects, dialogue etc. My question is, therefore, do you think he writes scores mindful of their eventual release on album as a separate listening experience (apart from obvious concert arrangements) and even with half a mind to their surviving for posterity? This explanation, surely, can only account for the sheer quality and complexity of composition.

I'd say Fawkes the Pheonix. I might even say this was JW's best theme EVER. Whilst it would be impossible to invent the tune yourself, the miracle is it flows like it's always existed, like it wrote itself...

Of course some people refer to it as 'serious' music which might come across as somewhat condescending to other equally valid forms of musical expression. Shall we call it a day now?

This is a subject that greatly interests me, particularly as I often find myself becoming an apologist for film music. I'm ashamed to admit that I don't trumpet my admiration for JW in polite society for fear of, if not ridicule, then at least incomprehension. It's only when I'm a bit drunk at a party that I'll confess and, if I'm on home territory, will play a few favourite pieces, usually to widespread appreciation - even surprise. And it's always fun playing something from "Close Encounters" for a bit of "Guess the Composer." I think fans of the so-called avant garde in classical music find it rather disconcerting that they can be 'fooled' by music from a popular science fiction film. In terms of 'classical' music I listen mainly to Bach, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Profoviev, Stravinsky, Britten, Tippett, Vaughan-Williams, Taverner, and 20th-century English church music (strange for an atheist!) but I no longer listen to atonal music. I used to force myself out of peer pressure. Now I can't be bothered. It's too boring. Having recently entered middle age I feel too old to listen to things I feel I ought to rather than things I want to. And what I want to listen to - more than any other composer, living or dead - is John Williams. So I will.

Yep, John Addison. I believe he also wrote the theme for "Murder She Wrote", unless there happen to be two John Addisons. Now there's a useful snippet of information.

At the risk of betraying my latent philistinism, I think it may also have something to do with the fact that film music tends to come in nice bite-size chunks. I imagine the average track length in a film score is between 3 and 5 minutes - roughly the same as the average pop song. It's very rare that I have either the inclination, or the time, to listen to an hour-long symphony or concerto in one sitting.

Woody Allen never seems to use a score.

This is really going to date me but here goes... The first soundtrack I ever bought was for "A Bridge Too Far" because I was very affected by the film. Stirring stuff, with a secondary sad theme which is a blatant rip-off of "Pavane pour une infante defunte." But I clearly remember the first time I understood the transforming power of music in film was during "Close Encounters". There is a scene where the married couple (forgive me, I can't remember their fictional names but the man is, of course, Richard Dreyfus) kiss on the deserted road at night. JW accompanies the scene with a sustained high chord on the strings - nothing else. That, for me, had the inspired simplicity of genius - and whenever I'm snogging someone on a street at night it always comes into my head.

The piano concertos are amazing. Number 5 contains some of the most ferocious writing for the piano. I love the jazz influences too - the opening of concerto no. 2 is quite magical (or do I mean 3???). For an amazing but completely un-hummable tune listen to the slow movement of the fifth symphony. The passionate string writing is slightly redolent of JW.

I once remember playing the suite from Close Encounters (in the Gerhardt recording) to a musical student friend of mine who has since become quite a well-known composer (mostly of frantically difficult choral music). He sat and listened, lobbing a few names around (Ligeti I remember, predicatably) then just sat back as the music begins to become more 'romantic', completely intrigued and at a loss. He kept saying "What IS this? What IS this?" Finally when the five notes arrived there were signs of recognition from him and when I told him what it was he completely lost interest and almost certainly never listened to it again. And the moral is..?

What is it about film music which distinguishes it from contemporary 'serious' music written for the concert hall? Do we like film music because we like the film it accompanies, or do we like it simply because it tends to be written in an accessible, directly emotive musical language whereas much 'serious' music (I always observe those inverted commas) is still considered difficult? The reason I ask is that, whilst I am an avid fan of JW's music (much more so than any other living composer in any genre) I don't give two hoots about most of the films. For example, I've never seen "Home Alone" and have no desire to - yet I love the score. My first posting, and I hope not too ponderous a one!