Joe Brausam

Not for nothing, as I own the Rhino King of Kings myself as well as the FSM box, but have you seen the second hand prices for KoK? https://www.amazon.com/King-Kings-Miklos-Rozsa/dp/B00006311P/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1515102228&sr=1-2&keywords=king+of+king+rozsa It's as bad as the LoTR complete recordings situation.

Haha, thanks! It was the result of a lot of good luck!

Don Davis makes the most sense to me.

Usually they have the new signature editions on display at the Midwest Clinic, which starts on Wednesday this week. I'll be there, so if there is anything aside from that there I'll report back.

The score was even better on my second viewing of the film. All the repetitive stuff from previous films clicked in the texture much better. And new variations of old themes are great too, along with the completely new themes as well. It's really a great score.

Wonder why some tracks are published solely by BMI. Maybe those will be concert works available?

It was a fantastic statement of the theme actually, better than any in the prequel scores.

Throughout the film they spent time setting up that these projections could effect the character on the other side. Such as Kylo feeling pain from Rey’s blast shot and getting water on his hands while communicating with Rey in the rain. luke’s exertion coupled with some very possible physical consequences are what killed him, at least that’s how I interpreted it.

Poe’s theme does return in the first half of the film, but I didn’t notice it during the last act. I’d compare Rose’s theme, at least the first half, to a major mode version of the force theme. Usually performed by higher woodwinds, flute, clarinet, etc. But it gets big statements as well. The opening interval , at least as I remember it, was a perfect 5th - however rhythmically and as far as the contour it feels like the force theme for the first bar or two. If I remember right the melody is always in 4/4, with two upward slurring sixteenth’s on the last beat of the first measure, followed by a beat 1 in a downward interval. The second measure ends the same way. That much I remember clearly. It is a long lined melody. Maybe not as long as Poe’s complete theme, but long regardless. Hedwig - yes, that’s one of those moments.

Yes to the above.

Mm..interesting. There are some sweeping shots with just music, and some montage style stuff. I don’t remember anything really in particular regarding this though. There’s a part of the film where ALL sound is removed, including music.

The score really is great. I think everyone is freaking out over nothing...rehashes are isolated moments. They’re nowhere near the bulk of the score.

Thats not something that I heard in the score, that’s the sequence where he uses TIE Fighter Attack. Doesnt mean its not in there, but I didn’t hear it, and that sequence was already heavy on rehash!

You'll be able to hear it cleanly in the end credits, as it seems the entire cue plays again during them.

But I get the feeling that episode 9 will feature a jump forward in the timeline, I wouldn't't be surprised to see a 5-10 year jump in the timeline honestly. Just based on how the film ended it makes sense to me to see a lot of time pass.

So there are really 2 main stories in the film: - Luke/Rey - The Resistance (splits into two stories for a while. So the heart of the score for the Luke/Rey story would have to be the force theme, with Rey's theme given a strong supporting role. For the resistance, and particularly the story of Finn and Rose, it's Rose's theme. The Resistance theme plays a prominent role, much more noticeably than anything written for Holdo. Canto Bight really has some fun music for the chase scene (lots of horn rips!), and the source music used in the casino sequence has a lot of fun steel drum stuff. And really - please don't think this is all doom and gloom. I pointed out things that were noticeable to me, but this isn't some hack job of a score, so don't get that impression from what I'm telling you.

Very much the same. There's one point where I felt like something interesting was done, can't remember at what point, but apart from that not so much. It doesn't really develop and some statements are verbatim from TFA.

What Bloodboal said! ^^ What I mean is that new bits are inserted into the original composition.

Yup!

The Jedi steps is back, primarily early on in the film. I feel like there may have been some sparse references to it later on with music in sort of the same vein, but nothing that stood out. As for the end credits suite - it's long. I think a lot of it was reworked in editing so the album version will likely be a different experience. I hope. It's more disjointed than the TFA suite. It includes Rose's theme, a piano solo of Leia's theme, which I believe transitions into material for Holdo. Superstructure Chase/TIE Fighter attack appears. There are some nice statements of Rey's theme later on. But as for the actual structure it's tough to really say. It ends quietly again like TFA, with the celeste part from Rey's theme. There is a point in the score that uses material from The March of the First Order in Walt Disney Hollywood Studios. I'm unsure if this was music from TFA or not, but its thematic material is lifted directly from the Disney event. Even down to the percussion that's meant to mimic the sound of marching. I mean the low brass riff here, and the percussion. Superstructure Chase/TIE Fighter attack is a new recording with new inserts in it - the new inserts are pretty jarring if you're familiar with the original cue, and noticeably stylistically different when compared to his earlier writing.

Oh! Also, coming out of the main title Williams uses the original piccolo solo from ANH. It’s a new performance, but the same music. As far as being pulled directly from concert suites - don’t think too much on it. I’m sure there are differences that I didn’t catch on the first viewing. But there are moments like a French horn solo of leia’s theme that plays out exactly as heard in the concert suite. And many statements of the resistance march tend to sound exactly like the concert arrangement, though there are also plenty of fresh statements of it as well. We hear a version of the force theme that plays out exactly as it did as Rey drove Kylo’s lightsaber into the snow in TFA. Again, don’t think doom and gloom here. These rehashes are isolated moments that stick out to me, but they are by no means the bulk of the score.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t say the approach is much different. There is a lot of music in the film, close to wall to wall I’d say. There are some great long shots that allow for lengthy statements of themes, but you’d sometimes see that is TFA as well. Character themes are given room to be heard, you won’t miss a single statement of Leia’s, Rose’s, Rey’s, Kylo’s, or the Force’s themes. There are no real prequel trilogy transitional fanfares or anything like that. I’ll also say that there is some scoring in isolated sections that sounds way more modern in its approach than anything we’ve really heard from Williams. There is some music that appears as that is written more in the modern epic superhero film style than anything else Williams has written for Star Wars before. So that’s interesting. Music for the island and Jedi training is predictably heavy on the force theme and more mystical textures. This really does live in the same tonal universe as TFA when it’s all said and done though.