Jilal

Did anyone ever attempt to reconstruct the scene with its original score, to some degree of accuracy?

Odd how the snare drum on the left of the soundstage seems to be off beat here and there in the Imperial March performance in the Finale. Sounds like the performance was a little rushed. In fact it sounds like the Imperial March was simply edited into the cue, it seems a little odd to have it begin with one of the falling patterns in the high woodwinds.

I couldn't stand the way they tinkered with that cue in the film, moving things all over the place. Not very professional.

I was surprised to hear the melancholy motif from AOTC's Return to Tatooine return in this film. As an aside, it's one of the bits of music in the prequel trilogy that reminds me a lot of the part of my childhood I spent playing Star Wars video games - I believe it's the background music for one of the often recurring menus in the ROTS video game.

I've been listening to Praise Ye from William Walton's cantata Belshazzar's Feast repeatedly this week. Can't get enough of it! There are lots of Williams, Horner and Goldsmith vibes throughout, intermingled with bits reminiscent of Walton's famous coronation march, Crown Imperial.

The orchestration is actually pretty straightforward here, you can find more of the same style in the more recent Tintin, for example. The whole string section is mainly playing rythmic eighth notes in the first part of the track (sort of a scherzo in 9/8, with a really cool rhythm here which I didn't really "get" until I had a look at the manuscript score). The low strings often double big low brass chords, the high strings double some of the high trumpet lines, there's a bit of high strings and woods playing the dazzling, whirling figures Williams likes to embellish action cues with, most of the strings double the aggressive low brass stabs later in the cue, etc. You might not realize this at first, but the whole thing would sound very empty if you'd take away the strings! They add a lot of color and substance to the whole ensemble.

❤️ I'm afraid I'm having exams at the moment (in fact I should be practicing some contour integration), and I'm pretty busy studying physics most of the time anyway. I find it to be very challenging and rewarding. I do really wish I had more time to spend studying music theory and composing. Later in life, perhaps.

I'd like a hint

Is that the cue underscoring the Anakin & Obi-Wan vs. Dooku duel?

Nope. TPM: mostly 8.4.4.1, 6.4.4.1 AOTC: 6.4.4.1 ROTS: 8.4.4.2 at most SW: 6.4.3.2 ESB: 6.4.4.2 ROTJ: 6.4.4.2

Not quite I believe. The OST versions are always recorded with the usual 6.4.4.1 brass instead of the reduced 4.3.3.1 section in the Hal Leonard scores, for instance. Also, as a little side note, I think JW shouldn't have included the marimba part in the Hal Leonard version (or, at least, marking it as p)- it tends to be far too apparent in live performances (lending the piece an almost childish character), while it just adds a little bit of extra color and pulse in Shawn Murphy's recording. It's these little things that classical music afficionados/elitists look down on JW for.

Damn, I keep mislabeling TLJ stuff with TFA.

How can this not be on the OST album?

Golly gee willikers!