Marcus

The Harry Potter Children's Suite is essentially Williams' take on a kind of "young person's guide to the orchestra". It is as masterful as it is colorful, and is about as far removed from a "sketch" as you can get. On the contrary, it represents ways of developing the musical material even further, all the while exploring the orchestra in delightful detail.

Certainly! There's quite a bit available on Spotify etc. You can also check out my website, www.marcuspaus.com Here's some stuff off YouTube:

If I were to be perfectly candid, it's precisely the lack of imagination when it comes to handling the orchestra, that I find disappointing in a lot of contemporary film scoring, including Shore's LotR scores. It's the lack of curiosity about how an orchestra may be utilized, and I think it stems from many composers not really knowing all that much about neither repertoire, nor what the instruments are really capable of. To claim that Conrad Pope, and what must by now be an almost endless list of conductors, butcher Shore's scores live or in studio due to their not understanding his intentions, is obviously preposterous. You would think that by now, at least someone would get it right? For all their merits, these scores sound less thrilling live because Howard Shore's orchestral imagination has led him to make decisions that simply don't project as well as they could have. There's nothing groundbreakingly new or fancy about they way they're conveyed on the page that would stand in the way of these scores sounding stunning. It's very traditional writing, largely far safer, less virtuosic than anything in Star Wars (not that I wish to compare the two sagas nor their music any further), penned in a way that puts an orchestra at a disadvantage live. The only rules "broken" have to do with ending up with a less satisfying result where some adjustments would have made all the difference. It's taxing and unrewarding due to how frequently it gets tiresome for the strings to only play pads, and the horns to pretend they're trumpets. It's a bit like Bruckner with orchestral dyslexia. I think Shore's Middle Earth scores would really come alive if played by a group that had more of a band structure at its core. Some synths, various ethnic winds and percussion, and a couple of solo performers on featured orchestral instruments. Something like what one could imagine Enya would tour with, or Secret Garden. And that's closer to the musicality these scores really stem from, I think. There's a pop sensibility to them, and a certain folkloristic flair. A live orchestral context does them no favors. There's no need to pretend it's because they're not properly understood by orchestras or conductors, who routinely handle not only daunting works of the past, but also much more complex, cutting edge, state-of-the-art (or not...) contemporary classical music.

As a professional composer, I have to say that Williams' strength is more than just his brass writing. Rather, he has a knack for making the entire orchestra really shine in music that is complex, but very rewarding to play. I can't think of that many composers who write more consistently to each choir's strengths, while at the same time keeping instrumentational choices interesting, and often unorthodox, even if the subtleties of his craft may elude the casual listener. I think it's easy to take Williams for granted, simply because there's such an elegance and panache to his style. Everything works, and sounds perfectly polished. But there are so many layers of not only expertise, but genuine artfulness and inventiveness to his orchestrational choices, and his way of seeing the orchestra, his concept of what an orchestra is. One thing that ought to be studied more by any aspiring composer when it comes to Williams, is the economy of his writing, and just how much mileage he can get from even a solo instrument. There's often a chamber-like lucidity in passages even from his most heavily orchestrated scores. He knows exactly what colors can be achieved by peeling away, as well as by layering. I think this modus operandi, which really bears more resemblance to how a concert composer might approach an orchestra, is part of what makes Williams' scores stand out. He is simply an outstanding practitioner of his craft by any standard. Not to compare the two, but Howard Shore is an entirely different kind of composer. His dedication seems to be to the film he scores, and not to the craft of writing music per se. His Middle Earth scores do an outstanding job of imagining and creating a musical landscape for Peter Jackson's take on Tolkien's mythology. But concert performances of those scores, as popular as they might be, tend to fall a little flat, simply because Shore isn't a particularly skillful orchestrator. There are a lot of choices that end up sounding very forced because of how unidiomatically written they are. I think Conrad Pope's contributions rectified some of it, but there's still the problem of the music perhaps having been conceived more abstractly. You can tell (and this, I'm sure it could be argued, is for better or for worse) that Williams conceives his music with the orchestra, or a particular instrument, in mind, lending a sense of natural grace and fluency to his writing.

I just thought I'd chime in briefly: Williams' leitmotivic technique is often more symphonic than dramatic, which is to say that narrative/extra-musical connotation will at times be subservient to purely abstract musical qualities. An aspect of this, is that Williams will tend to deconstruct and develop his material on purely musical terms, working in this respect (unlike Howard Shore, since he is inevitably mentioned) more like a composer of concert music.

To claim that Williams' score to TLJ is "lazy" is just absurd. I'm only beginning to discover all its layers, but you can pretty much take any track you like off the OST, and what you'll hear, is a level of nuance and artfulness simply not found in traditional orchestral film scoring anymore. There's so much beauty and detail and craft in every bar of this music. I'm stunned to see people actually feeling let down by it... It may be just another film score. But it happens to be a phenomenally well-written one.

I see your point, especially in terms of texture: There's a lushness to TLJ that contrasts the sobering leanness of TFA's aesthetics. Still, a great deal of TFA's score is given a kind of '2.0' update throughout TLJ. Parts of the new material are also very much contingent on the established new (TFA) themes, to a degree I find really impressive, compositionally. The theme that is varyingly attributed to Luke, Holdo or the Island, is actually a development of Rey's fanfare (the one often played by celeste, harp and vibes), and "The Rebellion is Reborn", save for Rose's theme, is essentially a deconstruction/reconstruction of the other themes and motifs pertaining to the Resistance. I'm sure there's lots more to discover!

It's a marvelous score, and exactly the score the film needed. The writing feels energized and fresh, and there are some truly original orchestrations both in the action oriented cues, and in some of the more subtle underscore. To me, it really is an extension of TFA, but with more room to let that material breathe, sing and soar. The new material offers charming additions to the glossary, while the older material is given some really terrific new spins. I think it's probably the most consistently well-spotted Star Wars film scores since the OT. If the sequel trilogy is symphonically conceived, this score serves as its development section.

Just saw the film (which I thought was very good), and can only say that it was perfectly scored. I'm sure I'm echoing many in stating that the film really is an extension of TFA's narrative (more so than any previous SW film in relation to its direct predecessor), something which certainly does inform the score. It really doesn't call for any big new themes, and in providing one for Rose, Williams is already more than generous (even though I'm glad he supplied it). What I will say, is that the score as heard in the film feels fresh, despite the many callbacks (many of which also have a bittersweet tinge to them). Looking forward to hearing the OST!

Except it seems to have been confirmed that it isn't.

So it would seem the skeptics among us were right, if recent reports are to be believed...

Well, in his TFA, BFG and Dear Basketball scores, and in his recent concert works, the sophistication of his writing remains undiminished...

Having just listened to it again, I'm just having a hard time imagining this is Williams. There are so many choices that simply don't strike me as something Williams would do. Why are the strings simply holding a static pedal just as the March kicks into gear? I suspect the rhythmic oddities are mostly a matter of editing. The ending sounds like generic trailer music. In a score possibly sporting both the Imperial March and March of the Resistance, it seems a bit redundant to add another march that is essentially a cross between the two. There are also aspects of the melodic writing that strike me as "un-williamsy", such as the escape tone on the 4th beat of the theme's second measure, especially since it sounds like it is played by a lone trumpet (and not doubled at the octave). I just don't hear that "Towner touch"... Of course, it could all be a question of something being lost in translation, chopped up, edited and adjusted on the altar of Verizon. Or maybe my ears simply aren't as infallible as I thought they were...

One thing about it that sticks out as a slight surprise (and I often find that it's the surprises, not only the trademarks, that sets Williams apart), is the Bb augmented chord (before it turns into first inversion Gm) cadencing to A at the end of the main thematic statement. But if this is indeed Williams, I think it would actually be the first time I haven't immediately recognized a piece as such upon first aural glance. And perhaps it's precisely the expectedness of it that throws me. It is essentially an "Imperial March 2.0" (which I guess is justified, given the nature of the sequel trilogy's antagonists). Either way, I look forward to finding out!

Well, it's unusually light for a Star Wars concert title. It's more in the vein of "Jazz Autographs", or "A Whirl Through Academe". Then again, TFA had "Scherzo for X-Wings"...

"Revisiting Snoke" certainly sounds like a concert title, and a playful one at that (as in offering the composer the opportunity to do another take on a character he already provided some music for).

I guess my question would be: Why go with emulating The Imperial March when he could just quote it? Unless there's some kind of later contrapuntal playfulness involved, it just doesn't quite fit with Williams' modus operandi. But it's certainly competent, and has an opulence to it that I could imagine Williams might conjure, should the narrative require. All I can say, is that I was never in doubt when I first heard "The Jedi Steps" in that TV spot...

Whatever it is, it is based on the concert version of 'Imperial March'. Guessing either library music, or someone being hired to stay as close as legally possible to Williams' original (perhaps cheaper than licensing?). If this is, or is based on, new Williams material (which I doubt), I would imagine it is designed to work in conjunction with the original march (though the cadences don't sync up, which makes me doubt it even more).

Anyone capable of writing complex orchestral scores is certainly able to come up with titles for a major soundtrack release. He did for The Post! And I can't imagine someone as attentive to detail and polish as Williams would ever surrender control in such a way. The track list has yet to be revealed, as far as I'm concerned...

Seems fake. They certainly don't look like Williams titles... (whereas The Post's track list does)

Greetings, everyone! Just thought I'd mention that my new album, "Odes&Elegies", is out on Italian label Sheva Contemporary. Here's a link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Odes-Elegies-Marcus-Paus/dp/B076TNJBDF And here's a video presentation of the program: The album features marvelous performances from soloists Henning Kraggerud (violin), Tom Ottar Andreassen (flute), Jan Bertelsen (oboe d'amore), Ole Eirik Ree (cello), Bjarne Magnus Jensen (violin), the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. Hope you'll enjoy!

It's a great chord, and adding to your observations, I'll just mention that it features several of Williams' "sonic pets" in one resonant flash: -At its base lies the 0,8,11 (min6maj7) chord, which is Williams' "go to"-tension sonority (regardless of its harmonic function), and at its summit another "pet", 0,4,11 -The Bb-F# melodic gesture implies a typical williams-esque (prokofiev-esque) "bVI#9-I" cadence, here as a superimposed Eb#9 to G#11, amidst an A(maj)7/Eb(maj)7 polychord -The main polychord obscures its inherent octatonicism by featuring both leading tones, adding more chromatic color and tension as they encircle each of the central notes (Eb and A)

It's essentially a combination of Fm, Dbm and Em (and, to a lesser extent, Cm) , but voiced, as you said, as an Fmin9#11addb6/E. And beautifully orchestrated! Many of these structures tend to be additive. Williams has a penchant for stacking mixed triadic and quartal units (say Eb-Ab-Db-Fb-G on G-C-F-Ab-B). One may think of these in terms of chords (i.e Dbm#11/Eb on Fm#11/G), but I suspect that to Williams, these structures are merely coloristic extensions, or nuances of a larger harmonic field. If one were to think of these from a linear perspective, the additive procedure would concern tetrachordal units rather than scales, and one could arrive at the present example via three "half-whole-half"-sets, beginning on C, E and G, respectively.

Here's my unpopular opinion: Williams is in a league entirely of his own among modern media composers. There's simply no one alive this side of the world of concert music who puts out more consistently stellar work. And I think the real reason for this, is that Williams simply gives much more thought and effort to his scores than most of his colleagues, probably more than people realize. I've heard lazy, phoned-in offerings from many composers. Never from Williams. His work-ethic would make Haydn nod in recognition.

Gorgeous piece! And what rich, wonderful colors and textures, even within an essentially monochrome ensemble. Love Williams in this darkly lyrical, expressive mode.. Also really like the polymodality of the main melodic idea, which stays pretty consistently in a dual state of upper phrygian explorations pitted against a warm D major b13. The final duet between soloist (in the lower octave) and first violins (in the higher octave) towards the very end is notable for inverting what would have been the conventional sonic distribution between these forces. The G-string accellerando/tremolo idea is unusual for Williams, as it seems to stem from a kind of "sturm und drang"-abandon. I suspect this is somehow informed by his take on Mutter's personality as a violinist. And it really suits her playing, instantly lending a dramatic flair which adds to the overall gravitas of the piece. Despite its relative brevity, I think the piece feels complete, and completely satisfying.