Marcus
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Posts posted by Marcus
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Dario Marianelli will very likely create something supremely generic. And his Williams quotations will seem like sad and very pale reminders of a forlorn glory.
For someone with a proper musical education, and even a good deal of experience from the concert world, Marianelli is almost impressively bland.
Joel McNeely deserves better pictures to score, something to summon the talent so evident in his "Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire".
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Hooray for Jerry!!
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Of course I would buy a bust of John Williams! He would be on my desk, with Mozart, Ravel, Haydn and Shostakovich...
Reverence...Motivation...
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If Williams can't be persuaded to return to the series, they should try to get Bruce Broughton or Joel McNeely, and instruct them to try to emulate John Williams' style as closely as possible. And Conrad Pope should be asked to write the non-thematic parts of underscore.
I don't want any lesser composers vision ( or lack thereof) of Harry Potter. I want the magical universe that Williams created INTACT. As far as I'm concerned, "Goblet of Fire" was akin to Georgio Moroder's "Superman 3", and now, there's no hope.
If we could only somehow magically steal life from younger film composers and grant Williams immortality...
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Agreed!! Pure brilliance!!
Then again, music doesn't get any better than John Williams!!
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Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear... This can only mean that Klaus Badelt will score "Half Blood Prince".
Marianelli is possibly the incarnation of all the qualities that constitutes a true hack (albeit one not completely devoid of dramatic talent). Since one of his main claims to fame is the insertion of repertoire pieces into his film scores, I can only hope that "Order of the Phoenix" includes as much Williams and as little original Marianelli as possible.
I have officially lost all interest in the HP film franchise.
I hope Imdb LIES.
All is not well on planet earth,
Marcus
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Just a quick comment on celesta and "synth celesta": The reason one would use a synth with a celesta registration, is agility. Most normal celestas wouldn't be able to produce the fast passages in "Hedwig's Theme", "Fawkes the Phoenix" and elsewhere, because of their key action. Also, most celestas built after the second world war are pretty bad (not a lot of good metal left), and have rather dull timbres.
I remember, during Williams' rehearsals with the N.Y. Phil in February 2004, they had to get another celesta for the orchestral pianist, because her instrument wouldn't "project" the notes she played.
Marcus
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The "Grail Theme" from "Last Crusade"...Nothing to my ears induces a greater sense of reverence. It also captures perfectly the lore and the history of the holy grail. Whereas the "Ark of the Covenant Theme" is mysteriously majestic in an old testament-like fashion, the "Grail Theme" has my lips almost tasting the blood of Christ and the tears of the crusaders...
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"The Sixth Sense" was on last night... What a perfect, perfect score for a wonderful film! And an incredibly talented director (Shyamalan)...
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Not bad, as far as lists go...
"Patton" should have ranked higher, though.
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Maestro Williams is certainly one of the most luminously gifted people ever to graduate from Juilliard.
Nothing could be more obvious! It reflects poorly on the Juilliard School as an institution when critics perpetuate the quasi-elitist myths about it. John Williams is true elite.
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Although most of us, it seems, will agree to define the "Rebel Fanfare" as a motif and not a theme, it is nevertheless a motif that is given quite a bit of development throughout the Star Wars film, and frequently in musically surprising and elaborate, perhaps even convoluted, ways. It spawns the "Rebel Alliance Theme" in "Return of the Jedi", and the "Separatist Theme" (barely) heard in "Revenge of the Sith", and a string of shorter variations in the form of transitional cues and minor fanfares. In fact, one could argue that the "Rebel Fanfare" functions as a "harmonic key" to the musical universe of Star Wars, with its freely moving (non-functional) triads over a (frequently) fixed pitch, so sonically iconic in these films. Granted, this is a Williams trademark, but featured more prominently throughout the Star Wars films than elsewhere.
Best,
Marcus
(P.S. The "Rebel Fanfare" can be broken down into two motifs. Williams utilizes only the first of these during the "A New Hope" end credits, as a counterpoint to Leia's theme)
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Ah, "Stepmom"... A beautiful lyrical and slightly pastoral score, sort of a late 90's pendant piece to "The Accidental Tourist". I am most definitely a fan!
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Greetings!
Honestly, I find the Doyle rendition of "Hedwig's Theme" to be a very good demonstration of all of the qualities in Williams' writing absent in Doyle's. And, again, Doyle is an O.K. film composer.
John Williams is a GREAT composer, who happens to write for film. The harmonic "twists" Doyle adds actually gives the theme a more streamlined, or should I say mainstream, harmonic profile, very much in the musical lingo of most composers working in the field today. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But Williams adds a sense of craft, a sense of style, a finesse, unparallelled by Doyle (and everyone else).Texturally, harmonically, orchestrationally...Williams' renditions are FAR superior!
But it is always interesting to see another composer's take on a colleague's material.
And I pray Williams is bored enough to return to the Harry Potter series...
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Greetings, fellow composers! I do think Alex is right in saying that music comes from the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind, and that everything we have ever heard, and all of our experience, is stored in a sort of internal "reference library"...And I too feel that all my creative impulses are more vivid when sleep-deprived or going to sleep. But I do think that sleep-deprivation is a rather unhealthy modus operandi!
Our creative endeavors will always be linked with inspiration, and inspiration is certainly a wondrous, beautiful and magical thing, but it can be an unreliable tool, and as composers, I think we would be wise to opt for a more practical approach. We must practice our craft, hone our skills, perfect our technique, and always work diligently! The more we write, the easier our creativity flows.We should seek to become fluent craftsmen, able to conjure up very consciously the soundscapes presented to our inner ear when our conscious unites with our unconscious. By craft, I mean the sum of our musical experience. The more we hear, the more we learn, and the more we write, the craftier do we become.
I certainly enjoy the phenomenon GoodMusician describes, and continue to benefit from it in my work. But I've probably benefited more from all my practical experience, just working with musicians, writing for them, and learning the ropes...
I guess we could categorize the technical facets of musical composition crudely as Harmony, Counterpoint and Orchestration, and perhaps Form. The better grasp we have of all these, and of their development and history, and their myriad of applications, the better will we be equipped to comprehend our own processes, and aid our own creativity.
In ancient bardic traditions, it was common to describe inspiration as an underlying flow, a collective current of images we could all access, and would all understand. I think there's a lot of validity to this, which gives an almost mythological quality to our clichés, or archetypes, if you will. Perhaps this, too, is what we access in that almost dream-like state between waking and sleep, or when fatigued by sleep-deprivation.
And just like the bards had their metric and timbral tools the better to capture what they glimpsed of this flow, this currant, we, too, must cultivate ours!
Great topic!
Best,
Marcus
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MSM, although this might no longer be too relevant, you are right: The note should be a B natural, not a Bb.
Best,
Marcus
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Merkel, you're quite right! Williams' score for "Dracula" is simply superb, easily the best score for any vampire film, and one of Maestro Williams' most wildly romantic efforts! And when seen in the context of the film, it's truly a revelation. The finale is operatic in a Korngoldian manner, and the main theme is plainly brilliant (and harmonically very interesting, and quite involved,-progressions and inner lines Richard Strauss would have been supremely proud to have penned).
Marcus
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Greetings! I have to say, I really enjoy the "Cowboys Overture", which is also interesting because it is one of John Williams' most formally ambitious concert arrangements. The score is perhaps his most "generic" western score, but it is nevertheless one of the finest efforts in this genre. I do find myself listening more frequently to the score for "Missouri Breaks", which is a stunningly original western score if there ever was one, and one far removed from the more typical Coplandesque americana.
Best,
Marcus
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Oh, I guess I am rather garrulous at times...Pardon me, Stefancos...I'm just finishing a commission for clarinet, violin and piano, and during writing breaks, I like to stop by JWfan.com...You know, as a contemporary composer, I never really can talk with too many of my colleagues, as they are generally more interested in Brian Ferneyhough, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez,Tristan Murail or others...It can be such a lonely existence...I guess I better shut up now...
Best,
Marcus
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Greetings, ScottishJWfan! What an interesting question! I take it you're after thoughts on extra-musical connotations,etc. Michael Matessino, writing in the Star Wars-A New Hope Special Edition liner notes, makes the following observation, commenting on the film's main title,a.k.a. Luke's Theme: "This now-classic Star Wars theme perfectly conveys the heroism at the heart of the saga with the economy of its opening fifth( reaching upward),descending triplet(gathering strength for another try),and triumphant lift to an octave above the opening note(attainmant of the goal).The note is savored and then the last four notes are repeated (reassurance of achievement). The phrase then rounds out simply and effectively (the task completed)."
Williams himself offers:"When I thought of a theme for Luke and his adventures,I composed a melody that reflected the brassy,bold,masculine and noble qualities I saw in his character."
Traditionally(in western musical culture), a rising perfect interval, notably a fifth or an octave, is a sign of optimism, outward emotion, jubilation and triumph(of course depending on the context), whereas a falling fifth or octave would symbolise incoming emotion, introversion/-spection, reflection,perhaps hesitation,etc.
The second part of the main fanfare (during the film's main title sequence), where the strings come in (thematically), over an Eb/F static (1st time) harmony, could be seen as reflective of the more lyrical/emotional qualities in Luke, qualities regarded as somewhat more "feminine", leading to further heroism through the Db to F cadence,and then another statement of the secondary material,before the main fanfare is repeated. There's a good book on the subject of musical "meaning", called "The Language of Music", by Derek Cook, which will prove, I think, a delightful reading for fans of dramatic music in general, and John Williams in particular, as Maestro Williams brilliance in terms of capturing all this extra-musical meaning in a single theme is truly phenomenal. I hope this was at least a little helpful.
Good luck in your endeavors!
Marcus
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Hello again, friends and fellow Williamsites!
The thought of a theme for John Williams in a hypothetical biopic has refused to leave my mind this Saturday, and I must of course agree with Stefancos, we cannot hope to sum up the complexity of John Williams the man and artist in one theme, although that is frequently what film composers set out to do when they write their themes and leitmotifs. The advantage to having it begin with a rising fifth, which Alexcremers pointed out is the John Williams melodic trademark, is that the "John Williams" theme could seamlessly morph into a plethora of significant themes in Williams' ouvre.
I think what must be attempted, is to capture the idea of Williams the character, whatever that is. But I do know that "gentlemanly", "soft-spoken" ,"experienced","graceful" and "wise" are words that tend to come up quite frequently when people who know Williams personally, professionally ,or both, describe him.
On the other hand, one could argue that the score for Williams' life is already being contributed by the man himself, score by score.
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A "John Williams Theme" would probably be more reflective in character, and I would imagine its setting (in a concert arrangement) being lyrical and pastoral. Its first interval would most definitely be a rising fifth, possibly going down a major second (to a fourth), and back to the fifth (as the JFK theme), and then perhaps rise to the octave, then down a fifth (to the fourth),followed by a stepwise melodic progression...
A suggested rhythmical and melodic outline:(two eight notes,rising) F -C-(quarter note, maj.2 lower)Bb-(dotted quarter, maj.2 higher)C-(eight note,perfect 4th higher)C-(two eight notes, starting perfect 5th lower)Bb-(down)A-(quarter note,maj.2 lower)G-(half note,maj.2 higher)A, and so on...Very possibly, the next two bars would give the theme a passing lydian quality. The next four-six bars would likely be sequential, perhaps with chromatically moving maj.7th chords in first inversion (four horns would also play these chords in close position), etc...There would be more climactic (still not very loud and brilliant) brass cadences, probably a little dissonant, so a sto give the final statement of the theme a feeling of resolve and release.
It should be a gentleman's theme, a mature and wise craftsman's theme, perhaps with hints of wizardry...
I could hear it as a theme frequently played by the English horn.
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Oh, David Ogden Stiers,most definitely!
Interesting how so many of us immediately thought of him...Both men seem very polite, humble, scholarly,even professoral...I have never met Mr.Stiers, but I've met John Williams on a couple of occasions, and he is an incredibly modest, but very friendly man, just a true gentleman, almost too the point of seeming anachronistic... It was really wonderful to see such genuine humility in an artist of truly epic talent. John Williams is quietly impressive; wise and thoughtful, and always soft-spokenly eloquent, and I think David Ogden Stiers would be an absolutely marvellous choice!
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Mr.Breathmask, I certainly agree that there are many composers who have written great scores, although I do detect a decline in Hollywood in terms of craftsmanship...One problem is the "MediaVentures"-tendency, which sometimes reduces the art of film scoring to mere sonic tapestry, which can be effective, and I'm certainly not one to disrespect Hans Zimmer and co., but the industry has changed, and so has its demands on composers, and subsequently the artform and the craft associated with being a film composer.
But you are right, and, most importantly, the issue is to recognize the potency of film music, and the great contribution made by the many talented composers employed by the industry.
By the way, whatever happened to Joel McNeely? Does anybody know?
We all have our personal favorites as far as film scores go, and I never meant to imply that the greatest scores of the last 40 years were all penned by John Williams, but I do think one would be hard pressed to find anything less than musically excellent in his catalog.And among living composers, I can't think of anyone who would rival his mastery even in their most inspired moments, simply because their chops would likely not permit it. That is not to say that great, really great music cannot be written by other composers, even other living composers in Hollywood today. But compared to the Hollywood film music scene of the 40's through the 80's, todays scene, with the exception of John Williams' contributions, is generally lacking, from the perspective of compositional craft. Generally, not always...
All best,
Marcus
Potterdom Film/Score Series Thread
in General Discussion
Posted
Hi Morlock!
I'm not so concerned with originality or lack thereof, but pure and simple musical/compositional chops, of which McNeely has plenty, and much more than any other younger composer working in Hollywood today.
My problem with Marianelli (and granted, I've only heard a handful of scores of his), is that he seems to, for all his training, be very limited, and sometimes dramatically "theatrical" in a detrimental way..
I think his melodic writing is very bland, almost to the point of sounding "dumbed down", and I think his harmonic writing is generic. His chromatic control also seems stilted and contrived.