Marcus

The happy news I cryptically alluded to last week is now something I can make official: I just signed a book contract with OUP for 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘬𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴: 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘴!   It's a book it feels like I've been writing in my head for a long, long time -- since middle school, kinda? And unless Williams somehow returns to write another entry in the series, I'm treating it a chance to provide a properly 𝘴𝘺𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 investigation into these scores, all nine of them.   Even Rise of Skywalker?? 𝘌𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 Rise of Skywalker!   My hope is this book does some justice to the complexity, challenge, and sheer magic of this music.   Now, back to the grindstone!   https://www.facebook.com/Falstaft/posts/pfbid0L6wUjeDDxj6AmhwHh1f9obrVMJfYbPx4GJM8YaEWiZtqxwp37A88monPFVDxBQ26l  
Congratulations, @Falstaft!

The situation is roughly this:
All the new music is Williams.
All the old music repurposed from HP1 is Williams, but adapted (to fit the film) by William Ross. 

Greetings, all of you!
 
I wanted to share with you my first major feature score, written for André Øvredal's MORTAL.
 
The film will be out in theaters worldwide this year, and the soundtrack is already up on Spotify (and elsewhere eventually; CD will be available as of next week).
 
It's been a great privilege working on this, as André Øvredal is such an incredibly gifted director (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Troll Hunter, The Autopsy of Jane Doe), and also deeply passionate about film music.
 
The score is performed by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the Budapest Film Orchestra, and features solo work from Nils Økland (Hardanger Fiddle), Ditte Bræin (Soprano) and Kåre Nordstoga (Organ).
 
Hope you'll enjoy!
 
https://open.spotify.com/album/4ULpjMKTlWxQAZZyxvEJpV?si=TwRrf8y0SKOu3TSsRjyQCg

I know it’s mentioned a lot, but I’m not sure we really recognise how incredible it is that this music was written and mostly conducted by a 90 year old man. Most people his age are either dead or not eating solid foods. I know we have some legitimate complaints about the album presentation, use of older themes etc, but how many other 90 year olds are active and working, let alone writing a cue like “To Athens”. It is an astonishing achievement whatever you think of the soundtrack. Just listen to the orchestrations in “Tuk Tuk to Tangiers”. A man who statistically should be dead sat down at his piano and came up with that. I remember back in 2015 when we all freaked out because he’d pulled out of writing music for Bridge of Spies and 8 years later he’s conducting at the premiere of the 5th Indiana Jones movie. Blessed we be.

Wow, loving these clips! 

The main theme is one of the most beautiful melodies John Williams has ever written. 

Topic title is misleading.
 
Williams' representatives are simply prohibiting unauthorized arrangements of intellectual property.
 
This is only fair, as Williams should retain right of approval (or disapproval) of any arrangement made of his music.
 
Regrettably, there are many sub par arrangements of his music in wide circulation.
Hopefully this will serve to promote the HL signature editions (as well as officially approved arrangements).

Topic title is misleading.
 
Williams' representatives are simply prohibiting unauthorized arrangements of intellectual property.
 
This is only fair, as Williams should retain right of approval (or disapproval) of any arrangement made of his music.
 
Regrettably, there are many sub par arrangements of his music in wide circulation.
Hopefully this will serve to promote the HL signature editions (as well as officially approved arrangements).

Topic title is misleading.
 
Williams' representatives are simply prohibiting unauthorized arrangements of intellectual property.
 
This is only fair, as Williams should retain right of approval (or disapproval) of any arrangement made of his music.
 
Regrettably, there are many sub par arrangements of his music in wide circulation.
Hopefully this will serve to promote the HL signature editions (as well as officially approved arrangements).

I think Williams is the only composer working in Hollywood who could have pulled off this piece.    

A lovely work!
 
The cantilena that also closes the piece sounds almost like a contorted version of "Moonlight" (from Sabrina). Makes me wonder if it could have been intentional?
 
As much as I love his first violin concerto, this is (obviously) the more mature work of the two.
 
Bravo, Maestro.
 

Such an under-appreciated score. Love the weird Caribbean synth-beat in the heroic action stuff and the massively aggressive creature music - this had a bad rep back in the day but totally outshines any contemporary stuff especially with the Intrada expansion:
 

Couldn't find another thread on this, but feel free to merge if there is one.
 
Spielberg turns 75 today, a landmark. That deserves its own thread on a John Williams messageboard. As I said over on Facebook, he's always been my no. 1, although I sometimes wish I had a more obscure director top the list. But that would be fooling myself. Here's a picture of my 1995 special assignment, a 57-page long paper during my last year of high school (I graduated in 1996).
 
Favourite Spielberg film and score?
 
 

Today's piano selection. Williams playing an out-of-tune honkytonk piano in this cue from Waxman's HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF YOUNG MAN (1962):
 
 

Well, this topic died quickly.
 
Tonight's Williams performance is this gem from 1958 (1959?), i.e. Fred Katz' album FOLK SONGS FOR FAR OUT FOLK. Williams gets his workout with fast-paced finger runs. Also on display is Gene Estes' vibraphone playing, which kinda dominates throughout the album. Williams shines from about the 2-minute mark:
 
 

It's all downhill after Cuaron's masterpiece -- truly the only standout of the entire series. It stands apart as a great film above all else, not just a great Harry Potter film.
 
It's probably a coincidence the series went to shit after Williams departed, but I certainly don't lose sleep over the fact he never returned to bring some energy to Yates' lifeless snoozefests. His films don't deserve Williams' talent, which would be wasted on those stilted duds.

Ah, what a lovely theme!
I think it was originally written for either "Escape Me Never" or "Another Dawn", but it's been a while since I listened to it outside the context of the concerto (which is marvellous!).
Marcus

I suspect this may be a reference to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. The fourth movement, 'March to the Scaffold', ends with a musically depicted execution by guillotine. Though it's not specified in the score, by tradition the drum roll is usually performed on a large field drum with the snares turned off. I think that's what JW is going for here.
 
See also Prisoner of Azkaban, where he calls instead for a "scaffold drum":
 

A lovely work!
 
The cantilena that also closes the piece sounds almost like a contorted version of "Moonlight" (from Sabrina). Makes me wonder if it could have been intentional?
 
As much as I love his first violin concerto, this is (obviously) the more mature work of the two.
 
Bravo, Maestro.
 

A lovely work!
 
The cantilena that also closes the piece sounds almost like a contorted version of "Moonlight" (from Sabrina). Makes me wonder if it could have been intentional?
 
As much as I love his first violin concerto, this is (obviously) the more mature work of the two.
 
Bravo, Maestro.
 

A lovely work!
 
The cantilena that also closes the piece sounds almost like a contorted version of "Moonlight" (from Sabrina). Makes me wonder if it could have been intentional?
 
As much as I love his first violin concerto, this is (obviously) the more mature work of the two.
 
Bravo, Maestro.
 

A lovely work!
 
The cantilena that also closes the piece sounds almost like a contorted version of "Moonlight" (from Sabrina). Makes me wonder if it could have been intentional?
 
As much as I love his first violin concerto, this is (obviously) the more mature work of the two.
 
Bravo, Maestro.
 

A lovely work!
 
The cantilena that also closes the piece sounds almost like a contorted version of "Moonlight" (from Sabrina). Makes me wonder if it could have been intentional?
 
As much as I love his first violin concerto, this is (obviously) the more mature work of the two.
 
Bravo, Maestro.
 

A lovely work!
 
The cantilena that also closes the piece sounds almost like a contorted version of "Moonlight" (from Sabrina). Makes me wonder if it could have been intentional?
 
As much as I love his first violin concerto, this is (obviously) the more mature work of the two.
 
Bravo, Maestro.
 

A lovely work!
 
The cantilena that also closes the piece sounds almost like a contorted version of "Moonlight" (from Sabrina). Makes me wonder if it could have been intentional?
 
As much as I love his first violin concerto, this is (obviously) the more mature work of the two.
 
Bravo, Maestro.