Jim Ware

Warning - this is probably a rather specialist post!
 
I've been doing a lot of analytical work on The Empire Strikes Back this season (2022-2023) and am about half way through now. There's tons of information on themes and advanced harmony (octatonic, hexatonic, Hungarian minor and Super Locrian etc) (see Frank Lehman's thematic catalogue or Mark Richards' fabulous course on Action Music Cues ) but there's not as much information on JW's atonalism: pc set theory doesn't always tell the whole story with Williams who often combines atonalism with advanced harmony. It's a similar situation to that which has occupied musicologists about let's say the Augers Chord from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. (for a wide discussion see Daniel Chua here  (music analysis Volume26, Issue1-2 March‐July 2007 Pages 59-109

What struck me about the Chua article was the interesting take that Stravinsky himself had on the augers chord. When he plays it for a CBS interview -  he voices the chord in three ways - firstly the Fb chord but then the G then Db, Bb Eb which is the seed motif for the rest of the accompaniment in that segment. It exemplified the problems of calling it an Eb 13 (because you have to literally rearrange all the notes!), or 7-32 (for the same reason, it ceases to become that chord and becomes something else) along with amy modal or octatonic analysis (there is an anomalous note which doesn't 'fit' and modally bears no relation in that voicing to a harmonic minor mode), or, bitonal (Stravinsky doesn't play the chord as a bitonal chord when he individualises the notes in the CBS interview ). JW. Chua also cites others who say 'it's just hand position...nothing more' which he says is a cop out! Chua eventually considers the Augers chord as a 'sonority' and a sign in a semiotic sense and one which defies most analysis.

Perhaps by taking Chua's conclusions and applying them to JW we could consider sonority as a useful way of defining separate standalone chords within JW's atonalism. Intervallic content can be defined better if we consider the melodic order - in a particular voicing.

It's an interesting problem and am keen to hear viewpoints.             

I've enclosed this cue as the emperor appears towards the end and there's quite a bit of atonalism in there.  
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxe_rd2GVPY

All re-recorded, not tracked.

All re-recorded, not tracked.

https://costacomm.com/

https://costacomm.com/

Hi Guys
just watched this on Disney+ and was nice to see a generous amount of time given to JW recording there. I’d also never seen the footage of them recording the End Credits of Episode III before as well as the Battle of the Heros piece.
The documentary is not without its floors however, the major one being that Goldfinger (song and score) was never recorded at Abbey Road despite Jimmy Page’s recollection of playing on it there & a graphic which is actually 4 years out.
How many other mistakes are in there regarding accuracy of the recording of JW scores (or anything else for that matter), who knows? Anyway…
 
Wishing you all a safe & prosperous new year
 
 

A list of the sketches held by the Academy (https://collections.new.oscars.org/Details/Archive/71303051)
 
 

That is a definite possibility!

That is a definite possibility!

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

Yeah I have a picture with the maestro 🤣! 

And from the other end of the table…

And from the other end of the table…

It wouldn’t surprise me if this was Felix Erskine/Cavalry Music. They seem to be doing everything at the moment!