Lewya

In his new biography Ennio Morricone: In His Own Words, Ennio Morricone is complimentary but critical of John Williams - Star Wars scores in particular.
 
"My criticism was not directed to Star Wars in particular, which I enjoyed a lot from the very beginning of the saga, but the scoring style which (especially Hollywood) composers and directors have made us used to. I attempted a new direction with my score for The Humanoid by Aldo Lado, in which I devised a six-voice double fugue based on tonal harmony (the six voices were split in half between the orchestra and the organ, with a double subject and a double countersubject). The piece was titled "Incontro a sei" (Six-Faced Encounter):
 
 
The work was grueling, but very stimulating at the same time. Although the production could not remotely compete with Star Wars, to me this piece seemed to somewhat mirrror the imaginary of the universe, the infinite spaces and the sky, without giving in to clichés. Obviously, such experiments were self-imposed necessities, rather than obligatory pathways. Still, speaking both as a composer and a filmgoer, I believe that a rather simplistic standardization of stylistic choices has made film music less interesting over the years, in terms of both conceptional depth and compositional methods."
 
Morricone said that Williams is “an exceptionally gifted composer whom I greatly respect”, but even he is criticised for making “a commercial choice” about the space epic franchise. It was, he says, “understandable, but still commercial. I could not have scored Star Wars in that way”.
 
He adds: “What seems hazardous to me is to associate a march, no matter how well written, to outer space. Oftentimes, solutions of this sort stem not so much from the lack of creativity or skills, but from mere commercial concerns – as consequences of the rules imposed by the film industry … Speaking both as a composer and a filmgoer, I believe that a rather simplistic standardisation of stylistic choices has made film music less interesting over the years, in terms of both conceptual depth and compositional methods.”

In his new biography Ennio Morricone: In His Own Words, Ennio Morricone is complimentary but critical of John Williams - Star Wars scores in particular.
 
"My criticism was not directed to Star Wars in particular, which I enjoyed a lot from the very beginning of the saga, but the scoring style which (especially Hollywood) composers and directors have made us used to. I attempted a new direction with my score for The Humanoid by Aldo Lado, in which I devised a six-voice double fugue based on tonal harmony (the six voices were split in half between the orchestra and the organ, with a double subject and a double countersubject). The piece was titled "Incontro a sei" (Six-Faced Encounter):
 
 
The work was grueling, but very stimulating at the same time. Although the production could not remotely compete with Star Wars, to me this piece seemed to somewhat mirrror the imaginary of the universe, the infinite spaces and the sky, without giving in to clichés. Obviously, such experiments were self-imposed necessities, rather than obligatory pathways. Still, speaking both as a composer and a filmgoer, I believe that a rather simplistic standardization of stylistic choices has made film music less interesting over the years, in terms of both conceptional depth and compositional methods."
 
Morricone said that Williams is “an exceptionally gifted composer whom I greatly respect”, but even he is criticised for making “a commercial choice” about the space epic franchise. It was, he says, “understandable, but still commercial. I could not have scored Star Wars in that way”.
 
He adds: “What seems hazardous to me is to associate a march, no matter how well written, to outer space. Oftentimes, solutions of this sort stem not so much from the lack of creativity or skills, but from mere commercial concerns – as consequences of the rules imposed by the film industry … Speaking both as a composer and a filmgoer, I believe that a rather simplistic standardisation of stylistic choices has made film music less interesting over the years, in terms of both conceptual depth and compositional methods.”

Not really a fan of either, but at least Zimmer has written 2 good scores - Inception and The Thin Red Line. Giacchino has Lost which is my favourite work of his, but I can't say I love that, but it is his best work to date. I consider Zimmer superior - his highs are more frequent and higher than Giacchino's. Giacchino is probably the most overrated film composer working at the moment (Zimmer is also one of the most overrated composers right now, but at least he sometimes, but rarely delivers - the last time he delivered the goods for me was Inception, which at the time was a fresh score - a rare achievement for film scores).

Finishing duties with
 

 
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
 
A recent visit to the Royal Albert Hall for (my first) live movie/concert performance misled me regarding the score's true worth: its precise, often deliberately toned-down approach was dwarfed by the movie's elaborate sound effects - the whole idea seems more of an expensive marketing stunt anyway. LLL's recent expansion now makes you appreciate not only the fresh start the series got with its third installment, but also the considerable effort it must have taken Williams to abandon the well-trodden road he took for the leaden, show-value oriented first two Potters.
 
Gone is the relentless operetta overscoring, substituted now by a gnarly, mischievous, often dissonant thriller approach still playful enough to conjure the wizarding world of Harry Potter, but doing so in a more idiosyncratic way (even the newfound minimalisms of 'A. I.' make a cameo). Director Alfonso Cuarón's musical aesthetics certainly are a far cry from the leisure old-school style of Chris Columbus, and he thankfully bonded enough with the composer to convince him to largely abandon the wealth of material he created for this series, as a result unleashing one of the high points of fantasy scoring of the 2000's. 
 
Given the quintessential englishness of this series, it's a bit surprising that it took three movies to reflect the islands musical heritage: an inconsistency even Williams might have noticed, as he not only employs medieval melodies here, but also quite a band of mediaval (folk and court) instruments playing them. The mix is delightful and with all the wacky additions (atonal bebop in 'The Knight Bus' or the shawm fanfare for Sir Cardogan) play well against the omnipresent mischievous motto theme of the movie, 'Something Wicked this Way comes', and the sinister music for the elaborate conspiracies involving metamorphosing rats, deadly dementors and time travels.
 
The old album, well-intentioned as it may have been, was quite a disservice for the varied tapestries Williams creates here: due to less dense scoring, there are a lot of short cues in addition to some fanciful alternates that would have required a much more deft hand combining those into a good representation - the second half of the movie, where important story points coalesce is woefully underrepresented on the old release.
 
The true worth of Williams' contributions can only be valued now, with the long Time Past modeled on the beat of a ticking clock sequence intact, or the textural interesting strings flirrings of The Three Broomsticks, or the modernist/aleatoric cues for the more frightening moments reminiscent of CEOTK (the choral alternates are a beaut) - or even the short Britten-esque carol A Winter's Spell. But even in short cues like 'The Executioner' you feel a playfulness that the album would feel less without it.
 
If there's one thing this release is proof of is that Williams post-80's career could have used a few more Cuarons (at least we had Stone, Annaud, John Singleton and Barry Levinson) in lieu of George Lucas, Chris Columbus or Indy IV-Spielberg. 

I am wondering, has J.K. Rowling ever commented on the Harry Potter music and/or on Williams? I don't think I have ever heard her comment on it.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the shortlists for several categories for the 91st Academy Awards, including Best Original Score and Best Original Song. The nominations will be announced on January 22, 2019 and the awards show will be held on February 24.
 
Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 91st Academy Awards. One hundred fifty-six scores were eligible in the category. Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.
 
The scores listed in alphabetical order by film title are:
 
“Annihilation” – Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury
“Avengers: Infinity War” – Alan Silvestri
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” – Carter Burwell
“Black Panther” – Ludwig Goransson
“BlacKkKlansman” – Terence Blanchard
“Crazy Rich Asians” – Brian Tyler
“The Death of Stalin” – Christopher Willis
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” – James Newton Howard
“First Man” – Justin Hurwitz
“If Beale Street Could Talk” – Nicholas Britell
“Isle of Dogs” – Alexandre Desplat
“Mary Poppins Returns” – Marc Shaiman
“A Quiet Place” – Marco Beltrami
“Ready Player One” – Alan Silvestri
“Vice” – Nicholas Britell
 
Adés didn't make the cut apparently. No Red Sparrow or the other better Desplat score either - are there any other "snubs"? No Greenwood or Yorke either. No Giacchino.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the shortlists for several categories for the 91st Academy Awards, including Best Original Score and Best Original Song. The nominations will be announced on January 22, 2019 and the awards show will be held on February 24.
 
Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 91st Academy Awards. One hundred fifty-six scores were eligible in the category. Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.
 
The scores listed in alphabetical order by film title are:
 
“Annihilation” – Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury
“Avengers: Infinity War” – Alan Silvestri
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” – Carter Burwell
“Black Panther” – Ludwig Goransson
“BlacKkKlansman” – Terence Blanchard
“Crazy Rich Asians” – Brian Tyler
“The Death of Stalin” – Christopher Willis
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” – James Newton Howard
“First Man” – Justin Hurwitz
“If Beale Street Could Talk” – Nicholas Britell
“Isle of Dogs” – Alexandre Desplat
“Mary Poppins Returns” – Marc Shaiman
“A Quiet Place” – Marco Beltrami
“Ready Player One” – Alan Silvestri
“Vice” – Nicholas Britell
 
Adés didn't make the cut apparently. No Red Sparrow or the other better Desplat score either - are there any other "snubs"? No Greenwood or Yorke either. No Giacchino.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the shortlists for several categories for the 91st Academy Awards, including Best Original Score and Best Original Song. The nominations will be announced on January 22, 2019 and the awards show will be held on February 24.
 
Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 91st Academy Awards. One hundred fifty-six scores were eligible in the category. Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.
 
The scores listed in alphabetical order by film title are:
 
“Annihilation” – Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury
“Avengers: Infinity War” – Alan Silvestri
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” – Carter Burwell
“Black Panther” – Ludwig Goransson
“BlacKkKlansman” – Terence Blanchard
“Crazy Rich Asians” – Brian Tyler
“The Death of Stalin” – Christopher Willis
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” – James Newton Howard
“First Man” – Justin Hurwitz
“If Beale Street Could Talk” – Nicholas Britell
“Isle of Dogs” – Alexandre Desplat
“Mary Poppins Returns” – Marc Shaiman
“A Quiet Place” – Marco Beltrami
“Ready Player One” – Alan Silvestri
“Vice” – Nicholas Britell
 
Adés didn't make the cut apparently. No Red Sparrow or the other better Desplat score either - are there any other "snubs"? No Greenwood or Yorke either. No Giacchino.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the shortlists for several categories for the 91st Academy Awards, including Best Original Score and Best Original Song. The nominations will be announced on January 22, 2019 and the awards show will be held on February 24.
 
Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 91st Academy Awards. One hundred fifty-six scores were eligible in the category. Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.
 
The scores listed in alphabetical order by film title are:
 
“Annihilation” – Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury
“Avengers: Infinity War” – Alan Silvestri
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” – Carter Burwell
“Black Panther” – Ludwig Goransson
“BlacKkKlansman” – Terence Blanchard
“Crazy Rich Asians” – Brian Tyler
“The Death of Stalin” – Christopher Willis
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” – James Newton Howard
“First Man” – Justin Hurwitz
“If Beale Street Could Talk” – Nicholas Britell
“Isle of Dogs” – Alexandre Desplat
“Mary Poppins Returns” – Marc Shaiman
“A Quiet Place” – Marco Beltrami
“Ready Player One” – Alan Silvestri
“Vice” – Nicholas Britell
 
Adés didn't make the cut apparently. No Red Sparrow or the other better Desplat score either - are there any other "snubs"? No Greenwood or Yorke either. No Giacchino.

Colette - Thomas Adés
 
 

Lovely evocative cue that one. Little Buddha might be Sakamoto's finest film score. I think he said that he considers it his best film score. The Last Emperor is the one that comes close to me. I also like stuff like Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, but mostly just for the theme.
 
Do you have a favourite of the film scores you've written?
Sakamoto: The most memorable that I've written is from Little Buddha – the very last cue from Little Buddha. I was so satisfied with the quality of the music, with the role of the music in the film, and Bertolucci also liked it. That was actually the fifth trial I did for that cue. Four trials were rejected by Bertolucci, and that was the fifth one, it was a hard task – maybe that's why it was the most memorable! Recently, the theme of The Revenant is something I'm satisfied with, too.

It is because Johnson temp tracked the whole movie with old SW stuff.... maybe.

More Kevin Puts:
 
Puts has written in virtually every musical genre; is there something new he’d like to try?
 
Puts: “I’d like to write film music. I think I’m just as influenced in my own music by film music, and film itself as I am by art music. Some of the first music I really loved was John Williams’s film scores when I was a kid—Star Wars, E.T. I still love them deeply, and I have the scores now. I hope I can find a way to do that.”
 
- https://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Articles-Interviews/Original-Voices-Composers-Kevin-Puts-and-Anna-Clyn.aspx

More Kevin Puts:
 
Puts has written in virtually every musical genre; is there something new he’d like to try?
 
Puts: “I’d like to write film music. I think I’m just as influenced in my own music by film music, and film itself as I am by art music. Some of the first music I really loved was John Williams’s film scores when I was a kid—Star Wars, E.T. I still love them deeply, and I have the scores now. I hope I can find a way to do that.”
 
- https://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Articles-Interviews/Original-Voices-Composers-Kevin-Puts-and-Anna-Clyn.aspx

More Kevin Puts:
 
Puts has written in virtually every musical genre; is there something new he’d like to try?
 
Puts: “I’d like to write film music. I think I’m just as influenced in my own music by film music, and film itself as I am by art music. Some of the first music I really loved was John Williams’s film scores when I was a kid—Star Wars, E.T. I still love them deeply, and I have the scores now. I hope I can find a way to do that.”
 
- https://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Articles-Interviews/Original-Voices-Composers-Kevin-Puts-and-Anna-Clyn.aspx

More Kevin Puts:
 
Puts has written in virtually every musical genre; is there something new he’d like to try?
 
Puts: “I’d like to write film music. I think I’m just as influenced in my own music by film music, and film itself as I am by art music. Some of the first music I really loved was John Williams’s film scores when I was a kid—Star Wars, E.T. I still love them deeply, and I have the scores now. I hope I can find a way to do that.”
 
- https://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-Listen-Learn/Read-Program-Notes/Articles-Interviews/Original-Voices-Composers-Kevin-Puts-and-Anna-Clyn.aspx

The esteemed Thomas Adés recently in an interview said that he loves Williams (and Waxman, Bernstein, Legrand) in film music:
 
Obviously, there is a fine tradition of classical composers scoring film. Were there particular composers that inspired you?
 
Adés: "In film music, I love Franz Waxman, Michel Legrand, Elmer Bernstein, and John Williams. Of classical composers who have written for film: Sergei Prokofiev, Per Nørgård."
 
- https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/guilds/editorial/interview-with-composter-thomas-ades?return=colette
 
Mason Bates wrote this back in 2016 about E.T.:
 
 

I didn't see this until now. Williams apparently wrote an advance review of Morricone's upcoming book/biography that is out next year:
 
"Throughout his long and distinguished career, Ennio Morricone has consistently proven to be one of the most imaginative and idiosyncratic composers in the history of cinema. This book reveals the powerful personality behind his brilliant work and will be rewarding reading for anyone interested in the magic of music in film." -- John Williams 
 
https://www.amazon.com/Ennio-Morricone-His-Own-Words/dp/0190681012/

I didn't see this until now. Williams apparently wrote an advance review of Morricone's upcoming book/biography that is out next year:
 
"Throughout his long and distinguished career, Ennio Morricone has consistently proven to be one of the most imaginative and idiosyncratic composers in the history of cinema. This book reveals the powerful personality behind his brilliant work and will be rewarding reading for anyone interested in the magic of music in film." -- John Williams 
 
https://www.amazon.com/Ennio-Morricone-His-Own-Words/dp/0190681012/

I didn't see this until now. Williams apparently wrote an advance review of Morricone's upcoming book/biography that is out next year:
 
"Throughout his long and distinguished career, Ennio Morricone has consistently proven to be one of the most imaginative and idiosyncratic composers in the history of cinema. This book reveals the powerful personality behind his brilliant work and will be rewarding reading for anyone interested in the magic of music in film." -- John Williams 
 
https://www.amazon.com/Ennio-Morricone-His-Own-Words/dp/0190681012/

The new german PLAYBOY has aa priceless Morricone interview (titled 'Tarantino can fuck off'). Quentin Tarantino is a cretin, Hans Zimmer plain awful, Hollywood award parties junk...but he has some praise for Williams...😂
 

 

If this film could inspire Newman to write something along the lines of Meet Joe Black or Oscar and Lucinda I would be very happy.

Kevin Puts a pretty recent Pulitzer price winnner had this to say:
 
"The soundtrack to my childhood was written by John Williams. And only later in my life as I developed as a composer did I really come to understand what a great genius he is. There is no emotion or interaction between characters, no matter how complex, that he can not find the music for. And often those really amazing scenes are those we don't even notice that much, but the movie would not do what it can do to us emotionally without the music that he finds in these scenes. And of course this is because of his tremendous craft and tremendous intelligence that he can find for these moments. In our field, in the field of new music we are often criticized for being too cinematic or writing music that is too close to film music, but I have never really understood the aversion to these comparisions. I find it kind of flattering actually, because there is so much film music that I love so much but also because as a composer I want to tell the story with great impact for it to really hit home emotionally for the audience. And the best film composers are after the same thing".
 
In his Pulitzer price winning opera Silent Night Puts said he was "going for a cinematic quality, commenting on the action and the emotions of a scene as it unfolds as a great film composer like John Williams might do it".
 
Jennifer Higdon another fairly recent Pulitzer price winner said this:
 
It’s one way Higdon believes she can contribute to musical life in addition to her work as a composer, pointing to John Williams as a role model. She recalls the impact of the Star Wars soundtracks when she was in high school and just discovering the potential of orchestral coloration. “I consider him a hero because of the colorful way he uses the orchestra but also because he has been such a generous musical citizen.”