TheUlyssesian

Look at this deceitful headline. The media these days! John Williams is scoring Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, his first TV series since 1985 https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2022/02/john-williams-to-score-star-wars-obi-wan-kenobi-his-first-tv-series-since-1985/

I predicted this development. Makes a ton of sense.

My suspicion was right. This is a poll of a classical station based out of NYC. 10. Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73, "Emperor" 9. Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 8. Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, "Resurrection" 7. J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos 6. Holst: The Planets 5. Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral" 4. Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 3. Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, "From the New World" 2. Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 1. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" This is an annual poll. The #1 is always the same every single year. Reference: https://www.quora.com/Clearly-open-to-interpretation-what-is-the-greatest-piece-of-classical-music-ever-written It is kinda like the Citizen Kane of classical music. It is a respectable answer. It is an excellent answer. And it is a popular answer.

Here's what I got from the Vanity Fair article - we wanted to do four or five stories that are the big epics of the Second Age starting with “the forging of the rings.” The second big story on McKay and Payne’s agenda is “the rise of Sauron himself, when he was a physical villain No word yet on who might be playing the Dark Lord in his younger, more seductive phase. (Yes, Sauron, the flaming eyeball, was once canonically hot, or in the words of Tolkien himself, “fair to the eyes of Men.” He may be hiding in plain sight) the third story on their list: “the rise and fall of the island kingdom of Númenor.” the final story on the list: the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Basically Sauron has to be in Season 1. He is the one constant in all these stories. He has to get together with the elves to start the forging of the rings to set the stories in motion. So that is why I am guessing he is one of the revealed characters. And only Halabrand currently fits the mold.

Theory - Halbrand is Sauron in disguise.

I might actually pick the second movement of the 9th. There is something so grandiose so stunning so magnificent about it. A sense of bigness - that makes it seem like a huge piece of music.

I will just say it right - does this series deserve a 50 hours of new music from Shore? This series has to first prove that I think. If they have even an iota of sense, they would realize that one of the things that made the LOTR movies so successful and distinctive was Shore's really distinctive music. If they slap a generic score to this thing, it won't capture the magic that they are trying to capture. Spending half a billion, they should have that much sense. And not cut corners for such an important element as music.

I mean this motif below from The Valkyrie Act 3 is the one being reprised in Gotterdamarung. My point was it is nearly impossible to make a work covering the overall larger story without referring to earlier leitmotifs.

It's confusing but apparently this is how it played out - Originally you are right, they only had appendices etc. Then they started material with the Tolkein estate. Tolkein estate started liking what they were doing and opening up their purse to start giving them more rights.

On the news though, that is not good news for sure. I think it shows they are in a holding pattern. The story that they started has to end with a Dumbledore Grindlewald duel. So they need to see if the 3rd does well. If it does, then they might greenlight the final 2 chapters to film back-to-back and stick to their 5 film intentions. If the 3rd does not do well, they might either just do a 4th film and put the duel in there or finish it off with an HBO Max special or miniseries or a streaming movie. He's speaking on behalf of the entire production. So its a figurative "we", not a literal "we". Same way the when a producer says - we are going to shoot it next year. Doesn't mean he's literally going to shoot the movie through the camera, he just speaks speaks for the film and represents the production as a whole.

If Shore could do his magic - But isn't the final theme associated with the Rhine Daughters at the finale an adaptation of earlier music. In short, I think this to be a difficult assignment if prior themes cannot be used. Though if anyone is the man for the job, it is obviously Shore.

apparently it’s not just the appendices anymore. They did get the rights to some sections of silm and unfinished tales.

Does Howard Shore improve the teaser? I think it does. Good music can gives images weight, and gravity and majesty. As I always say, great music can add production value. And Shore's music is definitely capable of that.

Score these days is an easy fix. Just slap on some “zomg epic” library music with drums and brass and there you have it. i doubt the show premiere is in jeopardy. This ain’t a show reliant on musical excellence.

Benedetta is quite good but I thought most of it is adapted from 13th century hymns. Is it really her own work?

To me it is outrageous and mind-boggling that it is considered best of anything and anyone. It is a mundane unremarkable collection of vignettes in a young boy's life. It looks extremely small, cheap and lowbudget because it is small, cheap and lowbudget. It is the kind of film you wouldn't ever think twice about. And yet these awards bodies have deemed it in their infinite wisdom that it represents some kind of an achievement of any sort in anything.

I have been listening to it. I gotta say, I am disappointed to see no reprisal of themes from the previous film. There is a couple of hints here and there but that's it. I am guessing Christian Clemesen will be annoyed by that. It also maybe clarifies certain theme associations from the prior film. Many people though the main theme from the last film was a theme for Poirot and not the train. Well if it were a theme for Poirot, wouldn't it return here? To my knowledge it does not. Of course the Armstrong theme cannot return. But what about the Journey theme? That could function as a general travelogue identity. It is hinted at in one cue but does not return either.

Licorice Pizza is kinda a deceptively marketed film. It is marketed as this fun peppy rom com. It is that but it is actually also a much different movie. I think it is one of his best films. I would agree. It is perhaps his most inaccessible film. It is also I think his best film. In a way almost expanding its horizons with non-English language films breaking into both writing categories, directing, best picture, animated, documentary and score. As they should. Such a great film. I am rooting for it to win the best Original Screenplay away even though I want Paul Thomas Anderson to win also. With good reason. Drive My Car is an infinitely better directed film than Dune. He got in because he made a great movie. The direction is stupendous.

Yes. John Williams does not own the copyright to Hedwig's theme for example. WB does.

I listened to the samples and seems to be a very different score. I was looking for sweeping passages of melody. This doesn't seem to have that. I have only heard the samples still. Will have a more concrete opinion after listening to everything/seeing the film.

Where'd you hear it? We now have track timings. 1.The Trenches 1:30 2.What About This? 1:38 3.The Pyramids 2:28 4.Bourgeois Nightmare 2:00 5.The Newly Weds 1:31 6.She’s Back 2:04 7.A Single Bullet 1:38 8.Immortal Longings 1:11 9.Abu Simbel 3:07 10.Come with Me 3:28 11.Suspects 2:00 12.One Last Cork 2:27 13.Goodnight Jacks 3:40 14.Alibi 2:24 15.Someone Is Dead 1:37 16.Inheritance 2:49 17.You Killed Them 3:39 18.Let Poirot Work 1:04 19.One Final Interview 3:13 20.Was Someone Hurt? 3:03 21.I Wasn’t Thinking 4:53 22.I Needed Him 2:39 23.Perhaps 3:16 24.The Cost of Love 2:14 25.Death on the Nile 4 :54 Total 64:27 That's a generous serving of music.

What she thinks is criticism is praise to my ears - https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/movie-reviews/death-on-the-nile-review-kenneth-branaghs-histrionic-agatha-christie-adaptation/news-story/49eaf4874a5d90e77e88369f8bff2888

Zimmer will win for Dune.

I know Williams only does Speilberg/Star Wars/Indy these days in his semi-retirement. I am wondering if he might like the Solo model in the future perhaps? So he is asked to contribute 2-3 themes and 1-2 suites. And that's it. And then another composer runs with them and does the overall score. I think he might find it attractive. It is no different than writing for concert hall since he would in fact be writing JUST the concert suite. We know most modern composers can't write good themes for shit (even the big name ones) and Williams can do so in his sleep. So this might be a great arrangement. I am sure this can work almost as an apprenticeship for young upcoming composers who would give their left kidney for a job like this - taking Williams themes and crafting a full score around them.

I know this was meant as a joke but I really do wonder if the butchering of Ep9 killed his interest in film music forever. I hope Magnold does not trouble him too much on Indy 5. Speilberg is a more disciplined director and does not keep editing his films till a few seconds before the world premiere.