jgraves

SPR and Schindler's are both so heart-breakingly beautiful I can't listen to them for very long without getting both inspired and truly sad. Like good wine, it seems these scores need a more sophisticated musical pallette to be fully appreciated. I think Williams' more "delicate" scores are overlooked by folks wanting the big payoff immediately (Jurassic Park, Superman, Radiers, etc) with in-your-face themes and action music. The music on SPF is called "underscore," something Williams doesn't compose often (usually going the big "Hi, I'm a theme!" route). SPR has some of the most haunting, beautiful, and best-orchestrated underscore...if you listen to it. The cues do NOT all sound the same (like Williams would say, "Hmmm, I don't really have anything important to say here - I'll just repeat myself over and over again for the entire score."). You just need an ear ti descerne the differences. For me, toss it in the same pile as Schindler's List, Angela's Ashes, and Stanley's Iris (sorry, had to keep up the 'posessive name/noun' pattern). That is, some of the best dramatic underscore Williams has written. And if anyone is insulted by my insinuation of a needing a more sophisticated musical pallette, my discomfiture is only tempered by the temerity of my youth. Jason (Btw, I attended a 'patriotic' symphony concert with Copland, Strauss, Gershwin, etc. Hymn to the Fallen was the piece they chose to close the concert, with a full 70 piece choir and an extra 15 musicians (mostly in the brass). Needless to say, it brought tears to my eyes and gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. Indeed one of Williams most powerful pieces.)

Gossamer (describing Hedwig's theme) Jason

Wow - Soarin' was Goldsmith? I didn't know that. Rode the ride last week and was impressed by the music. Haven't heard the fireworks music, so I can't really vote. Anybody got Soarin' as an audio file? Jason

Yeah, I got GPO for free and used a few of the solo instruments, especially the violins, until I got the Pro XP Platinum expansion. Everything else sounds really small and thin (by comparison to my normal samples). But I guess it's a good value for $300. And I think he said he spent 190 hours hours on it.

I'm glad some other people heard it too - the Across the Stars demo was TERRIBLE. No breath, no life. Exactly why people hate samples. Jason BTW, here's my three minutes I did today - about 10 hours total: http://www.rednoteaudio.com/SH/SHMainTheme_Mix03.mp3

Enough with the avator jokes! Jason

Lydian = Space, Flight, Magic I to iv = Romance (especially with a iv add6 in 2nd inversion, eventually to a bIIMaj7 in 3rd inversion) IMaj7 = American, Olympic, heroic, etc. Octatonic = Action, scary I to v = Exploration, slight mystery It's a little oversimplified, but it's pretty much some of the basic rules of film music that Williams has further cemented during his career. Jason

I've got all three movements and the pdf. E-mail me for a private link. Jason

Ha. Yeah, that was me. He's constantly studying!! Jason

Speilburg produced it.

I think you're just hearing the rhythm they share: The b section from BttF and the 2nd and 3rd measures from the main part from AS have a similar rhythm. And that's where any similarities end. (at least to me) Jason

1. Superman March (Superman) 2. Map Room: Dawn (Raiders) 3. Fawkes the Pheonix (Chamber of Secrets) 4. The Visitors/'Bye'/End Titles: The Special Edition (Close Encounters) 5. My Friend, The Brachiasarous (JP)

It's the full conductor's score from the recording sessions. Check my trade list of scores and you'll see what I mean. Jason

All of Tinkerbell's music from Hook is obviously influenced by Stravinsky's "The Firebird." BotH has a strikingly similar melodic shape to Dvorak's 9th symphony. When Harry and Ron are late for their first class in HPatSS, you can hear quarter note string dissonance just like in Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." Saint-Sains "Carnival of the Animals" is pretty much a study in orchestration for HP. There's a lot more - I just haven't had my coffee yet. Jason

Another note - Whenever I listen to ANY music I can't help but analyze it and pick it apart in my head - especially film score stuff. Even the most dissonant and evil cues don't really get to me anymore. I'm too busy studying it as it plays. However, I distinctly remember listening to the action stuff from JP (and a lot of his other "busy" suspense writing) and skipping over it after a minute or so simply because it wasn't pleasant for me to listen to. It unnerved me and made me uncomfortable, which is exactly what Williams was trying to do. Bravo, Maestro! Jason