wanner251

I think that's amazing! Although, what I find extra interesting is the fact that the time stamp is in the 7th hour mark... meaning, who knows how much footage there is? I know that Spielberg always archives all of the scoring sessions.... He basically has my own personal holy grail in his basement.

No CD, no lossless.... this is bullshit. I always thought that technology was supposed to get better... Apparently music is still stuck in the 1980s as far as digital quality goes. It's a shame.

Watch out for April Fool's stuff on this topic......

Quint, you like downplayed subtle Williams too? What do you think of Death of Topthorn? I think that it is fantastic, but some people here think it's trash... It's really divided. Thoughts?

I think if I could hear that live, I'd die happy. When I saw Williams at the Bowl last year, he performed that entire finale to the film onscreen. Yup...

Everything from Sleepers is pretty ho hum...

Apparently the Recording Sessions have been leaked for it as well, making it an even more meaningful journey.

I move that we instate a Doctrine of Infallibility to encompass our dear Incanus. Maybe then Steef will leave him alone... haha!

All very good points, everyone. Actually, KK, I am not exactly asking about this for the reasons that you might think. I have wondered this for years now. However, in light of the new reasons of which you're thinking, it has come up again... much more pertinently. In that context, I will say that I do not have plans to use this knowledge directly. But, in a broader context, it could prove useful to me. I too directly relate the Fawkes theme to Dumbledore, but was only wondering if I was alone in this correlation. I definitely am of the persuasion to hear the theme at the end of Half-Blood Prince. So +10 for that... Incanus, I would love to read another one of your brilliant analyses on Chamber of Secrets, as that is my favorite of the HP series. Any plans?

Does anyone think that John Williams' intention with his theme for Fawkes the Phoenix was also to personify Dumbledore? I know that the theme isn't used at all in PoA, but does anyone think that it would work for both characters? He didn't really create a theme for Dumbledore, did he? Am I just confused?

Nobody likes Jedi Rocks?

THIS... An overall comment: I think that in general, the idea of confining John Williams' music to traditional theoretical concepts, in a sense, misses the point. His music is tonal, yes, but the idea of "free-chromaticism" is a good one. We must also remember that he is a jazz pianist as well. Oftentimes, what CAN be described as lydian this, or V/V/V/V/V that, could be taken in a simpler context. Sometimes, it is a variant on a traditional theoretical concept, but does not adhere to the qualities. In the original example of this thread, yes it is possible he is writing a variant on some sort of +6 chord, to be resolved quickly to V and then I. However, his usage is a half-diminished chord, which is often traditionally considered to have no tendencies of resolution. Herrmann used these all of the time for this reason. But then, there is the question of HOW he moves the individual notes. Free chromaticism is the best way to describe it. It is a simple question of tension and resolution, the constructs of which are relative, based on a clear idea of where the piece is headed harmonically.

Piano...

I just played a gig last night in the Palm Desert with a bass player who was friends with Angela Morley... I asked her if there were any books that had been written about her. She said no because Angela liked to remain very much behind the scenes. But this person said that she was interested in writing a book herself, since she knows a lot of Angela's friends. I see this person a few times per year, so if any of this materializes, I'll keep people posted here.

Totally not serious...

Perhaps JW is fully aware of the implications of the new trilogy, and just thinks that Abrams is a twerp, therefore not mentioning him. The fact that he expressed interest here is key because that means if Abrams doesn't ask him, then J.J. is the asshole, in which case, I'll be skipping it.

I - II with I pedal - vi - iii6 - IV - vi - iii6 - V/vi - vi - IV - V/iii I think the "cadence" at the end is not really a cadence, but just a way to transition back to I using chromaticism. Sort of a V substitute but only being a half-step away from I... Conventional theory will not hold JW.

All the more reason for it to be fantastic...

Okie dokie guys. You make a convincing case. It's my job to be skeptical.

Well put! "That one burned down, fell over, THEN sank into the swamp, but the FOURTH one..... stayed up" But, about the bullshit part, I'm not sure if Forbes is a relayer of such things.

Anyone seen this pop up? http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/01/31/new-monty-python-movie-announced-and-there-was-much-rejoicing/ Sounds awesome if it comes to fruition!

Well, that list is pretty good, but it seems way out of order. The Matrix has nothing on Star Trek II, nor does it make sense to list Alien higher than Aliens. Aliens is clearly the superior of the two. Close Encounters is WAY too low. And nearly everyone seems to agree that 2001 is still the best sci-fi movie ever made. However, I think most of those movies definitely belong on that list, so it's not a total bust.

Yes, our ears tell us all that they sound very much the same. However, I'm a bit unclear as to how this means that the Main Theme to the Last Emperor was in FACT used as a temp track to go on. Or is this just an assumption that is understood, and therefore the way it's thought of? I don't see why the marimba (is it marimba?) background texture, which is pretty much identical in both pieces, couldn't be thought of as a fairly standard ethnic texture, much like the drone in Indian music. I'm sure that neither John Williams nor David Byrne invented that. Also, because we westerners seem to view Asian music as stereotypically pentatonic, it would make sense that the melodies of the two would sound very similar to each other, given the bias of our western ears. Let me rephrase my original question: Is there factual evidence that supports that the Main Title to The Last Emperor was indeed used as a temp track in Memoirs of a Geisha? That is all...

My guess is that the Academy is very fickle, and they don't want to give the impression that someone can just win these awards all the time, even though they may deserve them. This is especially true in the Best Original Score category because there are so few composers scoring a large number of the mainstream films.

I need to check out the Suite. Actually, may I ask how you know about the temp track? Such things are usually pretty secret in Hollywood.