Scarpia

Makes me realise how lucky we are that John is still alive and kicking.

Hey guys, I found this on Star Wars reddit but the video was summarily taken down by Disney so I've uploaded it on my dropbox. Its basically a 10 minute long video showing Before and After of compositing and CGI addition but it features many clips from the movie with full uninterrupted audio. I don't know if its possible to rip some parts that haven't been released but at least we can listen.
 
I believe one of the members talked about a timpani roll that he really liked during the Falcon crashing through the trees on Starkiller Base? That's a clip in here but I'm not sure exactly when that musical part plays.
 
Even though there was quite a lot of CGI in the end oh my god is it absolutely breathtaking. I love the X-Wing fighting scenes because there's these wonderful dynamic shots like a go-pro has been attached to the side of the X-wing haha.
 
Without further audieu, enjoy!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tj1p2csteojemtx/VFX%20Before%20and%20After%20in%20Star%20Wars%20The%20Force%20Awakens.mp4?dl=0

JW told Tim Grieving otherwise, interestingly:
 

Everything about this film terrifies me. 

Better dynamic range. Yeah. Can tell just by listening to it anyways that is is the superior master.

THE FYC IS LOSSLESS.
 

 
As far-fectched as this is, I still prefer people paying attention and loving Williams' music like this, than those criticising it for not sounding like the kitschy trailer. 

Mine arrived yesterday, at last, after a very long delay, since I pre-ordered it when it was announced.
I'm starting to enjoy Disc 1 right now.

It will be performed by my orchestra next season sometimes in October during our annual scifi/comic concert. I guess I shouldn't be saying this yet as next season hasn't been officially announced yet....
Last October we performed 2 Signature edition selections, Superman march and the whole SW suite. As lead trumpet that made for a pretty incredible concert. Really looking forward to play March of the resistance and Scherzo for X-wing. Hopefully we play the Jedi steps and finale as well. 

He's not dead, as long as we remember him.

Palpatine is mentioned by name in the prologe of the novel of the original film.

 
Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si-Do
 
It clearly indicates the Oscar status of The Force Awakens score: as it is halfway passed the full scale, it means it will get nominated, but is not going to win.
 
 
Outrageous!
 

Fans of the 1940s newsreel sound of Star Wars, 1941 and parts of Raiders might enjoy Malcolm Arnold's Fantasy for Brass Band.
 
 
 
 
 

 
That's not the definition most big studios have of "risky". Risky, to them, is proposing a completely original story. That's why we get endless remakes and reboots and sequels: because it's safe (well, most of the time).
 
That being said, yes, I'm pretty sure/hopeful they'll do something different with Episode VIII. We'll probably still get some callbacks to the previous films (with some parallels to ESB, inevitably), but most of the story will (again, hopefully!) be something fresh.

 
You understand when you watch the movies. British war movies from the 60's had a certain aesthetic that can be found in Williams' first SW score.
 
Listen to this trailer:
 
 
 
 

If you're searching for a Ron Goodwin comparison, something closer to the mark would be the fugato passage from his Main Title for Where Eagles Dare.
 
 
 
 

Dudamel with some nice words about Williams:
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/gustavo-dudamel-i-thought-john-williams-was-joking-when-he-asked/

 
A fugue is what happens when you take a small motive or melodic fragment, called a "subject," and weave a contrapuntal piece out of it.  Listen to any number of Bach's masterwork fugues to get a sense of what exactly it is.  A march is... a march.  It's a different musical form entirely, not quite as reliant on dense polyphony as compelling rhythm and catchy tunes.  Williams' piece here is more of a march than a fugue.  There are what you'd call "fugato" sections to it, that is, moments reminiscent of a fugue without launching into one proper.  The moments that BB points out are correct.  You hear what are essentialy fugal expositions, the first part of a fugue where a subject is stated and then restated at particular different intervals while the other voices carry on with countersubjects and the like.

 
Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si-Do
 
It clearly indicates the Oscar status of The Force Awakens score: as it is halfway passed the full scale, it means it will get nominated, but is not going to win.
 
 
Outrageous!
 

The Force Awakens is an outstanding score. Integrated, consistent and engaging, it surpassed any expectation I had, and I safely consider it equal to the high level music in the Star Wars series.

Probably due to over-intellectualization and standardization of the creative process, a model followed by educational institutions.

Alrighty, here's my report from my concert attending last week.
 
I went to Lucerne together with two dear friends last Tuesday (December 29) to attend the film concert setting of Raiders of the Lost Ark, performed by 21st Century Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Ludwig Wicki. I had very high expectations about it because I was aware about how good these people are, yet the experience was even much more exciting, thrilling and exhilarating than I could possibly imagine. First of all, the performance was absolutely flawless--both the orchestra and conductor really seem to be born to play this score, there were not a wrong note all throughout, nor a failed sync with the images. And they played everything without any click-track (the conductor had only a small screen on the side of the podium with the film running with streamers and punches). Despite the difficulty of performing everything so precisely and close attention, the orchestra never seemed too cold or just too technical, but everything was performed with flair and proper musicality (many of the players had grin on their faces from start to finish). Conductor Wicki really understands how Williams' music should be performed and his conducting was flawless and vibrant, thanks also to the spectacular acoustics of KKL concert hall, truly one of the most beautiful concert halls of the world. Really, it's hard to choose highlights because it was a shiver of excitement from beginning to end. The big set-pieces (the prologue, "The Basket Game", "The Map Room," "Desert Chase" and "Miracle of the Ark") were obviously the moments where the chills and thrills were stronger, but literally everything was done with such fluidity that the whole audience was in awe. Even the synth choir was balanced very well. The mix of dialogues and sound effects was sometimes covered by the monstrous volume of the orchestra (especially in the action sequences), but personally this wasn't a problem AT ALL because it is always the other way round and for once the music was able to be absolute queen of the night. In fact, watching the movie in this unique way made you realize more strongly than ever how big and important is the role of the orchestra in this film, which becomes a real character of equal importance to those we see on the screen. The film is an all-time masterpiece of rhythm and editing, which allowed Williams to write a real ballet-like score, where everything moves along at Swiss clock precision (pardon the pun!) and everything pays off. There's a lot of Max Steiner-inspired mickeymousing all throughout which underlines both the tiniest detail (think about Marion puffing the cigarette smoke in Toht's face) and the biggest event, but the tone never seems too heavy or ponderous. Quite the contrary, it has the lighthearted feel of a great fun ballet score.
 
On a more nerd side, the performed score retained all the film edits (which luckily are only a very few and all tastefully done), however the short piece of music where the Ark crate burns from inside on the cargo (right after Marion's Theme) was properly restored. Also, it was nice to have all the original manuscript cue titles retained on the concert program, which also included a short nice note from JW himself.
 
Last but not least, it was thrilling to see the film together with an audience in a packed auditorium, all laughing and cheering in perfect sync. Raiders is a masterpiece in the history of both film and film music, one of my five all-time favorite movies ever and surely one of the highest peaks ever reached in the career of both Steven Spielberg and John Williams. What more I can say? If you have the opportunity to attend a performance, don't hesitate and go see it in this unique format. I'm sure that you will be as excited as myself.

I actually finally had time to analyze that music last week but never finished typing my post about it.  I suppose I should do that now!

Being strong in the Force has been presented in the entire series as a source of special, unexplainable powers, as people have said here, and Anakin is an incredible case, flying in those pod races and instinctively blowing up the droid control ship. I think The Force Awakens was careful to show precedents for the protagonists' skills, like Rey's masterful use of the staff (she is unstoppable when she beats the two aliens who wanted to steal BB-8) and her agility is due to her work as a scavenger, using ropes and climbing tricky surfaces.