Datameister

It'd be cool, but the problem with 3D movies is that they usually become very gimicky. It's hard to do them and have the audience take them too seriously.

I think it should have been Two Weeks' Notice...

Lament/Anakin's Betrayal is a powerful one. Not "catchy" like many of Williams' so-called classic themes, but it blew me away the first time I heard it and it still does. Numerous statements of both the Ark theme and the Grail theme send shivers down my spine, for very different musical reasons. The final statement of the Force theme in the entire Star Wars saga is particularly moving--the one that scores Vader's funeral pyre scene. Adrenaline...well, don't kill me, but listening to POTC's "He's a Pirate" after listening to "One Last Shot" is a blast...if I don't do it too often. "One Last Shot" is actually rather well-written, IMO, though it's not brilliant, and the transition from tender French horn solo (not synthed!) into crescendo-ing cello ostinato is a big guilty pleasure of mine. Yeah, it's predictable. Yeah, it's not terribly original or intelligent. But it's fun nevertheless. I bought the ROTS OST shortly after seeing the movie. I spent a few weeks or months getting used to the album music, then saw the film again. I got some great goosebumps hearing unfamiliar transitions into familiar cues. (Going from "Revisiting Padme" into the scurrying string figures that follow was one such moment; I also got quite an adrenaline rush from the transition into Heroes Collide/Anakin vs. Obi-Wan. That Dm add#4 chord in the strings is a great one.)

I like Silvestri's work in the BTTF movies. Fun stuff, and the first films that exposed me to him. Unfortunately, I find that most of his action music in other scores just shouts "BACK TO THE FUTURE!" at me. Roger Rabbit comes to mind. The main theme in the BTTF movies, while way overused, is nevertheless great fun. The love theme in the third movie is a bit unconventional and a bit wandering, but I love it nevertheless. The muted trumpet statements of the theme (V I IV#) in the first movie strike me as very nostalgic for some reason, and I'm blown away by the unreleased music that plays as Marty looks down the dirt path that will someday be his neighborhood. (It's actually possible to rip this cue pretty cleanly from the DVD...)

Let the bashing begin.

I voted for the HP:SS cue. I enjoy both of these...they're very different takes on similar subject matter. The length of "The Quidditch Match" works in its favor, as does the huge orchestration, particularly when the match itself starts. "Quidditch, Third Year" presents and develops an interesting motif, and I like the choir, but much of the cue simply lacks some intangible qualities. I could really vote either way, so it makes sense to me that the two cues are currently tied at 13 and 13.

Yeah, I was greatly looking forward to Anakin's theme being developed into a dark liason into the Imperial March in ROTS, after a brief hiatus in AOTC. Too bad that never happened. I don't care for all of the prequel-music-bashing, though. Sure, Maestro Williams never wrote another Star Wars theme to match, say, the Force theme or the Imperial march, but there's some thoroughly well-written and entertaining music in the prequels. A different flavor, yes. But I think it still deserves a little more credit than a few of you are giving it...

Really? I haven't heard that one. Is the tempo faster or slower? EDIT: Found a sample. At least for now, I don't like the ponderous tempo...we'll see if it grows on me, too.

Meh, I don't have a favorite. Like countless other posters, I think there's a lot more originality to the DOTF concert suite than the BOTH concert suite, since the latter is basically just an expanded cue from the movie itself. But as far as the themes themselves go, I enjoy both a lot. DOTF feels furious, whereas BOTH feels deeply sad. Yes, I was a little disappointed when I first heard BOTH. But it grew on me. A lot. Now my preference really depends on the time of day, the weather, the color of my socks, etc.

I've wondered about this before, myself. It'd be fun to play the celeste parts to a few Williams cues on a keyboard set to the actual patch... Naturally, there are some scores where this is relatively obvious, but I didn't realize this was so prevalent. Could you provide some examples of scores that use this?

They can be indicated on lines or spaces. Doesn't matter, although it's nice for the players if they don't have to deal with ledger lines. (It annoys me to no end when a part calls for five drums and they are notated on the spaces, with the highest one sitting above the staff...totally pointless.) On a personal note, I prefer reading percussion music on the lines. But as JackChapple said, these are only relative pitches and can therefore be placed...well, wherever you want them to be placed. As far as Sibelius itself goes, I can't help you there. I'm a Finale guy myself, although its percussion notation can be bothersome.

Meh, I found Johnny English to be merely tolerable. I found John Malkovich's character to be pretty obnoxious, and the music only was enjoyable the first time. Rowan Atkinson certainly has talent. A few parts amused me; a lot of it just felt strange.

I do. I can't wait for his next score, although it's not like I own or have listened to a sizeable percentage of his work...so you could say I've got plenty of new Williams to listen to! Yeah, I'm convinced that good old Johnny has at least one more truly brilliant sonic universe to share with us, if not many more. Only time will tell.

I've heard it said that when you're playing music, the rests are at least as important as the notes. It is true that a score is more effective if it doesn't play nonstop. The lack of music in the first T-rex attack in JP--brilliant. It would have been much less effective if there were action music playing. I have nothing whatsoever against "action music", but it's simply not always appropriate to the scene. The lack of music in the pre-Battle-of-Yavin section of ANH--not so brilliant. I don't think it detracts from the movie, but I certainly wouldn't mind a little underscoring in a few of those scenes. I like the fact that "The Elevator Scene" was mostly cut out of ROTS. I happen to find that cue fairly enjoyable, but the movie works better without it, IMO. However, I feel that the unused sections of 2M1 (the first half of "Grievous and the Droids") should've been used. The quieter music written for the conversation between Grievous and the Jedi is actually somewhat humorous, especially with the Luke's theme reference as Anakin says "you're shorter than I expected."

That made me laugh.

Yeah, but a lot of that was originally scored with "The Elevator Scene" and the cue known only as "2M1"--both of which can be heard at least partially on the OST. I don't believe anything was ever written for that huge stretch of time in ANH with no scoring whatsoever.

At first, I felt the same way you do--quite strongly, in fact. But those edits have grown on me and I enjoy the entire assemblage of cues as-is. The sudden changes work pretty well, I think, with the possible exception of one in the middle of "Boys Into Battle." Oh well. Goodmusician, I can relate to your nausea after the opening space battle. I sat in one of the first few rows--luckily, I don't get motion sickness, but it was still an overwhelming experience. I enjoyed it.

Thanks for the info, guys! Another tool to add to my toolbox...

I'd wondered about that. Anyone else care to confirm or deny this?

Hey, all. I admit I'm rather embarrassed that I, a percussionist, don't know the answer to this, but I'm hoping someone could help me out. There's a percussion instrument that makes the incisive, metallic sound that I can't identify. You can hear it around 3:48 in "Den of the Rancor" (ROTJ) and near the beginning of "Parade of the Slave Children," reinforcing the flute parts (particularly in the OST). I believe it's used in the Sky Captain score, as well. Can anyone identify this instrument? It almost makes me think of very hard spoons being struck together.

In the case of John Williams, engraving in Finale is the orchestrators' job. Some composers like to work directly in an engraving program, but the perks of working that way aren't huge--especially if you've got one or more underlings hired to engrave all your work.

I've never heard from many snaredrumaphobes, either. On a personal note, I love listening to and playing the instrument--when not overused. Much as I'd like to play throughout a given piece, no one wants to hear constant snare drum. What I have heard is protest to the incessant drum grooves in Media Ventures scores. I agree with this to some extent, but that rhythmic flavor is nice in moderation.

I was a little distracted the one time I saw that film, but I listened fairly hard to the score and only heard one recurring thematic idea...and it was the standard vi-IV-I-V chord progression you hear in everything from Media Ventures scores to popular vocal music these days. Good progression, but it's way overused. Perhaps I wasn't listening as closely to the score as I thought? I'd love to be wrong about this one...

Sequel, I suppose. It always gives me chills to hear an old favorite theme presented in a novel way, alongside brilliant new material. Although there's a lot to be said for movie scores that singlehandedly develop new sonic universes without using any old themes. (ESB did a great job with the former; ANH did a great job with the latter.) Ideally, a movie score forms its own thematic macrocosm that feels and sounds totally inevitable, yet is so original that no human in his/her right mind could possibly have come up with it. I get that with the Star Wars movies particularly--the quantity and quality of the themes are so overwhelming. I also got that feeling after seeing HP:SS for the first time, and I'm now becoming a comfortable resident of the Indiana Jones movies' sonic universe.

I'll say Star Wars simply because if I'd heard Superman as much as I've heard the SW main titles already, I'd be sick of it. Don't get me wrong--I love Williams' work on Superman as much as the next fan. But the sentimental value and sheer brilliance of the SW main title wins it out for me.