Xinau

The other day a realization -- and not a happy one -- hit me: Has anyone thought that JW might be not-so-subtly telling us something with this quote from "The Long Goodbye"?

I don't think that's correct -- AFAIK Malcolm did not play on the TFA soundtrack. Lewis played principal on TFA, too. Didn't know he was on this one as well; haven't read the liner notes. For whatever reason, the section sounds much better (dare I say, "more LSO-like"). It might be due to the orchestration, or maybe they used B-flats this time, or maybe they're just boosted in the mix. Haven't really dug in to do the serious listening to figure it out. All I know is that I like the result. So, Jon (and your section-mates), if you're reading this, cheers. Edit: removed something that's essentially rumor and shouldn't really be on an Internet message board. Apologies to all concerned.

Yes. Night & day from TFA. The pitch & blend are better, the bravura parts don't sound as pushed. Generally it sounds like they boosted forces and/or got (gasp) different players.

/thread

JW looks great in those pictures. So glad to see.

Beautiful article. I was at Celebration Orlando this year, and at the end of the 40th Anniversary Panel, I heard George say something to others on the stage -- I don't think he was directing this at the audience, but I'm not sure -- "if you wanna know the secret sauce to Star Wars, there it is". And he motioned towards JW, who was off to the side, taking his bows after conducting Princess Leia's theme and the Imperial March.

Interesting tweet from Rian on the scoring/editing process with JW: Edit: sorry, didn't see the new thread. Mods, please delete this post.

Oh man, what a combo. Hadn't heard this before -- thank you!

Hm. Here's one (maybe): When JW is given a temp and asked to compose something in the same style/texture, it's better than even money that JW's take will be better than the original, and > 90% of the time it will be just as good. Example #1: Duel of the Fates >= O Fortuna Example #2: Cantina Band >= whatever 30s/40s era swing tune it was modeled on Example #3: Dartmoor == whatever William Walton piece it's modeled on Said another way: even when JW is paying homage or "plagiarizing" (as some say) because the director told him to model the score on a specific temp track, you never get a pale imitation. You get something just as good, sometimes better. Come at me. -- post merge -- Another one (maybe): In any given JW score, the notes between the themes (and accompanying the themes) are better/more interesting than the themes themselves. (maybe this one isn't so unpopular)

What a great thread... just discovering it now. Bummer that a lot of the YouTube content has been pulled, but appreciate the timing & track references. This is actually one of my pet loves about JW's scores -- just these little moments that he drops in there, sometimes with these amazing themes that are never heard again. And it's always perfectly set to the story beats in the visuals (as if the musical accomplishment by itself wasn't enough). Not sure if it was mentioned earlier, but I feel like track 8 (He is the Chosen One) of the TPM soundtrack is basically an entire track full of these. These mysterioso chords at 0:03 to 0:24 that segue into something that sounds like it's going to be the Force theme, but doesn't quite get there: This painfully beautiful coda out of Anakin's theme at 0:31 and into this amazing religioso low brass chorale at 0:44 (segment ends around 1:01): This 12/8 agitato string figure that starts at 1:38, is joined by a partial statement of the Force theme, and then the segment winds down with a series of tender cadences starting about 2:01, the last one (2:14) punctuated with harp & celeste: And the end of this track -- I just wanna hug it, and squeeze it, and call it George. 3:20 starts with another one of these moving cadence passages that are all over this track, and then JW just casually drops this beautiful hymn for strings and winds (3:27; which we never hear again, AFAIK) which winds down with the horns changing the character from lyrical to noble. And can we just marvel at the precision of the LSO brass on that fanfare that ends the track? Every time I hear this I'm just stunned with the uniformity of articulation and note length, and better than even money it was that way right from the first reading: Now, if I were a film music composer, I gotta think I would give my left nut/ovary to have composed any one of these moments. And JW's scores have countless of these things.

Good lord. I hope this was made from a score reduction, because if that guy or gal has ears good enough to transcribe that AND the chops to play it... I need to be buying their records.

Other: a surprise reading by the LSO on the soundtrack. Missed 'em a lot more than I thought I would.

Love seeing that track get some love. This & the one immediately after (Farewell & the Trip) are my favorites on the entire TFA soundtrack. The movie goes thru a whole series of emotional beats in rapid succession during those tracks, and the music just flows effortlessly in support of each one. JW at his most masterful, IMO.

Hm. Anyone else struck by the prominence of leaps of a major third (and its inversion of a minor sixth) in a minor key melody? (m2 beats 1/2, beat 4; m4 beats 2/3, 3/4). Almost half the melody is dominated by these intervals (m2, m4). I think it's noteworthy (ugh, no pun intended) in a theme of such economy.