Smaug The Iron

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 
Are we even allowed to enjoy anything to do with Harry Potter? I know quite a lot of people who would accuse me of being anti-transgender just because I'm enjoying this music. But that's the level of discourse we're experiencing these days.
 
Seriously though, quality scores. I really enjoy the LLL box immensely. Especially the first score, oddly, as it really blossoms in its full glory. The second is but hodge-podge but still enjoyable and the third contains possibly most interesting writing but doesn't quite flow as well.
 
Karol

You must be fun at parties

Beautifully done Holko. Loving the longer videos  -- dividing the score into 'suites' based on the story progression, like one long symphony divided into movements.
 
This score is so masterful, you can easily follow the film's narrative without any of the unscored scenes; JW's music is so evocative that you only need the scenes he scored to grasp what's happening.
 
I'd forgotten how much harp JW bundled into that first act; utterly sublime writing. How I wish more composers utilised instruments like this in modern scores.

I figured we'd have to start the year and formal decade on a high note.
 
 

X Main Title
1M1 The Forest (Revised)
1M2 Keyes Arrives
1M2A The Final Solution
2M2 Looking for E.T. - Might be my favourite little discovery here, the "mickey mousing" as Elliot throws the Pieces around and downs a couple.
X The Encounter
 
In this extended overture, themes are set up, some action grabs your attention, and the mood is established.
 
 

2M3 The First Meeting
3M1 Into the House
3M2 Meeting E.T.
3M3 E.T. and Elliot - Unused, movie tracks E.T. is Alive over it
4M1 In the Closet
 
The gentle friendship blossoms during this calm break in the score, but the ominous Keys theme still reasserts itself a couple times.
 
 

4M2 E.T.’s Magic
5M1 Mary Seaches the Closet
5M2 E.T. Raids the Icebox
5M5 E.T. Gets and Idea
5M6 The Quiet Man
6M2 Levitation - Unused, meant for but also unused in the Laserdisc-exclusive deleted scene
6M3 Bed Time Stories - First time I had to shorten the footage to fit the score.
7M1 Halloween
7M2‐8M1 E.T.’s Machine
 
An idea is born, moods shift into more tension and themes mingle and develop.
 
 

8M2 Michael’s Search (new Intro)
9M1 Keyes Enters the House (revised) - Second time I had to shorten the footage, the shot creeping in on E.T. for lack of a better opportunity. It bothers me that the strikes don't always match up with the cuts but it's the same way in the film.
9M2 Stay With Me (new intro)
10M1 He Came to Me
10M2 E.T. Phones Home - This was shortened in the film but fits just fine like this!
11M1 The Rescue - Had to extend the footage in multiple places
11M3 The Bike Chase
11M4‐12M1 The Departure (plus sweetener bars 79‐82)
END CREDITS (revised)
 
Everything culminates into the grand finale, good on its own but mindblowing as the payoff to all the buildup.
 
 


1M1 The Forest - too long, had to add a short black screen
1M2 Keyes Arrives (New Ending?)
8M2 Michael’s Search - only included the original opening here
9M1 Keyes Enters the House (original) - still had to shorten the footage but not by as much as the film version
9M2 Stay With Me
11M4‐12M1 The Departure (no sweetener, Steven’s fix) - this runs shorter than the film take, but not out of sync by much and not too many hard sync points except by the second half anyway.
END CREDITS

Final part of the final chapter of the Lord of the Rings Score Stream with Doug Adams! The Return of the King, Part 2:
 

I wanted to post my thoughts here too instead of getting them lost in the iso score thread.
 
I love how Williams applies themes in this score!
 
Let's take them one by one, there are the usual external/descriptive ones:
- Holiday Flight - there to be fun, not that much to say
 
- The House - good early moodsetter, not much to say
 
- The Burglars - fun, comedic, bumbling motif. I like how it forms and gets more threatening and more and more present, but when the "siege" begins, it gets scattered into fragments and has to reassemble itself slowly, as the duo splits up and gets battered.
 
- Dies Irae - representing external threats in various forms. There's a consistently applied relatively fast reading (with a consistent lead-in) for Old Man Marley's scary gazes (Introducing Marley, Man of the House, Drug Store), a rythmically mangled one (with the 4th note holding only shortly and the figure quickly restarting) for the furnace in the basement (The Basement, Cleaning Clothes), and a twisted extended stinger (first 3 notes for brass, 4th following on strings later) for Kevin recognising Harry as the policeman earlier in the movie (Follow that Kid!). As Mike says in the booklet, this motif later gets "revealed as" or resolved into Carol of the Bells in the church sequence where Kevin and Marley help confront each other's fears and come out on top.
 
- Kevin's theme - a two-phrase motif growing more confident with every rendition, from humble comedic beginnings to solo horn to moving between instrument groups with ease over a more confident rythm.
 
And then there's the two that seem to go deeper, become Kevin's introspective themes, the two 4-phrase (ABAC) carols:
- Somewhere in my Memory, standing for the "Home" - at first a normal homely Christmasy feeling, then a melancholy as the home is not really a home without the rest of the family, during the "siege" it stands for Kevin's motivation to keep/defend his home, then stands for the homely holiday feeling again.
- Star of Betlehem, standing for the "Alone" - Kevin's lack of confidence stemming from being alone, running away because he's alone, then after the church scene reevaluates and recontextualises it, it becomes his driving motivation, his aloneness meaning he has to be the one to stand up for himself - "This is my house, *I*'ve got to defend it".
 
But we're not done yet: after Kevin successfully defends his Home, those two motifs fuse into a new one: the first phrase of Somewhere in my Memory plus the second of Kevin! This starts in Next Morning, and carries over all the way to the end of the credits, becoming an important part of the final big carol renditions and by proxy, the concert piece, too. Therefore I'm happy this edition doesn't have that in front like the older one, it works better as a culmination and then a bonus track with the new intro later in the bonus section. The Main Title actually foreshadows it already at the end.

I am planing to watch this soon. But I have just moved so I haven't had time to watch it yet. I really like The Hobbit comentery so I am looking forward to watching this soon.

The Lord of the Rings Score Stream final chapter starting now! With commentary from Doug Adams himself, it's time for The Return of the King, Part 1!
 
Also, are any of you even watching these, or am I literally shouting into the void?

Yes, that's definitely what I was thinking and meaning.
 
I love love love it! But of course the revised one works way better.
 
Also in Paint Cans when Marv realises it's missing and Harry looks for it!
 
The other day I was thinking that many Home Alone motifs are the usual external, descriptive ones - Holiday Flight, Kevin's theme (gaining confidence with every new rendition), the burglars, the House - but Somewhere in my Memory and Star of Betlehem are more like Kevin's introspective themes, the first representing at first the jolly holiday feeling, then the melancholy, then the joy of everyone reunited at home, the second as you said Kevin's fears and later, after it's reevaluated, his determination. SimM standing for "Home", SoB for "Alone", if you will! From the home being a normal home, to it not really being a home without everyone in it, back to being home again; and from Kevin being alone and afraid, to making peace with being alone and having to defend his house himself.
 
I also really like how by the end SimM fuses with Kevin's theme, foreshadowed in the main title too: first phrase (out of 4) of SimM + second (of 2) of Kevin! This is also present in the end credits and therefore the concert piece, making it extra nice that JW asked Mike to move the concert piece away from the overture position for the newer LLL.
 
Mike mentions in the booklet how Old Man Marley's Dies Irae (Introducing Marley, Man of the House, Drug Store) gets "revealed" to be Carol of the Bells - I think I'm hearing more similar shapes elsewhere too, a rythmically jumbled one recurring for the scary basement furnace (4th note quickly overtaken by the first one again), and the twisted stabs after the tooth stinger in Follow that Kid, first 3 brass notes loud, the 4th coming later quietly on strings.
 
Too bad 2 barely makes any use of its new themes and uses the old ones messily. Kevin's theme gets the most consistent continuation, still being confident but getting multiple fun variations.

Re-listening to it lately, I am once again amazed by the Rise of Skywalker theme(s) and how JW once again wrote beautiful music that expresses the ideas the film itself tries but fails to do as was the case with the prequel films. The friendship theme is so sweet, sincere, and filled with longing in a way that is totally absent from the film itself and the victory theme is grand and triumphant in a way the visuals it accompanies are not. It's amazing and amusing that JW's final SW score once again speaks beyond the film and lifts the themes of the film up.

It's in Huttese. Powell says the title "came from the original drawings that I was given over a year ago, before they shot that scene. I had to try to come up with something to film to and all I saw was this kind of little drawing. It really looked like a chicken to me. In a pot. So I just wrote some words in English, which was basically about how the singer was going to eat the chicken and then we translated that into Huttese….It’s a very strange piece, but it’s a strange galaxy and, you know, it’s an odd group of people at that party."
 
https://www.starwars.com/news/solo-a-star-wars-story-composer-john-powell

The Lord of the Rings Score Stream with Doug Adams: The Two Towers, Part 2!
 

The Lord of the Rings Score Stream with Doug Adams is live! Tune in on The Two Towers, Part 1:
 

Second part of the Fellowship of the Ring Score Stream with Doug Adams is live now!
 

The LotR Score Stream with Doug Adams has started, if anyone's interested?
 

Cinema Paradiso - now with more distance between watching the movie and listening to it than last time, I really really enjoyed this presentation of this great music.
 
WotW Intrada main program - well on the way to loving it, still on "really like it".
 
Home Alone 1 - my playlist, LLL main program plus some of the songs and the two more choral carols included. Fantastic.
 
Home Alone 2 - LLL main program with the traps bit edited down. Pretty good.
 
FotR, TTT, RotK - my CR edits. Incredible stuff.

This must be the new album Powell has been teaseing. 

This must be the new album Powell has been teaseing. 

In a way that is what happend in Return of the Jedi as well. When Vader said he would turn Leia to the Dark side Luke "for a moment of pure instinct" wanted to kill Vader but he regrets it almost Immediately after he cut Vader's hand off and decided not to do it. 

This must be the new album Powell has been teaseing. 

The Last Jedi really is a fantastic score.
 
Btw, mostly in an expanded version.

This must be the new album Powell has been teaseing. 

Just discovered this on YouTube today -- hadn't heard this particular, pleasingly bombastic arrangement of "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas" before.
 
 

Luke's portrayal and scenes in TLJ are among my favorite in the whole saga, whereas his scenes in TROS were just plain embarrassing

Yeah the point is that C-3PO has no reason to being there in any of the films between Return of the Jedi and the Rise of Skywalker. Take him out of TPM, AOTC, ROTS, TFA and TLJ and it would make no differens. So don't blame Johnson for that. He was at least funny in TLJ.