Will

I discovered this score like a month ago and, although much of it is rather uninspired, the heroic theme is AMAZING! Brings us back to a prior age of film scoring, with the spirit of Forrest Gump. Pure exultation, unmistakably Silvestri.

Well, about as close as you'll get in The Post! Certainly borderline. Anyway it's an awesome piece regardless of what it's classified as.

All of it is great, but post-2000-ish is my favorite-- The "Ludlow motif" identified by Frank Lehman is one of the most thrilling action figures ever: As for specific cues, we have gems like this: Etc.

I'm a much bigger fan of Giacchino's Rogue One than most on here (and Air Force One is also terrific), but TFA is head and shoulders above them. Not even close. Indeed, TFA might well be my all-time favorite film score.

Great thread idea @crumbs, and I agree with so many of the examples others have noted. JW really just has so many great joyful cues. It's incredible. In fact I think that's what drew me to JW in the first place. A few examples that I believe haven't been mentioned:

Uh oh

College work is keeping me busy but I'm still a committed JWFan, don't worry!

Great album! A nice surprise!

Gosh I'm really in love with "Empire Recruitment" as well. Definitely sounds super British. Reminds me a tad of Walton (or of JW's own forays into a British sound, like a couple times in HP1).

Haven't started listening yet but super excited!! Also great to see what cues JW composed. One question: Does anyone know why Powell wrote "by JW" in parenthesis only twice in his list of demo cues? Does this mean 1m1, 4m27, and 5m33a included only Powell's own demos, not anything by Williams?

This cue is sooo good -- I've played it so many times since I first discovered it a month or two ago: From the ecstatic little flute echoes over the charging strings (particularly around 1:07) to the beautiful dancing piano line over the rich, flowing strings beginning at 1:10, this is such a great cue. The rest of the score is not particularly inspiring, but this track is Desplat at his very best.

Free stream available: https://www.bso.org/brands/tanglewood/features/2020-tanglewood-season/the-best-of-tanglewood-on-parade.aspx Around the 1 hour mark, JW conducts "Hymn to the Fallen" and 3 pieces from Hook (at a concert in, I believe, the late 1990s). I believe the Hook part has been available on YouTube for a while but I'd never seen the "Hymn to the Fallen" footage, which was very nice.

Takemitsu Viola Concerto. My favorite bit currently, with the low strings entering under the soaring viola: This whole piece shimmers and sparkles. Wonderful stuff, and the parallels w/ JW's Tree Song (and other work) are very clear.