DarthDementous

It looks like William Ross will orchestrate - maybe he will even do some heavy lifting?

I don't know how many comments I've seen where they write off TFA as a "boring" score, pining for the sound of the trailer to be in the film.
 
That, or they say it "Sounds like Harry Potter!"

Well at least they aren't saying the first trailer's music was better than Williams's...

I still see people who say the third trailer music was much better than anything Williams did. Even seemingly intelligent, articulate folks...

Them - "Whoever did the trailer music should do the music for the film."
 
 
Me -
 

I know, but they just took absolutely fucking ages to say it and when they did it was almost incomprehensible. It was what would happen if these two did a podcast:
 
 

How do people in 2016 still not realize that 99% of the time the trailer music has nothing to do with it's film's score?

Wait, you listened to Giacchino music?
 

 

 
Seriously, though, is there really no similarity?
 
They both have this melancholy, somewhat romantic sound. The contour of the melodies just feel very similar to me. This isn't grounded in any music theory, of course.

I just finished the entire score. I think the problem of this score stems from Giacchino’s inability to commit to his ideas. I think about Alan Silvestri’s Predator score and how Silvestri was dead set at creating a primal, suspenseful score and he commited to it. I think about Zimmer’s commitment to using the organ and woodwinds for Interstellar and James Horner’s work in Titanic with Celtic influence. Then I think about this score...Make no mistakes about it, Giacchino had a lot of good ideas. When the brief chimes came in the first theme, “Ancient Sorcerer’s Secrets,” I thought this was going to be a very unique album. Cues like “Go For Baroque” and “Hippocratic Hypocrite” added a delicious layer of suave and mystical energy (almost Diablo games like) that made me appreciate Giacchino’s creativeness.
 
But instead of building of those idea, Giacchino spent the rest of the score churning out long action cues with tiresome blaring horns, heavy strings, and the pounding use of the choir, reusing various ideas from his Star Trek scores. By the time we get back to his softer, far more inventive soundscaping, so much of the identity has been lost. Overall, the score is not focus enough to be a symbiote of the Sorcerer Supreme, and not heroic enough for me to excuse it as a good generic superhero score.
 
To be generous, I can give this a 3 stars score if he created an awesome new theme for the character (similar criticism I had with Zimmer’s Inferno), but temp tracking his Star Trek theme almost note by note in some cases drops this down to **1/2.

Thanks for the link, this was the most anticipated movie of the year for me. Civil War is great, pretty much everything I like in superhero films.
But Doctor Strange is something different and welcome, a kind of supernatural martial artist who's strength grows from superior wisdom.

The weakness of the MCU is their soundtracks, with SIlvestri's awesome Avengers the exception, imo. Glad he's back for Infinity War!

In DS the visuals are mind boggling and the acting perhaps the finest cast in the genre, but I was nervous about the score. Thank goodness Marvel went for an updated 60s sound, with touches of psychedelic sitar, backwards music, wailing pulsing synths, groovy perc. This is something MG does really well and supports the film. (Ant-Man and Guardians also had retro moments). There's plenty of atonal orchestral soundscapes with angular motifs, again a 60s touch. The sound engineering is kind of annoying at times, like he's trying to be even more mechanical than Remote Control scores. But the live orchestra is foremost here and the greatest excitement is in cues like Sanctimonious Sanctum Sacking. Yes there's Epic Choir but the rest of the orchestration is in balance. Inside the Mirror Dimension actually reminds me a bit of John Barry, but the serious side instead of the action style in The Incredibles. Doctor Strange is Giacchino's best score in a long time. By The Vishanti!

Well, not a huge fan of this score after one listen to the OST. But the main theme is quite good, and this one moment below is absolutely sublime. The end credits has grown on me, and there are of course plenty of cool moments. By far my favorite as of this time is this:
 
 
Glad we got this score even just for that brilliant moment. Sounds kind of like a Cold Play song...
 
That actually tends to be how it is for me with scores: It's usually smaller moments and not the main themes that really excite me. 
 
Btw, didn't realize the London Voices worked on this. 
 
My biggest problem with Giacchino is his frequent use of "epic" choir. Sometimes it works -- the Star Trek main theme, for example. Other times, especially when it's not for a theme, like it most of this score, it becomes grating, boring, and cliche. Some have worried about a Williams pastiche for Rogue One, but I'm actually a little excited about this possibility because it might free Gia from his I-always-need-to-use-choir-to-make-every-cue-epic shackles. 
 
It's so nice when you can hear a Gia cue without a giant choir wailing away. 
 
That should be reserved only for special occasions. 
 
Also, his "let's pound the crap out of every note" style of action writing can start to get a little grating. JW withholds that technique for certain moments (the end of "Get 'Em R-2!" and "Battle of the Heroes," for example) and it is very rewarding when it happens. Gia can do this very well too -- his pounding ostinato from Star Trek (part of the main theme, you could say) is absolutely marvelous. 
 
I don't mind his piano emotional chords thing. But the two above things often make listening to Gia's work a grating experience. I'm hoping he'll have less of that for Rogue One and more of the stuff I love about him. 
 
As a side note I kept hoping for/expecting the Star Trek main theme to begin numerous times...  It was always very frustrating when they didn't play it. 
 

Speaking of Force Awakens, just this morning in fact I listened to a bunch of it on the way to work, after not having listening to any of it for months.  I was randomly inspired to check it out, and man....... that score is great.  Can't wait to hear what Episode 8 brings to the table

The Force Awakens was a grower!

Zootopia was not (so far) and I dunno if Doctor Strange will be either

Interesting. It's fun and full of wacky energy. I doubt that the entire score is like this. It feels like he just did a crazy version of his main theme for shits and giggles, though it will be cool if it is all mental and fresh like that.
 
I'm not interested in the film at all really, and will probably just end up catching it when it shows up on tv, like I do with 90% of superhero films. So my only interest in this is purely as a fan of Giacchino. So others will have to let me know how the score plays to the film itself.

Full version of the strudel clip:
 
 
Really love what the music brings to that last little interaction at the end. Just feels like that melody is actually, you know, participating. Plays into the editing rhythm, orchestra brings out a nice warm color to her character with a little extra nervousness to his. It endears me to them. This is the kind of thing I wanted more of from the later Potter scores. Doesn't feel like background or wallpaper, it's not just mood and atmosphere but enhancing performance. Of course it also helps that these actors are already giving more nuance than we got from the Potter kids. 
 
Music seems very nicely mixed too in all these clips. Has Yates been reading this forum?

Having skimmed through bits of this at work, I'm pleased with the direction he's gone for the action-oriented bits. Gone is the Hunger Games style rubbish. Some bits of this sound like alternate cues from Kong, and that's really good. I guess he'd claim that the two films require a different approach, but I'd counter that his newer action style is just boring.
 
His themes might take a while to sink in properly, but so far this is promising.

wow I uh... felt things. kind of feel bad for almost writing off the entire score from the main track, hell even the beginning is starting to grow on me. lots of emotional high points where the score just gripped me and it kind of single-handedly made me actually want to watch the movie now. funny how people were worried about the action music when in my opinion it's one of the score's strongest points. another thing I enjoyed was the orchestration which was gorgeous and at times recalled Williams work on the Potter movies. I picked up on a few themes but I feel like those don't really cement until you've heard the score again or seen the movie, and now I actually want to see the movie. from the music it tells me there's actually going to be a balance between whimsy and darkness, which for something directed by Yates is unusual to me, and might actually mean I could enjoy the film.

Pieces like this show JNH's mastery of emotion within storytelling. At 5:00 - 7:20, it is clearly a highly powerful moment in the film, and after building the orchestra in a crescendo, he doesn't do the expected thing; which could be a short loud fanfare, or a blast of sound to declare the power of the scene, instead he has a two minute rendition of one of his themes. And not a hugely heroic theme either, just a small theme that melodically rises and falls so beautifully.
 
 

Of course it will be. Disney will make sure of it.
 
MEMBER DARTH VADER?! MEMBER THE IMPERIAL MARCH!? 
 
 

Yes, he is ultimately a disappointment. I agree.

The Internet will go mad for it!
 
"So much better than Rey's Theme, which was all over the place!"