artguy360

That's why I wish we could hear Desplat's score. I bet it was less Star Wars like and probably darker in tone and less over the top in style but man would it be an interesting listen, at least initially. 

The Face of Pan is such a great cue no matter which arrangement. There's a nice tenderness to it.

The Face of Pan is such a great cue no matter which arrangement. There's a nice tenderness to it.

Its not just written in a similar style, it uses the same beat, and yet is too busy for its own good and in its concert arrangement the main melody is obscured by too many bells and whistles for the first minute or so. The cue wants to be the Imperial March without quoting it but comes off like a Spaceballs version of Star Wars music, especially towards the end of the suite cue. I think Gia continues to struggle with big cues. Everything is either too over the top, straining, or just not communicating a whole lot. For example, in the suite cue, after the initial rush of brass and percussion the music goes quiet with just strings (almost like the b section of the theme) but the music accomplishes nothing when it goes quiet. I think the form is trying to mirror the Imperial March concert arrangement where the main motif is carried by strings while the rest of the orchestra slowly comes back into play but in that case the strings play to a fast rhythm and act as a fun bridge between big statements of the Imperial March motif.
 
 The New Imperial March is characteristic of Gia's thematic writing where he struggles with clear melodic identification. The theme doesn't have that effortless or inevitable quality that JW often talks about and I think its in the main motif itself and its progression. Its definitely bad guy music but again comes across as corny, particularly in its concert suite cue.

Courtesy of uploader GGBreizh.
 
Such a beautiful thing to wake up to on a Monday morning.
 
 

That's why I wish we could hear Desplat's score. I bet it was less Star Wars like and probably darker in tone and less over the top in style but man would it be an interesting listen, at least initially. 

That's why I wish we could hear Desplat's score. I bet it was less Star Wars like and probably darker in tone and less over the top in style but man would it be an interesting listen, at least initially. 

Listening the Star-Dust on the FYC site, Gia really nails the sound of the Star Wars OT underscore. Even the orchestration sounds straight out of ANH. Then the music becomes destinctly Gia with his slow, sad piano music. 

Its hard for me to understand why one would think an Imperial March parody is better than March of the Resistance which has its own clear melodic identity and also fits comfortably in the Star Wars musical canon.

Its hard for me to understand why one would think an Imperial March parody is better than March of the Resistance which has its own clear melodic identity and also fits comfortably in the Star Wars musical canon.

JW used to write action cues based around some kind of motif or as a kind of ballet with fun changes in temp accompanied by different motivic phases like the Desert Chase from Indy or The Battle of Yavin both of which have clear musical changes at important moments in the film. Contemporary JW action music is more reliant on more diverse textures and musically chaotic noise and changes in rhythm rather than a clear motivic identity.

Clearly the music is more of a priority for Disney than we're led to believe. After all, it's obvious Desplat didn't leave the project due to "scheduling" issues.
 
I have no issue with Gia creating new themes and doing his own thing; what irritates me greatly is the annoying "middle ground" he stays in, where he presents 2 or 3 notes of a familiar theme in the same orchestration then goes in a totally different melodic direction. It's distracting and jarring beyond belief.
 
Just stick to your own themes with the occasional statement of JW's, or go full-blown John Williams no holds barred. Don't tread that irritating middle ground where you don't have enough faith in your own themes but are also too anxious to treat JW's themes with complete statements. That horrible incomplete Force Theme appearance when Jyn leaves Yavin IV made me roll my eyes.

The Hope theme which appears with the Rogue One title card made me cringe actually when I saw the film. I know Giacchino is dancing around Luke's Theme there and very intentionally so but the resolution of the theme sounds really hokey to me.

Listening the Star-Dust on the FYC site, Gia really nails the sound of the Star Wars OT underscore. Even the orchestration sounds straight out of ANH. Then the music becomes destinctly Gia with his slow, sad piano music. 

If CDs are still in use when I die, my physical JW collection will be donated to Half Price Books which is where I bought about half of my JW CD collection.
 
Growing up a young JW fan without a lot of money I would go to Half Price Books and scour their CD section looking for JW OSTs. I am so fortune to have bought treasures like Nixon in this fashion. Older people reselling/giving their JW CDs to Half Price is how I was able to jump start my own experience with JW's music. I wanna pay that forward to the next generation of young JWfans!

Listening the Star-Dust on the FYC site, Gia really nails the sound of the Star Wars OT underscore. Even the orchestration sounds straight out of ANH. Then the music becomes destinctly Gia with his slow, sad piano music. 

If CDs are still in use when I die, my physical JW collection will be donated to Half Price Books which is where I bought about half of my JW CD collection.
 
Growing up a young JW fan without a lot of money I would go to Half Price Books and scour their CD section looking for JW OSTs. I am so fortune to have bought treasures like Nixon in this fashion. Older people reselling/giving their JW CDs to Half Price is how I was able to jump start my own experience with JW's music. I wanna pay that forward to the next generation of young JWfans!

Listening the Star-Dust on the FYC site, Gia really nails the sound of the Star Wars OT underscore. Even the orchestration sounds straight out of ANH. Then the music becomes destinctly Gia with his slow, sad piano music. 

to better organise my thoughts on the score I'm going to split it into pros and cons.
 
PROS:
- I do quite like the proto-Imperial March theme and Krennic's theme, even found myself unable to stop humming it
- some of the underscore tricks me into thinking I'm listening to Williams and for the most part, the Star Wars sound is there
- Jyn's theme despite being a bit generic is hummable and effective, particularly in the track 'Your Father Would be Proud' which brings me to the next point...
- pretty much everything about 'Your Father Would be Proud', love the tone, the orchestration and the Prequel-style dramatic ending to the piece
- pretty much everything about 'Hope', in particular the middle section with the Tantive IV escaping conjures up some very strong emotions and I connect it instantly to Star Wars even though I'm not sure why
- the integration of Williams themes is well done for the most part, favourite examples would be the deconstructed Imperial March in the choir from 'Hope' followed by a brief statement with a new and exciting flourish, and the very seamless and appropriately eerie Deathstar motif attached to the Imperial theme
 
CONS:
- while not the worst examples I've heard, its very frustrating to hear the start of a theme you are very familiar with and then have it turn into something different. examples of this are the notes of Across the Stars in Guardian of the Whills and Luke's theme in the Hope theme.
- the action music is pretty bland and relies more on rhythm than melodic identity, the attempt to emulate Williams' ecclectic nature fall flat and there's not much distinction between the action-heavy tracks. this is a huge missed opportunity with the amazing action in the movie, imagine what Williams would've written for that space battle!
- inconsistency in thematic writing. Giacchino doesn't really commit to manipulation and inclusion of themes to tell a story though leitmotif and if he does do it, the quotes of the themes are static for the most part
- the quotes of the Force theme are quite bland and feel misplaced at times. there were opportunities to have a thematically different take on these, maybe a more militaristic one like in Episode 3
 
you can listen to it here: http://www.waltdisneystudiosawards.com/music/rogue_one/4m25ApproachtoEadu.mp3
 
probably the most interesting action music in the movie even if it doesn't change as much in rhythm as I would have liked. bit of an 'Asteroid Field' feel near the middle of the track and the brass blasts are quite exciting. also noticed that Jyn's theme works really well in an action context as a driving force, would've liked to hear more done with that.

JW used to write action cues based around some kind of motif or as a kind of ballet with fun changes in temp accompanied by different motivic phases like the Desert Chase from Indy or The Battle of Yavin both of which have clear musical changes at important moments in the film. Contemporary JW action music is more reliant on more diverse textures and musically chaotic noise and changes in rhythm rather than a clear motivic identity.

Listening the Star-Dust on the FYC site, Gia really nails the sound of the Star Wars OT underscore. Even the orchestration sounds straight out of ANH. Then the music becomes destinctly Gia with his slow, sad piano music. 

JW used to write action cues based around some kind of motif or as a kind of ballet with fun changes in temp accompanied by different motivic phases like the Desert Chase from Indy or The Battle of Yavin both of which have clear musical changes at important moments in the film. Contemporary JW action music is more reliant on more diverse textures and musically chaotic noise and changes in rhythm rather than a clear motivic identity.

I've been listening to the OST again and it occurred to me that the Imperial theme is very similar in character and tone to the nazi theme from The Last Crusade. The problem therefore is that the Indy movie is lighter in tone and the Empire requires a more malevolent and powerful sounding theme.
 
I think that's one of the reasons the Imperial theme sounds like a misstep to some people.

If CDs are still in use when I die, my physical JW collection will be donated to Half Price Books which is where I bought about half of my JW CD collection.
 
Growing up a young JW fan without a lot of money I would go to Half Price Books and scour their CD section looking for JW OSTs. I am so fortune to have bought treasures like Nixon in this fashion. Older people reselling/giving their JW CDs to Half Price is how I was able to jump start my own experience with JW's music. I wanna pay that forward to the next generation of young JWfans!

Anything would have been better than the actual music that plays over the title card unfortunately.