Eric_JWFAN

We already have...his name was Jerry Goldsmith, and in some cases I daresay he surpassed Williams' attention to detail. Well... needless to say, I strongly disagree. Although JG could write some damn good music.

I am intrigued about this as well. I've been using EWQL Symphony Orchestra for the last couple years and I love it, but I am ready for a change. I noticed the new Halion has an academic version that is about half the cost as the regular. Anyone know if there is any difference?

Definitely meant the ability to write like JW. I realize there's great stuff that isn't the brassy fanfare type. One of my very favorite scores in recent memory is Elfman's score to A Simple Plan. Not a big score, but with a very unusual instrumentation involving twenty-something flutes and detuned guitars and pianos creating some of the most spine chilling music I've heard. So no, I agree it doesn't have too be the big thematic overture for it to be good. But when it comes to those overture-types, no one writes with the intricacies of Williams. I remember years back one of my composition friends used to whine "Williams has it easy because he gets to write overtures, which are so simple". Well, yeah, when you write them like John Barry, they are. When it's a melody and an accompanniment, sure it's easy. But not when you write them like John Williams. There is more craziness going on underneath those lead trumpets in the Overture to Star Wars than probably anyone would ever dare try to write. And yet all that chaos under that melody is somehow controlled enough and doesn't intrude, it's just blends perfectly. I realize I am preaching to the choir here, as we all (or most of us) agree JW is in a class by himself. But I just wonder if anyone on this planet is capable of writing that style. I disagree that everyone needs to be different. JW's style obviously works, and it's what we want. If someone, somewhere on this planet is capable of writing like that, he should do it. There's room for another film composer with that ability.

Well that's not what I meant. I meant there are few if any non-JW scores over this time that sound like John Williams, even though many are apparently trying. Not that there hasn't been any "great" scores, because there has. Just not ones that use JW's level of orchestral detail.

Well I am referring to the Star Wars/ET/Hook John Williams, not the Terminal/Presumed Innocent John Williams. If you know of any with that level of orchestration, please fill me in. edited: okay maybe Stargate has some John Williams moments, but I am really struggling to think of more.

True... but there are few mediums where its greatest master is so head and shoulders better than the rest of the pack. Even in basketball, D.Wade looked a lot like MJ over the last couple weeks. I don't think I've heard a score over the past few decades that I felt could have been John Williams.

Definitely Jaws.. Also Ravel's Bolero and Chopin's Funeral March (2nd Piano Sonata 3rd mvmt)

I've been a lurker here for a while, and I thought I'd finally post. I am a composer (very little work for film) and an avid fan of JW. Over the years, I've gone through various "composer of the month" phases, but the one I always seem to keep coming back to is JW. I decided to use my first post to vent. Like many of you, I love film music in general, but have been disappointed with most of the scores for the recent films that should have stand out music. It is clear that this newer generation of composers is far less skilled at composition in general, particularly when it comes to orchestration. Is there no one out there capable of writing in this style? Today's composers seem to take the easy way out and use cookie cutter techniques: the obnoxiously loud heavy metallic percussion hits in syncopation that has become a staple of recent action movies and thrillers, the myth that the piano is the only instrument suitable for tender moments, and of course the most common shortcut- The long held notes in the strings to underscore moments of suspended tension. The quality dropoff is no more evident than when you look at Patrick Doyle's disappointing job in Harry Potter GOF. I realize it's not easy to do a follow up score in a series started by Williams, but Doyle's lacks all the details that Williams used to help create that Harry Potter "magic". No movies in recent memory call for that dazzling whimsical style of orchestration than the HP series. You can sense Doyle is trying, but he just doesn't have "it". God only knows what we'll get with Nick Hooper, but I guess I am willing to give him a chance. Williams shows a much higher awareness of the possibilities of the traditional orchestra. He can write "busy" music without it being intruding. He realizes you can have more than one moving line. He has mastered the art of chord color. He knows how to incorporate the various bowing techniques of the strings. He knows not to underestimate the effectiiveness of the woodwinds. He knows that the trumpet is not just a melody instrument for fanfares. Listen to William Walton (2nd best orchestrator of the 20th century after Stravinsky imho), listen to his 2nd symphony and you'll hear John Williams. JW is in this class, and no other composer for film in the last 25 years is. Not Goldsmith, not Zimmer, or any of the Newmans. Not even Alan Silvestri (although I do love his music). Sidenote, I realize it's unclear how much orchestration JW (or any other film composer) is actually doing on his projects, but I believe his music is composed with the orchestral assignments in mind and if in fact he doesn't do all his orchestrations, he obviously gives an enormous amount of input on what specifically he wants. Will we see another composer with the craftsmanship and attention to detail of John Williams? Or just more Klaus Badelts? (average quality, memorable "tunes", and very very loud)