Score

D-F# is definitely an appoggiatura chord with a melodic role. There is no modulation. Note, by the way, that this piano reduction of the passage is not completely correct. The last two notes in the 4th bar have a different rhythm (in the RH you would have a dotted quaver followed by an eighth). In bar 5 the basses would have a low F from the beginning of the bar (namely: contrabass tuba and trombone 4, plus a tremolo in Celli and Violas which is around the F), which gives a very expressive force to the long appoggiatura (from C7 to Fm in the higher voices), also thanks to the sharp "voice" of the brass (in a fabolous orchestration, of course). Then, in bar 8 the second chord is wrong, it should be a "normal" C7 with G in the bass (i.e., the Fb and Ab in the RH would actually be E natural and Bb). In bar 10 the first chord should be a complete C minor, and the resolution in bar 11 (although probably not relevant for what you are studying here) is not to C minor, but to bare C's in octaves, then the English Horn takes the melody to the region of Bb dim. etcetera.

I'd be interested in seeing that if you do happen to find it, Score. I've often wondered whether the major-happy and minor-sad associations had any kind of objective basis, or whether there's another planet out there whose inhabitants blast out minor chords at parties and major ones at funerals. I would also wonder whether, if there is indeed a connection between the happy/sad connotations of types of key and tones of speech, the causal link might not be working in the opposite direction (i.e. that musical associations might influence tones of speech), etc. There was this, but it is not particularly informative (and the link to the research article therein is broken), http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2010/jun/29/minor-key-music-sad or, MUCH better, a research article (the link opens the pdf file directly): http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/4233/273364700055.pdf?sequence=1 Along similar lines, a friend of mine had a tuba teacher that once said (tongue partly in cheek) that all music can be divided into either "love songs" or "pirate songs". But actually, the major/minor duality is largely an association of Western classical music of the so-called common practice. It's very much a learned thing, not really something objective. Tempo has something to do with it as well, as do features such as dynamics, rhythmic activity, texture, and instrumental timbre. So there end up being counter-examples like the Adagietto of Mahler's 5th Symphony, a piece largely in a major key, but overwhelmingly sad, as well as Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee", which is in a minor key but with its dazzling speed and capricious spirit, doesn't sound sad as much as it does fun. Yes, in fact a major role is played by rhythm, timbre and texture (another example is the ending of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, which is in g minor, but sounds very solemn rather than sad or dramatic). In fact I think the point about the original topic is not whether only the sequence of tones determines the character communicated by a piece (which is clearly not the case), but whether all the aspects of the piece make it more effecive or not in communicating some feelings. This would apply not only to tonal music. My opinion is that there may be some objective basis based on the similarity to spoken language, which is something to which people get in touch earlier than music and use everyday, and has some very deep roots into someone's mind since it is the first way a human learns to communicate when he is a child. Of course, then, different cultures have different languages, different intonations and "speech melodies", which may also influence that culture's music. And since music is actually a very old activity, dating to pre-history, there may even have been a mutual influence, so that even music can have to some extent influenced language! Yes, but then the question is: Why do we "prefer" (at least, nowadays!) to sit into the lower harmonics and why does this give us a "coming home" feeling? The subject is definitely not easy!

This discussion is about what is perhaps the most important issue not only with modern music, but probably with a large part of modern art as well. If I understand the main point that Mr. Bortslap is trying to make, I personally agree, and I am also very sad about the state of a great part of current "art music". This does not mean that I do not listen to some avant-garde music (I like many of Ligeti's compositions, to name one), but in general I do not assign it the same value that I assign to Beethoven or Tchaikovsky, or, with the due differences, to some good film music like that of John Williams. I just think they are two different experiences. What I think Bortslap wants to say is NOT that avant-garde music is "disorder" and "chaos". Actually, anyone who is familiar with this music and has seen any sheet music of it knows that many gestures which sound chaotic are actually the result of an extremely careful planning of durations of rests and sounds and heights of pitches from the composer, which often follows very precise and detailed mathematical sequences. His point is probably that the result does not communicate much more than the "sequence" itself. In other terms, a large part of the avant-garde output (with notable exceptions!) does not give emotions (to most people, not to all!), in the sense that it does not affect the listener's state of mind in any constructive way. If this is his point, I personally agree with this, in the sense that I very often find myself completely indifferent and just annoyed when I listen to things such as "Symphonic poem for 100 metronomes", while I almost always feel enriched and I definitely experience some feelings when I listen to Mozart's or Beethoven's masterpieces. While everybody has a subjective response to music, I have always had the suspect that there must be something objective beyond the difference that most people perceive when experiencing the two kinds of music (let's call them, for simplicity, "classical" and "avant-garde", although "classical" is here intended in a very broad sense, including, for example, even jazz and the Rite of Spring). Some time ago I read that a study (I will look for a reference if I find it again) seemed to link the "sad" or "happy" feelings that are generally produced in tonal music by using minor and major keys, respectively, to the fact that some typical tones of speech that produce the same feelings fall in the same "tonal" areas (probably it's also a matter of rhythm and pitches). In other words, there would be a link between spoken language and tonal music: a minor-key piece "sounds" in some sense as a sad speech, while major-key "sounds" as a happy speech. Maybe a similar thing, if confirmed, also applies to other parameters. Perhaps there is an objective similarity between a music piece composed in the "classical" way and certain figures of speech that are familiar to all of us, which help in assimilating their emotional content. It's not just about tonality vs. atonality, but probably about the fact of having (or not): 1) an organization of pitches around some "tonal" center: this is analogous to the modulations of voice from when we start a sentence to when we finish it, which makes the listener understand our intentions; 2) a structure of the musical piece consisting of "themes" and "sections": this is analogous to the structure of a speech or a tale (why was sonata form so successful in the classical period? Because the structure involves a presentation of two distinct ideas, the elaboration of them, and a recapitulation, which is similar to what one would often do in a speech); 3) an organization of durations of sounds and rests which is not dictated "a priori" by mathematics, but by the need of conveying some message in an efficient way (the success depends on the ability of the composer to communicate). I would not be surprised if it was found that these aspects are what helps "classical" pieces to be more communicative than "avant-garde". Note that this is not related to tonality vs. atonality, but to more general properties of musical pieces, particularly to their structure. How much of this is my personal impression and how much is it objective?

I received my copy of this score recently. I am very very happy of this score, apart from two obvious typesetting mistakes in the violin lines in "Luke and Leia" (two wrong notes) that make me a bit nervous. You are right that all the cues included here are the same arrangements that were available from rental libraries, although it is very nice to have them in modern typeset "Hal Leonard" format. "Here They Come" and "Cantina Band" are indeed the same as the Fox Fanfare suite, I think with very minor changes in some markings and tempo indications (but I have not compared them, just going by memory). "Asteroid Field", unfortunately, is the old concert arrangement (not the film cue nor the "Star Wars: A Musical Journey" version, which I was somehow hoping for, which is almost identical to the film cue). I like it, but I also like the film cue more. The three cues from ROTJ ("Parade of the Ewoks", "Luke and Leia" and "The Forest Battle") are from a suite that was available for rental, to my knowledge, only in manuscript form, which included also "Jabba the Hutt" (not available in this collection). As far as I know, the only titles that were released for rental and are by now not yet published by Hal Leonard are the ones listed by MovieMusicMaestro, plus "The Little People". So, to summarize: "The Little People" from ANH "The Battle" from ANH "Han Solo and the Princess" from ESB "Finale & End Credits" from ESB "Jabba the Hutt" from ROTJ Maybe this would make for another suite release, although "Finale" from ESB would be a bit out of place. I also have the dream that they would release the full "Battle of Yavin" as in the film (not the arrangement), but I think this will never happen!

Agreed. There's much much more than nice melodies. Let's not forget that Tchaikovsky was also an incredible inventor of brilliant orchestral colours... the whole Nutcracker, the Scherzo from Symphony 4 (or the Andantino, with is just the exact "sound of Russia"), the symphonic poem Francesca da Rimini (although quite "Wagnerian"), and virtually everything from his symphonic repertoire displays an unfailing gift for orchestration, in addition to melodic invention. Perhaps I am a bit partial (Tchaikovsky is in the top three of my favourite composers!), but his 6th symphony, from the first note to the last, is to me an experience as precious as that of Beethoven's 9th, or Mahler's 5th. I too think he has a lot in common with John Williams. Maybe it is correct to say that John Williams is to some extent the "Tchaikovsky" of our time, and perhaps this is how he will be remembered.

I do not think that he can possibly be forgotten. We are in the age of internet! Almost everything that he has done can be reached with a few clicks, being saved in this sort of collective memory that the net provides. As far as his reputation is concerned, I think he will be considered as a great composer. From this point of view, I think Herrmann is more in danger.

Independence Day is another one that I would like to see.

Unfortunately, also these are out of question. Unless he changed his mind in the last few years. For the wishlist, excluding Williams and Morricone, I add: Korngold - The Adventures of Robin Hood Rozsa - Ben Hur Some scores by Herrmann like Vertigo and Marnie. Zimmer - Gladiator (yes, I like many parts of this score) Goldsmith - Alien, The Mummy, The River Wild Steiner - Gone with the Wind Jarre - Lawrence of Arabia

Let's not use "underrated" for "less discussed". Plenty of people here love that score, me included.No, it is in fact criminally underrated. It is one of my very favourite scores, I listen to parts of it frequently. It is probably in the top 10 of JW's scores.

Journey to the Island, at the cinema.

It must be there! Indeed a great piece. A friend of mine says that in his opinion it is a bit too sweet as the ending of a tragedy such as Romeo and Juliet, but I disagree... it is totally heartbreaking, and the "sweetness" is what actually makes the effect. Also the cue that immediately comes before that in the ballet (Juliet's Funeral) is outstanding and should be played! Well, I am actually a great admirer of the whole ballet, it is perhaps the greatest among Prokofiev's works. That is going to be a great concert program!

Happy birthday!

Ordered! It promises to be exciting!

Very sad. It's a bad period! RIP Riz Ortolani.

Very sad news indeed, he was one of the greatest. His recording of Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky Cantata, Lieutenant Kije Suite and Scythian Suite with London and Chicago Symphony Orchestras is the best interpretation of these pieces that I have ever heard. Well, not to mention all the rest... a sad day for music. He was, in my opinion, also a true great man independently of his job.

Depends on what further changes to copyright law will be introduced in the meantime. What do you mean? that we may see them sooner, or that they may not be EVER seen by the public eye? By the way, I don't understand why all these film music scores are kept away from public. What is the worst thing that can happen? It doesn't make any sense! Most of the Victor Young scores are available now online. What happened? Did the world stop? No. It's just that hundreds of people who loved these scores got a chance to study them now. i don't understand this thing of keeping people away from knowledge... I totally agree with you, but from what I think I understand about John Williams, I formed an opinion on that. We know he is very concerned with the way his music is presented, to the point that he wants to supervise everything about his CD releases, even combining small cues that may be completely out of chronological order to form longer tracks that he considers to be a better listening experience, or deleting "irrelevant" small cues even from complete releases (as we know, see the recent case of the full Hook, and many others). Now, a complete score sheet music would include a lot of things such as small inserts, different versions of a same cue, edits that were done just to accommodate a movie sequence that was changed, but that he would have preferred to score in a different way, etc. etc. I am pretty sure that, if it were ever possible to convince him to publish a "complete" sheet music score, he would still want to remove something, adjust something else, join cues, and who knows what else. At the end, on one side he would not like to publish the score as it is, on the other side he would need to do a very time-consuming job to make these changes, and the result is that the thing does not get done. Note that he is not completely against publishing his sheet music: he actually is the film composer that has published the largest quantity of material in original orchestration (the Signature Editions). And even so, as we know there are always differences between these concert versions and the original film cues: he really feels that he needs to re-arrange his music for publication and concerts. Having said this, I would be the first one to rejoice for publication of complete sheet music scores precisely as they are, with all their inserts, the alternate versions, the small insignificant cues together with the glorious ones, and everything else. But I think we need to convince the man himself!

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (John Williams). Egypt

Don't forget to bring also a Boesky, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros and a Leon Spinks, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever!

Note that it is a "John Williams Music Library". What we see is probably just a small part. Double sigh.

Although we already knew that, it is always nice (I would say, almost moving ) to hear this kind of praise from someone who works so closely with JW. No wonder that also those other four composers are included in the "gentlemen" list.

I think that "a certain music is / is not suited to certain musicians" is conceptually very different from "certain musicians are / are not suited to a certain music". Pope is using the first form. And as Prometheus says, he is not speaking about quality of the music, at least not explicitly.

Great news, and I am very happy to see that he looks great. TPM was, in my opinion, one of the very best scores of his career... I hope he will deliver something that good!

Eheh, I think I know what you are speaking about...

I got 10 out of 12. I missed #3 and #11 (this, in particular, is REALLY unfair!). #3 is a perfect example of how harmony is fundamental in music...

Lucky you! Just a curiosity: are the systems "optimized" (staves for instruments which are not playing in a certain system are removed), or like in the Signature Edition scores (all staves are kept in each page)?