Remco

The Last Jedi really is a fantastic score. Btw, mostly in an expanded version.

I wonder if the producers will maybe repair some of the more glaring errors from the original release. There should be a way to fix Main Titles for instance. But yeah, probably not, most likely a lazy cash-in.

This is 100% true and it shows how detached these ‘critics’ are from reality. And they’re part of the reason that we have difficulty filling the concert hall while the younger generation of musicians feel like they can’t do anything outside of the box because they’ve always been told what’s right and what’s not. Until you get very famous, so I’m happy for all the classical superstars that have played JW’s work.

First disc of A.I. is great I think. Yeah it’s not very accesible, but if you’re in for some kind of hallucinant trip it’s perfect. The second disc is something else though.

True, but then there’s also the link through Strauss to Wagner, and Korngold did openly adore Wagner’s music if I recall correctly. I don’t think any Austro-German composer escaped his influence at the time.

Korngold’s 1927 opera ‘Das Wunder der Heliane’ is essentially post-Wagnerian and the blueprint for his Hollywood scores. It’s really a gargantuan film score written in a time when film didn’t even exist. So yeah, I think it’s mainly Korngold who is the link between Wagner and Williams.

Thank you so much @Linae. This is precisely what I meant. I can’t agree with his general opinion on JW but his insights on A.I. and CMIYC are very interesting, coming from the perspective of a classical critic.

Thanks a lot Thor, nice to see more serious replies after all. If you ever have the time to go on about ‘why’ I’m very curious to hear (or even if you’ve written something in Norwegian before). I noticed that John Mauceri considers it JW’s greatest ‘modern’ score and I’ve read multiple music critics praising the score even when they admitted that they were not a fan of Williams and his usual blockbuster scores. That’s what I mainly find fascinating and I wonder how this general consensus came to be.

I find it gets better everytime I see it. But the music is on another level for me regardless.

So this score is hands down one of my favorite ever written and I can see enough reasons why I love it – but what I’ve noticed reading the forums is that somehow it is held in really high regard also from a sort of academic/filmscore critics point of view. Even when they’re not a fan of Williams this score gets singled out. My question is basically: why is that? For myself I think what makes it so powerful is that the movie itself deals with some philosophical questions that the music itself manages to convey much more than the film itself. I guess Williams also has a reputation for his blockbusters that don’t necessary need this approach to music. Oh and I wonder: how many temp-tracks have been spotted? On top of my head, I can come up with Khatchaturian for the opening, Reich for the minimalism, Ligeti Lux Aeterna, and someone mentioned Gorecki third symphony. Edit: sorry @Jay can you move it to the JW discussion? Made a mistake.

I agree with you generally but still people should realize the efforts of Spencer/Pope/Graham are for the most part negligible regarding the way the music sounds, it's always JW's music through and through.

I love them all, and being able to follow JW on his work through this forum has been a real joy for me. Also I’m sure many would look differently at them if they were recorded in London, but alas. When I listen through the acoustics of the room I still hear the richness in orchestration that JW is known for. The album presentations are not always ideal as well, but with the FYC and isolated score of TLJ it’s possible to assemble all kinds of exciting listening experiences.

A fine addition to my collection!

But also a FULL SCORE... legendary.

Oh wow, I really had no idea! Thanks for sharing

I think the motif is cool, doesn’t need to be more than it is for these redundant characters. As for Duel of the Fates, I’m absolutely convinced that these are all false rumors that originated in clickbait websites taking Don Williams’ words about the ‘Phantom’ theme totally out of context. I don’t think it was ever recorded or even planned.

It’s amazing generally how Powell treats his fans. Not just speaking about this release, but also his online presence (talking about the themes of his scores and such) it’s almost like he is a film composer who started out as a film music fan.

Well Hans needs an orchestrator anyway because someone needs to write out the MIDI to sheet music and proofread. As I understand the score was made under considerable time pressure so dividing the work among 7 people (maybe some of them weren’t available for the whole period?) doesn’t say that much I think. I mean there are JW scores with 3 orchestrators (or maybe even more) and it says literally nothing about the creative process.

Yeah it's clear that many just love JJ as a person. Which I totally understand from what I've seen from him – Williams also is enamoured with him even which makes little sense if you think about how Abrams handled his scores.

It's not so much about what you or I think about the movies, but you can't leave Boyega's 'boy' JJ alone if you want to talk about the poor handling of his character and by extension the racism he talks about – to me it seems that he solely blames Johnson for it and I think that's unacceptable.

It isn't about what TLJ did, it's that whatever TROS did is so much worse in my opinion. You cannot only blame Rian Johnson for his arc and claim that Abrams did just fine.

I'm really perplexed by this. Surely Johnson's handling of the character wasn't ideal (although, with good intentions I would say), I just CAN'T get my head around this defending of Abrams and by extension attack on Johnson's (IMO vastly superior) film. Finn's character was absolutely at its worst in TROS. Abrams didn't need to save someone's 'shit', he just needed to write a decent story.

I can live without Hedwig and Tintin, but Remembrance should have totally been on the CD. If they swapped it with Jaws, and had re-recorded SW Main Titles my impression of the album would be already quite different I guess!

Totally off-topic, but you have an awesome signature. On-topic: Thanks for your work, @Holko🤩

That's very true, yes.