karelm

Stunning.

I just adore this lyrical and evocative work and in particular, this performance:
 

I have heard around 75 recordings of this work and Dutoit is probably the strongest overall if you want a single recording and Previn/LSO is a very fine alternative.  What is the reason you don't like these?  What are they not doing for you? 
 
Also listen to this survey of various recordings:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p027rvhn

Hey!  I worked on this!  Thanks for posting.

You know what, we learned from each other.  It made us all better in that it was competitive.  At the time it felt manipulative and crude especially for me coming from a classical world but we did secretly try to impress each other too so ultimately it was a growth experience.  I truly loved my time at USC bruises and all.  I have one very sweet memory...maybe the first week into class, Austin and I had lunch at a place he introduced me to that became a favorite of mine and I've frequently had lunch there for networking purposes.  Our whole class was new to town so didn't know anyone in this big scary town called LA but all shared the same dream.  After lunch, we sat in my car for maybe an hour or two listening to each others demo CD and giving kind and supportive feedback like "oh cool, interesting harmonic choice there" or something like that. I loved the fact that he was into space as I was and his earliest demo music was space music which was all he had then plus we were totally geeking out to our mutual love of the greats like Horner, Goldsmith, and Williams.  We basically couldn't wait to talk music details and show each other our stuff.  Note Zimmer at the time wasn't known for Pirates or the super hero genre stuff but Austin absolutely loved Zimmer's quirky music like As Good as It Gets.  These were very nice memories to sit in the car and talk deeply about music for hours with a serious fan.  Austin was very young.  I believe 22 and was finishing his last year of undergrad while doing the grad program (which is why he studied with Morten since he still had an undergrad degree to finish and the grad program required the completion of undergrad to quality).  My time with Morten was limited to a masterclass and I frankly have had more time with John Williams than Morten.  I saw him frequently (probably weekly) and we had access to him but frankly, our focus was elsewhere.  Austin never doubted himself which was the complete opposite of me and my classical peers who constantly doubted ourselves.  Frankly, that wasn't an endearing quality when someone so young was so confident of their talent.  In music school, it gets tiring meeting people who believe they are the next Stravinsky.  But he did grow up over the years since and I now appreciate what originally frustrated me realizing these are just quirks which anyone has.  I think what made me appreciate him much more as a person was his response to the AFA fine.  He handled that with grace, courage and conviction and I believe grew from the experience which I think happened when he lost his father to heart failure.  I lost my dad to heart failure 17 years ago so found his courage through this endearing.  In 2016 we were both nominated for the same major award.  I had worked on the music team of a modest video game score but he had worked on a major brand's score (sorry I don't remember what it was!).  When they announced his name as a nominee, from the applause it was clear he would win and I was genuinely delighted for him.  We are no longer competitors, he has eclipsed me and I am thrilled for his success.  Frankly, he deserves it and is much more comfortable in the lime light.   He really is a very good guy and most people discovered this sooner than I did. I miss our talks in a car listening to each others stuff and talking about our shared love of music for hours.

I think you are right.  It is also a generational thing I think.  It is no false modesty but a very sincere disinterest in talking about a major achievement in their life that everyone else seems to revere.  Another example of this is Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 astronauts.  They hated talking about the mission and it showed.  I think I have maybe only seen one or two good interviews circa 1969 where they actually seemed engaged and after that, they just seemed to really not get why this captured the worlds attention.  In Armstrong's case, he became quite reluctant to discuss anything other than the most superficial description of his lunar experiences.  He was first and foremost an aviator and his mode of expression was not to verbally discuss his inner thoughts, feelings, insights, historical/cultural impact, etc., but would rather discuss the mechanics of space flight, propulsion, descent, etc.  He was a very private man and never sought publicity or fame and got out of the public spotlight as soon as he could.  He just so happened to be immortalized in the history books for his significant accomplishment.  I think this is generally the same with JW.  These men see themselves as professionals doing their job to the very best of their abilities at that time with little notice of its full impact.  He has nothing to hide, just values his privacy and is very pleased with the joy many of us get from his work, but finds there is nothing more of interest to be said about it that can't be learned from the product available to the masses.

Thanks for sharing these thoughts so candidly. 

I believe this is in fact true. 
My guess is Williams prefers composing and performing music rather than dissecting music.

I think you are right.  It is also a generational thing I think.  It is no false modesty but a very sincere disinterest in talking about a major achievement in their life that everyone else seems to revere.  Another example of this is Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 astronauts.  They hated talking about the mission and it showed.  I think I have maybe only seen one or two good interviews circa 1969 where they actually seemed engaged and after that, they just seemed to really not get why this captured the worlds attention.  In Armstrong's case, he became quite reluctant to discuss anything other than the most superficial description of his lunar experiences.  He was first and foremost an aviator and his mode of expression was not to verbally discuss his inner thoughts, feelings, insights, historical/cultural impact, etc., but would rather discuss the mechanics of space flight, propulsion, descent, etc.  He was a very private man and never sought publicity or fame and got out of the public spotlight as soon as he could.  He just so happened to be immortalized in the history books for his significant accomplishment.  I think this is generally the same with JW.  These men see themselves as professionals doing their job to the very best of their abilities at that time with little notice of its full impact.  He has nothing to hide, just values his privacy and is very pleased with the joy many of us get from his work, but finds there is nothing more of interest to be said about it that can't be learned from the product available to the masses.

You know what, we learned from each other.  It made us all better in that it was competitive.  At the time it felt manipulative and crude especially for me coming from a classical world but we did secretly try to impress each other too so ultimately it was a growth experience.  I truly loved my time at USC bruises and all.  I have one very sweet memory...maybe the first week into class, Austin and I had lunch at a place he introduced me to that became a favorite of mine and I've frequently had lunch there for networking purposes.  Our whole class was new to town so didn't know anyone in this big scary town called LA but all shared the same dream.  After lunch, we sat in my car for maybe an hour or two listening to each others demo CD and giving kind and supportive feedback like "oh cool, interesting harmonic choice there" or something like that. I loved the fact that he was into space as I was and his earliest demo music was space music which was all he had then plus we were totally geeking out to our mutual love of the greats like Horner, Goldsmith, and Williams.  We basically couldn't wait to talk music details and show each other our stuff.  Note Zimmer at the time wasn't known for Pirates or the super hero genre stuff but Austin absolutely loved Zimmer's quirky music like As Good as It Gets.  These were very nice memories to sit in the car and talk deeply about music for hours with a serious fan.  Austin was very young.  I believe 22 and was finishing his last year of undergrad while doing the grad program (which is why he studied with Morten since he still had an undergrad degree to finish and the grad program required the completion of undergrad to quality).  My time with Morten was limited to a masterclass and I frankly have had more time with John Williams than Morten.  I saw him frequently (probably weekly) and we had access to him but frankly, our focus was elsewhere.  Austin never doubted himself which was the complete opposite of me and my classical peers who constantly doubted ourselves.  Frankly, that wasn't an endearing quality when someone so young was so confident of their talent.  In music school, it gets tiring meeting people who believe they are the next Stravinsky.  But he did grow up over the years since and I now appreciate what originally frustrated me realizing these are just quirks which anyone has.  I think what made me appreciate him much more as a person was his response to the AFA fine.  He handled that with grace, courage and conviction and I believe grew from the experience which I think happened when he lost his father to heart failure.  I lost my dad to heart failure 17 years ago so found his courage through this endearing.  In 2016 we were both nominated for the same major award.  I had worked on the music team of a modest video game score but he had worked on a major brand's score (sorry I don't remember what it was!).  When they announced his name as a nominee, from the applause it was clear he would win and I was genuinely delighted for him.  We are no longer competitors, he has eclipsed me and I am thrilled for his success.  Frankly, he deserves it and is much more comfortable in the lime light.   He really is a very good guy and most people discovered this sooner than I did. I miss our talks in a car listening to each others stuff and talking about our shared love of music for hours.

I think you are right.  It is also a generational thing I think.  It is no false modesty but a very sincere disinterest in talking about a major achievement in their life that everyone else seems to revere.  Another example of this is Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 astronauts.  They hated talking about the mission and it showed.  I think I have maybe only seen one or two good interviews circa 1969 where they actually seemed engaged and after that, they just seemed to really not get why this captured the worlds attention.  In Armstrong's case, he became quite reluctant to discuss anything other than the most superficial description of his lunar experiences.  He was first and foremost an aviator and his mode of expression was not to verbally discuss his inner thoughts, feelings, insights, historical/cultural impact, etc., but would rather discuss the mechanics of space flight, propulsion, descent, etc.  He was a very private man and never sought publicity or fame and got out of the public spotlight as soon as he could.  He just so happened to be immortalized in the history books for his significant accomplishment.  I think this is generally the same with JW.  These men see themselves as professionals doing their job to the very best of their abilities at that time with little notice of its full impact.  He has nothing to hide, just values his privacy and is very pleased with the joy many of us get from his work, but finds there is nothing more of interest to be said about it that can't be learned from the product available to the masses.

Forgive the "repost" but as I've been listening to portions of this on repeat...I am struggling to think of a more satisfying piece of music than the Prelude to Act 1. Followed by that beautiful choral segment...pure bliss! (The beginning of Act 2 (1:26:52) is great too.)

Sorry, I was (again) drunk when I wrote this. 

I'll second that!
 
Now if Williams himself could only be convinced to allow a much-needed book on his Star Wars music to be written...

I think Rogue one was much better paced in the second half but the first half is a mess of poor pacing and superfluous sub plot/secondary characters.  It is certainly not the model of pacing and structure at least not the first half.

Here is my spoiler-free analysis of the new themes from The Last Jedi:
 
http://www.filmmusicnotes.com/new-musical-themes-and-their-meaning-in-the-last-jedi/
 
Enjoy!

I have been introduced to this young composer today and think he's fabulous.  The Latvian composer, Eriks Esenvalds (b. 1977) and his "Visions of Arctic Night":
Vigorous, imaginative, immediacy...I want to hear more from him!  I have a hunch he is a John Williams fan.
 

Hey man, have some respect.  The man could write great music and pretty much changed the face of western music and that isn't an easy thing to do. 

Not a score but so far his most mature orchestral work 
 
 

5. Rian provided a temp track and JW decided if, when, and how he would follow it allowing for creative liberties and in some cases JW ignoring it.  <- This is what happened.

Treble and bass clefs in cut time, no?

This point has been raised several times and makes no sense to me  You do understand that in a military context the leadership does not owe an explanation to the subordinates, right?  During D Day, the troops were actually NOT told the risk they were going to take because if they understood the risk they might have backed out.  Basically, what are you talking about?  This was intentional to keep the troops in the dark.  Your point makes no sense in real life historical context.   If you are referring to fiction only, then it is equally a meaningless point since you are describing a fictional situation.

This point has been raised several times and makes no sense to me  You do understand that in a military context the leadership does not owe an explanation to the subordinates, right?  During D Day, the troops were actually NOT told the risk they were going to take because if they understood the risk they might have backed out.  Basically, what are you talking about?  This was intentional to keep the troops in the dark.  Your point makes no sense in real life historical context.   If you are referring to fiction only, then it is equally a meaningless point since you are describing a fictional situation.

Luke and Ren's light sabers never actually touch.  Along with no footprints from Luke as Chen G said. 
 
Rian: It is very much a variant of when Luke went into the tree cave in Dagobah, Rey gets a very different answer when she questions her role and her path.  This island has an incredible light represented by the jedi tree on top and incredible darkness represented by this cave.  She goes in looking for answers and what it shows her is her greatest fear which is in her search for the truth of her identity, there are all these various possibilities seemingly going off into infinity.  She comes to the end looking for an answer to her identity and it is ultimately just her alone.