indy4

Yup! First they start on the same note (ie in the opening track, the motif ends on a concert G, and Death's theme starts on a G). But Death's theme also descends down a minor scale after the first 2 or 3 notes

Yeah, it's pretty bad. I wonder why Spielberg didn't write something for the liner notes? He said in the recent TCM feature that he prefers the score to TLW over JP.

Schindler's List
ESB (synthesized?)
RotJ
TPM
AotC
RotS
Harry Potter (all 3)
Indiana Jones (all 4)
Lincoln
Jurassic Park
Family Plot
Sleepers
Rosewood
Hook
SPR
Superman
The Terminal
Thomas and the King
Penelope
War of the Worlds
John Goldfarb Please Come Home
How to sTeal a Million
Not With My Wife You Don't
Monsignor
Home Alone
Home Alone 2
Heartbeeps
Goodbye Mr. Chips
Call of theChampions
AI
Amistad
Empire of the Sun
and I think that's it?

I'd say Williams' modern action music is his most original stylistic tendencies. I haven't heard any other style like it, in film music or in the concert hall. At least, not anything written before Williams' created the style in Jurassic Park.

Attack of the Clones has some very Herrmannesque moments.

Some of my favorites:
Copland--the "Scotch snap" in Americana music and the use of major triads as motifs
Stravinsky--the famous chord/rhythmic device from Rite of Spring

Come on!
 
It is the most elegiac and the most operatic - and by those virtues it has more than enough of its own identity, compared to The Last Jedi. This identity isn't necessarily conveyed through Battle of the Heroes (which, I agree, isn't one of Williams' best), but more-so through the excellent lament material.

Having listened to the album a few times and seen the film once, my initial impression is...not great. There are some strong moments, but overall this probably the weakest John Williams Star Wars score in my view. The main reason is there was far too great a reliance on existing themes and cues. There are so many characters in the Star Wars universe, that the impression I got was JW (or perhaps Rian) was using every excuse he had to lean on music that had essentially been written for the previous 7 films. "Oh this scene involves Leia, let's essentially cut-and-paste from her concert theme. And now the Resistance is fighting, let's do the same for them. Oh look, Leia is talking about Han, we'll have to use their love theme." And some of the pasted material doesn't really make much sense (I won't say which to avoid spoiling anything). As many have pointed out, the end credits piece is hopelessly scatterbrained.
 
The best piece is by far "The Rebellion is Reborn" which is very strong. The best new theme is the one for (I think?) the Resistance that shows up in "Rebellion is Reborn." Although I think it might have been better suited to represent the prequel's Republic - it sounds very regal and tragic to my ears. And I must say, the fact that JW is able to lean on his preexisting work is a testament to the incredible library of themes he has developed over the decades. He could have easily written a passable score without creating a single new theme.
 
I was not blown away by TFA, but at least there was a fair amount of newness and cohesion there. Maybe TLJ will grow on me overtime, we'll see. My hope is that this is more a result of Rian Johnson's direction than JW's (lack of) inspiration with the saga. If so, perhaps Episode 9 will be more inspired.
 
And for the record, I love the prequel scores and think they easily stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the original trilogy.

It's not the lack of new themes that bothers me. It's the reliance on music that is pasted directly from old cues. consider ROTS, which used the force theme a lot but in very interesting ways IMO. Or the set pieces (ie ROTS opener) that don't introduce many new themes but are still different than previous music we've heard. Instead of just tracking in TIE fighter attack.
 
which is not to say there is no new music in TLJ - there's just less. Some of it is good, some is not 

It's not the lack of new themes that bothers me. It's the reliance on music that is pasted directly from old cues. consider ROTS, which used the force theme a lot but in very interesting ways IMO. Or the set pieces (ie ROTS opener) that don't introduce many new themes but are still different than previous music we've heard. Instead of just tracking in TIE fighter attack.
 
which is not to say there is no new music in TLJ - there's just less. Some of it is good, some is not 

Having listened to the album a few times and seen the film once, my initial impression is...not great. There are some strong moments, but overall this probably the weakest John Williams Star Wars score in my view. The main reason is there was far too great a reliance on existing themes and cues. There are so many characters in the Star Wars universe, that the impression I got was JW (or perhaps Rian) was using every excuse he had to lean on music that had essentially been written for the previous 7 films. "Oh this scene involves Leia, let's essentially cut-and-paste from her concert theme. And now the Resistance is fighting, let's do the same for them. Oh look, Leia is talking about Han, we'll have to use their love theme." And some of the pasted material doesn't really make much sense (I won't say which to avoid spoiling anything). As many have pointed out, the end credits piece is hopelessly scatterbrained.
 
The best piece is by far "The Rebellion is Reborn" which is very strong. The best new theme is the one for (I think?) the Resistance that shows up in "Rebellion is Reborn." Although I think it might have been better suited to represent the prequel's Republic - it sounds very regal and tragic to my ears. And I must say, the fact that JW is able to lean on his preexisting work is a testament to the incredible library of themes he has developed over the decades. He could have easily written a passable score without creating a single new theme.
 
I was not blown away by TFA, but at least there was a fair amount of newness and cohesion there. Maybe TLJ will grow on me overtime, we'll see. My hope is that this is more a result of Rian Johnson's direction than JW's (lack of) inspiration with the saga. If so, perhaps Episode 9 will be more inspired.
 
And for the record, I love the prequel scores and think they easily stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the original trilogy.

Having listened to the album a few times and seen the film once, my initial impression is...not great. There are some strong moments, but overall this probably the weakest John Williams Star Wars score in my view. The main reason is there was far too great a reliance on existing themes and cues. There are so many characters in the Star Wars universe, that the impression I got was JW (or perhaps Rian) was using every excuse he had to lean on music that had essentially been written for the previous 7 films. "Oh this scene involves Leia, let's essentially cut-and-paste from her concert theme. And now the Resistance is fighting, let's do the same for them. Oh look, Leia is talking about Han, we'll have to use their love theme." And some of the pasted material doesn't really make much sense (I won't say which to avoid spoiling anything). As many have pointed out, the end credits piece is hopelessly scatterbrained.
 
The best piece is by far "The Rebellion is Reborn" which is very strong. The best new theme is the one for (I think?) the Resistance that shows up in "Rebellion is Reborn." Although I think it might have been better suited to represent the prequel's Republic - it sounds very regal and tragic to my ears. And I must say, the fact that JW is able to lean on his preexisting work is a testament to the incredible library of themes he has developed over the decades. He could have easily written a passable score without creating a single new theme.
 
I was not blown away by TFA, but at least there was a fair amount of newness and cohesion there. Maybe TLJ will grow on me overtime, we'll see. My hope is that this is more a result of Rian Johnson's direction than JW's (lack of) inspiration with the saga. If so, perhaps Episode 9 will be more inspired.
 
And for the record, I love the prequel scores and think they easily stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the original trilogy.

I like this score! It's much more understated even than Lincoln, but there are some really nice moments that shine through. And unlike TLJ, it doesn't suffer from scatterbrainedness or an over reliance on music that's already been written.

Thank you so much! At it's heart, this is a fan project of my highest attempt!
I just wanted to be more formal as I'm new to this forum. I've been respectfully reading it for years.
It was done by me! The originator of this project. Sorry if it came off as impersonal.
See above...
Yes! And thanks Rick, for your willingness to support something, which on the surface, may seem weird, but if you dig deeper, is yet another example of a serious artist's work, in honor of JW.
If you look here: https://jimnova.com/about/
 
You'll hear about my history with JW.
 
I sent him a recording of my Superman recording: 
 
 
and JW sent me this letter:

 
I agree with you that much of the less prominent pieces JW wrote, are quite potent and powerful to the narrative.
 
I hope you all enjoy this project!
 
Please let me know your thoughts and of course I understand some may not approve of this. I hope you all view it in the lens it was viewed and recorded: as a musician who loves JW's artistry and even though I play in a major orchestra, I wish I could play his music much more often than I do!

Pittsburgh Symphony Trombonist Releases Star Wars Album
 
James Nova, trombonist in the Pittsburgh Symphony orchestra, has released a new album for trombone choir, A Fall from Light to Dark. Through the chosen moments of John Williams’ masterful scores, this album musically chronicles the rise and descent of Anakin Skywalker as he transforms into Darth Vader.
 
Jim has had a lifelong love of John Williams’ film scores since his Dad took him and his brother to see The Empire Strikes Back in the theater. Throughout his career he has performed and recorded with John Williams on several occasions, with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops as well as the Utah Symphony.
 
In 2012, Jim was preparing for another season with the Pittsburgh Symphony and thought a fun way to get into shape would be to overdub (or “Novadub”) one of his John Williams trombone choir transcriptions. He chose his transcription of the Superman March as his first effort. He posted it on SoundCloud. Fast forward to now and his SoundCloud page has passed 600,000 listens! He decided it was time to make an actual commercial album and set out learning the art of mixing and mastering, which brings him to this project: A Fall from Light to Dark.
 
Some of you may think, “trombone choir?” Trombone choir is a rich and varied color ensemble capable of powerful, crushing, devastating and also tender, introspective, delicate moments. This album demonstrates the power of John Williams’ scores and how they translate so well to this medium.
 
All transcriptions, playing, recording, editing, mixing and mastering by James Nova.
 
To hear some clips and learn more about Jim, visit jimnova.com
 
 

So are the people making out during the flight to Neverland.

By Request is the JW album that got me interested in orchestral music so that's my pick

I would add the trombone hits right before Luke jumps into the Pit in RotJ. Family Guy has a great feature on it:

Speaking of sw, how about the end of clash f lightsabers?

It's a guilty pleasure for me.

Williams just confirmed he will be scoring episode VIII at the Tanglewood concert (at least I am almost certain he said it).  He will see a first print in a couple of weeks. 

Interesting thread, love the examples!
 
 
General Grievous from RotS is what came to my mind the first time I read the title. I just love the raw power and rhythmic nature of this cue, it's nothing he's ever done for Star Wars before and since.
(Zam would have been my number 2 choice, it's a shame both are heavily edited or differently arranged in the movies themselves)
 

Normally, I await in-depth listening untill I have the physical CD, but I haven't even ordered it yet. Instead, I've been listening to it on Spotify 5-6 times, and it's growing on me. The first impression was already better than with TFA, so this bodes well. Whimsical or not, there are some strong thematic cores here; and the 'concert music'-like segments (like the "flute concerto" that is "Dream Jars") is a new direction for Williams. I've rarely heard him do this before.

"Sierra Leone, 1839 And The Capture Of Cinque" from Amistad

Do we have possible photo evidence or better yet film footage of John Williams growing his beard?