BTR1701

Really? Because this is one of the rare times JW has disappointed me. The end credits (Finale) was JW's opportunity to wave a musical goodbye to the franchise, the fans, and basically 40+ years of his life's work, and instead of new, original, and poignant material, he basically copy/pasted the Imperial March from the Hal Leonard Signature Series, did some stuff with Rey's theme, then copy/pasted the end of RETURN OF THE JEDI. It's like he finished scoring the film, then realized he still had almost 11 minutes of credits to fill and was, "I'm tired of this, I'll just take a bunch of stuff that'll fill the time from previous films and call it a day." I thought his end credits music in FORCE AWAKENS was far superior, especially the way it ended on a variation of the Rebel Fanfare, then a quiet denouement to a major chord in the basses with Luke's theme quietly ringing out in solo celeste. That was an emotional gut-punch the first time I heard it. This was just, "Oh, that again? I've heard that a dozen times in every Hollywood Bowl concert ever." I don't like how it was mixed. The brass-- especially the trumpets-- is a lot tinnier and weaker than previous recordings.

Williams' SUPERMAN themes were recently used in the CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event (as well as Elfman's BATMAN theme). And they weren't orchestrated the way the were in the films. I doubt Williams was involved with scoring a CW show, either.

My wish would be for the Chicago Symphony to re-record the score to RETURN OF THE JEDI. I really don't like the quality of the original recording and that legendary CSO brass would own that score.

That principal violin is quite a biscuit!

I thought it was interesting that comments from the professionals who are involved in recording these cues are similar to the folks here with regard to the sound quality of Abbey vs Sony. https://www.finalemusic.com/blog/may-the-fourth-spotlight-on-joann-kane-music/ Can you say anything about the difference in working on Star Wars music with an American orchestra in a different studio? The LSO is a leading, well-established, top symphony orchestra. They play together all the time and they have a definite kind of overall sound and Abbey Road also has got its own unique sound. We’re working with a studio orchestra in L.A. which is a fine orchestra, at Sony, one of the L.A. scoring stages in Culver City. It’s a big room that can absorb a lot of sound. And so there’s a denser kind of feel to the sound the orchestra makes than at Abbey Road – it’s not quite as bright. It’s a slightly different experience. I also found it interesting that Williams apparently doesn't use an orchestrator anymore, instead sending his sketches directly to Joann Kane, which prepares the scores and parts from the sketches. Can you describe your workflow on these films? John Williams writes very detailed handwritten sketches. On the prequels, these sketches went to orchestrators. The orchestrators would write pencil scores and we would copy parts into Finale. But for the past six or seven years, John has just sent the sketches directly to us. We put them straight into Finale. I’ve kind of edited them, checked them out myself, and then we’ve used them at the stage for recording.

What's a no? Your antecedent is vague.

I don't agree with all of this guy's analysis, but he does make some good points, especially regarding the overuse of the Force Theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB4lULC87Oo

Very true. I prefer the Chicago Symphony because they are legendary for their powerful brass section, and STAR WARS is a brass-heavy genre. Of course, with digital editing these days, it's really all up to the guy in the booth how it comes across on an album recording.

Eh, I'd prefer the Chicago Symphony if they're going to go outside the studio players.

The music belongs to the studio, yes. But absent a contractual requirement that the composer turn over all notes, sketches, and scores at the end of the project, the physical pieces of paper that the composer writes it all out on belong to the composer.

The studios only own the intellectual property-- the music itself. Williams owns the physical pieces of paper, so if he donates them to Julliard, then yes, Julliard will own those paper sheets.

Well, it's not big band, but Spielberg is doing a theatrical remake of WEST SIDE STORY. Perhaps JW will do the arrangements for that.

Speaking as someone who used to be a professional musician (trumpet) many years ago, I'd say you have to be a pretty good performer to play under Williams because his conducting from what I've seen isn't very technically accurate. That doesn't matter, though, given the high level of talent in the musicians he works with. I think a more amateur orchestra would have a tough time following his style. Having said that, I have noticed that JW's conducting style on stage vs. how he conducts during recording sessions is different. He's much more technical on the soundstage, whereas I think I he conducts more for the audience on the concert stage.

*That* post was about SOLO. The subsequent post referencing RAIDERS and talking about the use of percussion in general was not.

I wasn't talking about this film specifically, but rather the modern trend in general, i.e., any of the Marvel film scores.

So we've reached the ad hominem part of the discussion already, have we? Well, that was quick. You have fun with that. I'm out.

Well, he used real snares, for one thing. Not drums created by a computer and played by a computer with none of the human quality a real player brings to a performance.

Percussion, when used effectively and musically, is wonderful. ('Desert Chase' from RAIDERS, for example) But when it's just one big copy/paste, often from an a loop library, it's *is* generic and repetitive and boring.

Yeah, that's it. Not enough endless looped booming electronic drums! Williams' problem is that he just hasn't made his music generic and repetitive enough.

What legal reasons? All they had to do was pay the ASCAP fee. Simple.

I very much disagree. When music is recorded in separate chunks that way, it sounds 'wrong' to me. I can never put my finger on exactly what is off, but it doesn't sound like an orchestra should. It doesn't sound like a real performance by a full orchestra.

These scores don't just exist in a vacuum. They complement films which are part of a larger universe and that universe has already been musically established. It would be odd indeed for a STAR WARS score to be completely divorced from the larger universe to which it belongs. It's like questioning why every movie has to have stormtroopers in it, or the Force, or the Empire. The answer is obvious: because it's STAR WARS.

It's what I saw on screen.

He didn't fall because he took a wife. He fell because he felt guilty for doing it and needing to hide it from the other Jedi. If he'd been allowed to date and marry openly, no one would know the name Darth Vader.

Um... Darth Vader is an element of the prequels.