Desplat13

Yeah, I began one using NOTION for their composer contest but then ended up doing a Bartok-inspired piece instead. Corigliano is one of the judges this year so perhaps I'll just re-work that one. I've always got a few pieces I'm simultaneously working on. I guess I have creative ADD. what contest? Not that I need competition with you guys (you fellows have some solid chops on this forum) but NOTION is a software product that has integrated London Symphony samples built into the notation program. You simply plot the notes on the screen with the articulations and dynamics you want, even phrasing, and it selects the correct sample automatically. No need for searching through ones sample libraries and and assigning MIDI channels. Just compose! That's amazing, I knwe that the LSO had samples, but this sounds exactly like what I need. I know how to put notes on staves in MIDI programs but I have never mastered how to use samples. Therefore I always have a very unreliable and unrealistic sound from which I have to get my audio 'feedback' of what I write. Can you link to a site for technical and pricing details? I don't use NOTION, so I cannot say how good it is. But, if you are willing to sink some money into your work, than I would HIGHLY recommend the Vienna Symphonic Library. And now, if you are not willing to go through the work of the sequencer, I believe Sibelious can host it, and possibly Finale (not sure about that). Even if they couldn't, it really is worth the work to use the sequencer. I think you can even just import the midi info from a notation software into your sequencer (Logic Pro 7, in my case), and then tweak performances all you want. Anyway, VSL offers there Special Edition, which starts at around $445, and is what I have. Really, the sound is incredibly realistic. Check out there page and demos http://vsl.co.at/en/67/394/253.vsl and right here http://vsl.co.at/en/67/4587/5001.vsl# click on 'Catch Me If You Can'. It really is amazing, and while I cannot get quite the sound out of them that these demo makers can, it still is just great, and I am sure that with enough practice I could. Colin Thomson

Ok, thanks, Demodex. Colin Thomson

I have the AOTC movie, but none of the others. So I only got that score. That sounds pretty close to the same as having someone else make a back-up for me, right? And I never claimed to be smart Colin Thomson

Sorry if this has been asked before, but where exactly is the Geonosis music tracked from? Colin Thomson

Right now, I don't really want to see either the Water Horse movie, or Spiderwick. I like both soundtracks a great deal, and I am afraid of ruining them. Great music often can't be explained. Rachmaninoff's 3rd concerto means more to me than pretty much any piece i can think of off the top of my head, yet I can't explain what exactly it means to me. It is not like, for instance, we all know that The Imperial March is great bad-guy march music, Star Wars main theme is great swashbuckling adventure theme, and Across the Stars is a great love theme (I just had to throw that one in for controversy). We all know that, and perhaps it means different things to each of us, but it is always bridled to Star Wars (for those who have seen the movie, which I assume is pretty much everyone). Many times I am listening to a soundtrack, and someone asks me "what part of the movie is that from?" Usually I don't know and I don't care. Rachmaninoff's 3rd concerto is free to soar. I can tell you it is unashamedly romantic. I can tell you it has some of the best melodies ever written in it. But I can't hold it down to any representation. Of course, I am not saying that stand-alone music is better. I am just pointing out that strengths apposed to film music. But then, I am not really a movie fan, and don't watch very much. Mostly, I am a music fan, and music can be plenty meaningful to me without any help from its representing easily explainable characters and story plots. Colin Thomson P.S. This may seem hypocritical when compared with my thread started to explain the different theme representations in Star Wars, but the difference is that I like Star Wars, and also would like to be able to communicate better about those themes with others.

No, no, I have a high respect for those who can work under the constraints of the film music industry and still produce works of art. Of course opera and ballet are closer to film than a symphony. But the fact is, they both focus on music MUCH more than most films today. And besides that, Beethoven could never have survived in this click-track music industry, because I don't think he even fit into his own music industry. He got some credit, but it was Liszt who really started bring attention to him, some time after Beethoven's death. Do you think film director's would have liked working with a mostly deaf, cranky genius? Probably not, because he would not fit the music to their interpretation of the story. I would also suggest that stand-alone music requires more artistic skill than film music, because the composer must tell his complete story without the help of visuals, dialogue and such, which tell the audience exactly what the music is portraying. Ok, I don't believe it takes 'more artistic skill', but I want you to see my point. If all you get out of Beethoven's symphony is 'fate', than you are missing out on a great deal. Film can take away the imagination side of music, because all the imagery is done, and nothing is left to the listener (of course, I don't even watch many of the movies that I buy the soundtrack to, so I can create my own ideas without any preconceived imagery). But with a stand-alone piece, it always means different things to each person. Let me quote myself from another forum, http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php : "I have been learning Prelude in C# Minor by Rachmaninoff (overplayed, yes. Still great). I have gotten past the initial learning of all the notes and such, and I have been trying to put some sort of interpretation to it (so that it is just a tiny bit original). As it gets to the end when there is a three octave A, and then three chords up high, and then a three octave G#, a chord up high, etc., I have been thinking about it as a story. Nothing very defined, but it has helped me. There are two, um, things. I am not sure what. Could be nations, could be individuals. But anyway, the low notes are so much the same over and over again, and the high notes keep trying different things to appease the low ones. But nothing is working. Occasionally the low notes will change slightly, but they continually go downward and are octaves, as the high notes can never find a common ground. I try to show this idea with my playing. The low notes are harsh, unforgiving, and consistently repetitious, while the higher ones get more and more desperate to find some sort of resolution, while probably not helping anything because they are becoming so flustered. In the end, there seems to be resolution, but I have not very well developed how and what. But that is the idea." Cheesy? Yes. But I love to put my own imagery with music. Sometimes it is not very defined at all, and most of the time I would have a hard time putting it into words. But it has meaning to me. This is called 'active listening' (well, active playing in this case, but you can do the same thing with listening). One can create a great piece of art in either film or stand-alone music, and every great piece of art takes huge talent. Colin Thomson

Look, it's great that this music has such a great impact on you -- afterall, art is all about that. But please, don't full yourself. I live and breed John Williams music, but I know that in the bigger picture, Williams is just a very good composer. He is no Beethove, or no Stravinsky... He just happens to be my favorite. Hence, you're post is plain silly. Why, because a bunch of elitist classical music critics say so? I mean... Don't sell Williams short he's a composer of exceptional skill. There are many hugely talented composers around, but I think to put Beethoven and Stravinsky on such an incredibly high mantel as is often done, is equally as hubris an act by classical music fans as calling Williams the best composer ever. BECAUSE I SAY SO!!!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T NEED CLASSICAL CRITICS TO TELL ME WHAT TO THINK!!!!!!!!!! That's my opinion, and my opinion alone. Beethoven, Stravinsky and others changed the course of music history. Williams didn't. There is no point in comparing film composers with classical composer. They are not composing music with the same goal, so how could they be compared? There is no way Beethoven could have written what Williams has written for film, because his personality would not have allowed something like a movie to stand in the way of his artistic goals for his music. Williams is brilliant, because he can work in the confines of the film score scene, and still produce great works. Beethoven's music may be on a higher level, but Williams is what is needed for a film score. Also, Beethoven will always get the benefit of the doubt, because he started so many things musically. In order to say someone is as great as Beethoven, they need to be better. They already have the foundation Beethoven and so many others laid, and so they must build on that foundation as much as Beethoven built on the MUCH smaller foundation he had in order to be as great. By the way, don't I remember John Williams saying that none of his music was as good as Haydn's? Colin Thomson

Do you have a track # and time for this one? I'm curious to hear it in the score. Me too. Colin Thomson

Nice. Thanks, Oierem. I actually really know the themes well, and recognize them and appreciate them musically. I just have a hard time knowing what-all they represent. Thanks for all the work of putting that together. I will be going through and figuring out what all these themes actually represent. Any questions, will ask. Once again, thanks. Colin Thomson

Have you ever heard his early videogame scores? Present tense. Yes, when he was getting started, Giacchino had similar style, orchestrationaly and compositionally. But listen to Ratatouille. I think it is safe to say Giacchino is developing his own style, and it is turning out to be quite refreshing. Colin Thomson

Thanks. Colin Thomson

I don't think it is kind to Michael Giacchino to call him the 'next John Williams'. There will only ever be one John Williams. There will only ever be one Michael Giacchino. Even though I enjoy William's music more at the moment, I am glad Giacchino seems to not be copying Williams style. His music has a fresh sound, and what he writes is new. What John Williams writes is new, also, but if Giacchino wrote like Williams, it would not be new, it would be copying, even if he could pull it off convincingly. Colin Thomson

I may have just found a reason to buy the movies Have AOTC, but none of the others. Colin Thomson

I see....And if you have the album, but not the DVD? Colin Thomson

So I have a question: Is this, um, legal? Just curious. Colin Thomson

Don't worry, I know my musical terms And thanks for that wiki link, I hadn't seen that before. Very helpful, although aren't there more than that? Colin Thomson

Hello, my name is Colin Thomson. I have been reading these boards for a while, and I finally decided to join. Just in case anyone is interested, my reviews blog is: http://soundtracksreviewed.blogspot.com/ Not much there, but hope to be adding, and maybe make it a real website some day. Anyway, about this topic: I thought it would be interesting to have a directory of themes in Star Wars, both old and new. Other members are much more qualified than I to make this list, so I submit it to you, and from it I can make a compilation post later. Hopefully we can make it complete, and it will be helpful for those of us (like me) who hardly ever watch the movies, but listen to the scores all the time, and would like to know the names of the less known themes, and what they represent. You can post what you consider to the be 'definitive' statement, or your favorite, or whatever, but make it clear. For instance: Force Theme: Album: A New Hope; Track: The Throne Room/End Title; Time: 0:17-0:48 (Most noble statement) Colin Thomson