What exactly did William Ross do in Harry Potter the Chamber of Secrets

[King Mark 3,624]

1 hour ago, Skelly said:

If we go by Hellgi's words, that was Ross. That little melody has always felt to me like someone trying very hard to imitate Williams's special "sound", but almost too hard. Not that it isn't wonderful, but that's always the impression I've gotten.

 

 no it doesn;t sound like that. That's Williams for sure

[BloodBoal 7,538]

God, we're going in circles, people, as usual!

 

Someone claims bits from the score definitely do not sound like Williams, another claims it all sounds like pure Williams, then another says it doesn't, then another says it does for sure...

 

Let's just give up... It's hopeless. Hopeless!

[mrbellamy 6,270]

 

[Incanus 5,713]

Are we still trying to unravel this enigma wrapped inside a riddle? Let it go folks! Let it go!

 

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

He knows something!

[DirectedByBrian 1]

Maybe if someone out there can get his hands on this, the liner notes might answer the question.

 

https://lalalandrecords.com/harry-potter-the-john-williams-soundtrack-collection-limited-edition-7-cd-box-set/

 

Sold out, though, so it would involve a hunt on Ebay most likely.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Wow! That's worthy of a new thread!

[Manakin Skywalker 4,889]

42 minutes ago, DirectedByBrian said:

Maybe if someone out there can get his hands on this, the liner notes might answer the question.

 

https://lalalandrecords.com/harry-potter-the-john-williams-soundtrack-collection-limited-edition-7-cd-box-set/

 

Sold out, though, so it would involve a hunt on Ebay most likely.

 

Pretty much everyone here has that set. It's one of the top threads. In fact Jay worked on it.

[bollemanneke 3,334]

And it isn't sold out.

[DirectedByBrian 1]

Well, very good then.  And it did NOT solve this issue??

[mrbellamy 6,270]

I don't recall anything new in there about the specifics of Ross's involvement. Just the same quotes from old articles about it being "a Williams score through and through" and Williams sending new material during the sessions.

 

I don't know, I just can't possibly give this any more thought. It sounds like a John Williams score, always has, good enough for me.

[Marcus 390]

The situation is roughly this:

All the new music is Williams.

All the old music repurposed from HP1 is Williams, but adapted (to fit the film) by William Ross. 

[Manakin Skywalker 4,889]

^This

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

51 minutes ago, Marcus said:

The situation is roughly this:

All the new music is Williams.

All the old music repurposed from HP1 is Williams, but adapted (to fit the film) by William Ross. 

Wrong.

Ross composed all of it; Williams made the tea.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

1 hour ago, Richard said:

Wrong.

Ross composed all of it; Williams made the tea.

 

THIS!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Williams was the tea lady?

[Chewy 2,372]

14 hours ago, DirectedByBrian said:

Maybe if someone out there can get his hands on this, the liner notes might answer the question.

 

https://lalalandrecords.com/harry-potter-the-john-williams-soundtrack-collection-limited-edition-7-cd-box-set/

 

Sold out, though, so it would involve a hunt on Ebay most likely.

Yeah the set contains a special 2002 photography indicating accurately what was John Williams role on The Chamber of Secrets score:

 

[Bespin 8,472]

I see the role of JW in the recording process, more like:

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

I don't think William Ross was in this movie.

[Will 2,215]

8 hours ago, Marcus said:

The situation is roughly this:

All the new music is Williams.

All the old music repurposed from HP1 is Williams, but adapted (to fit the film) by William Ross. 

 

Well yes, but there are several passages that could be said to "adapt" themes from HP1, but nonetheless are significantly new variations that I would consider newly composed material, most notably the awesome fanfares at the end of "Reunion of Friends":

 

 

The big question, in my view, is whether passages like that are JW. ("Hellgi" claimed this one was Ross's doing, but King Mark and I are skeptical.)

[Brundlefly 2,385]

8 minutes ago, Will said:

The big question, in my view, is whether passages like that are JW. ("Hellgi" claimed this one was Ross's doing, but King Mark and I are skeptical.)

Of course this is Williams. A producer who pays Williams for the job wants Williams music to be heard in the movie and hence cuts down the role of the "nobody" to technical tasks that are not remotely able to affect the style of the score.

[Alex 2,833]

[Ollie 1,059]

 

 

Oh good grief,  are we still debating this?

 

 

[artguy360 1,842]

This "debate" used to be funny, not it's lost all humor and just become sadly obsessive.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

It's been hardly any debate, at all.

[bollemanneke 3,334]

Just wondering, why are people obsessing over Ross while no one seems to mind the fact that Star of Bethlehem was orchestrated and arranged by Courage and Neufeld? Or did JW still determine all the notes? (I still do not understand anything about orchestrating.)

[BrotherSound 2,241]

More importantly, why is no one talking about the cues Williams wrote for Solo? (Or did I miss this discussion somewhere?) I thought his contribution was simply ‘Adventures of Han’ and nothing else (apart from the original themes that were reused), but he apparently did 6 actual cues. Were parts of these used by Powell? Just dropped entirely?

 

About 9:30 into this interview with John Powell:

Quote

He did about six cues.

 

 

[Jay 37,266]

it's been talked extensively in the thread for that score, of course

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

William Ross even adapted music from Attack of the Clones for COS.

[Jay 37,266]

Yes. 

[Holko 9,491]

And Phantom Menace.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

And IJ and the Last Crusade.

[Holko 9,491]

Where?

[Jay 37,266]

He's talking about Gilderoy Lockhart's theme sounding like No Ticket

[Holko 9,491]

D'oh.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

On 7/29/2019 at 12:26 AM, bollemanneke said:

Just wondering, why are people obsessing over Ross while no one seems to mind the fact that Star of Bethlehem was orchestrated and arranged by Courage and Neufeld? Or did JW still determine all the notes? (I still do not understand anything about orchestrating.)

 

Adapting implies somewhat more creative freedom than arranging/orchestrating.

[Bellosh 3,369]

bump 

 

ok so joe's top scores thread, and reading the initial lists of members, I noticed that nobody is choosing Chamber of Secrets as their Potter addition. 

 

I'm not making this about 'taste', clearly you have the first one that sets the tone and PoA is great....but I think CoS is my favorite of the 3, the renditions of some of the themes are just unreal.  And Fawkes theme is a huge reason I chose it.

 

anyways so i searched the forum for this score, and now i see this thread....

 

So uh....this is a Williams score right?  I didn't put a Ross score in my top 10 did I?

[Jay 37,266]

Everything you hear in the score was composed by John Williams.

Numerous sections are Williams compositions arranged by William Ross.

[Bellosh 3,369]

Thank goodness I couldn't tell who was being serious or joking in here

[Edmilson 7,370]

20 hours ago, Bellosh said:

bump 

 

ok so joe's top scores thread, and reading the initial lists of members, I noticed that nobody is choosing is Chamber of Secrets as their Potter addition. 

 

I'm not making this about 'taste', clearly you have the first one that sets the tone and PoA is great....but I think CoS is my favorite of the 3, the renditions of some of the themes are just unreal.  And Fawkes theme is a huge reason I chose it.

 

anyways so i searched the forum for this score, and now i see this thread....

 

So uh....this is a Williams score right?  I didn't put a Ross score in my top 10 did I?

CoS has two kinds of cues: New music written specifically for Chamber of Secrets and Williams' music from HP1 adapted to fit the new movie (that may include small interludes created to connect one Philospher's Stone cue to another).

 

Of the first kind, Williams (intentionally or not) re-used material from Attack of the Clones, Jurassic Park (I think), The Last Crusade and Hook. I personally don't buy the theory that Quidditch music is Ross adapting Zam Chase music from SW2, because that cue has a lot more going on than just Zam. Had that been Ross this whole time, it'd be enough to make him earn an "Additional Music Composed by" credit.

[BB-8 3,458]

What does "adapted" mean in this case?

[Smeltington 1,436]

4 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

Thank goodness I couldn't tell who was being serious or joking in here

 

William Ross' contributions to John Williams scores are not something to joke about!

[bollemanneke 3,334]

I still haven't worked out exactly what it is that I find somewhat... unsatisfying about COS. Some of the theme variations are indeed stunning (the family theme!), but then there are moments in which the copy-pasting of HP1 material just really annoys me. Harry talking to Dumbledore at the end, for instance, it's just a clumsy combination of HP1 material. (Okay I have worked it out.)

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

5 minutes ago, BB-8 said:

What does "adapted" mean in this case?

 

Composed 100% from scratch, obviously. 

[Smeltington 1,436]

6 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I still haven't worked out exactly what it is that I find somewhat... unsatisfying about COS.

 

I think no matter how much rehashed material you tried to cut out of the score, what you'd be left with would still not be quite on the level of the other two Williams HP scores. I still feel like it's one of those times he was either slightly less inspired, or just too pressed for time. There are "very good" Williams scores and there are "great" Williams scores and any configuration of this score IMO is in the "very good" category. Of course, in spite of that, I still dearly love the score, especially Fawkes' theme.

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

8 minutes ago, Smeltington said:

 

William Ross' contributions to John Williams scores are not something to joke about!

 

William Ross' contributions to CoS are many things...

[Edmilson 7,370]

I think it's important to add that HP1 cues weren't the only thing Ross adapted for HP2. As far as I understand, he also transformed Williams' concert suites for the new themes into movie cues. That explains why so many cues sound so... typical of suites, I think. 

 

Still, a few ones remain a mystery: is Writing on the Wall a Ross adaptation of Williams' Chamber theme or a regular John Williams cue that happens to use the Chamber theme? And what about Petrified Justin?

[bollemanneke 3,334]

5 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Composed 100% from scratch, obviously. 

Does that make Ross the HP3 composer?

[Smeltington 1,436]

38 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

I think it's important to add that HP1 cues weren't the only thing Ross adapted for HP2. As far as I understand, he also transformed Williams' concert suites for the new themes into movie cues. That explains why so many cues sound so... typical of suites, I think. 

 

Well the Chamber theme in the score doesn't sound at all like the concert version. Fawkes usually doesn't either, although it doesn't have many appearances.

 

I guess if you suggested that Williams wrote one of the Chamber variations for the film, and Ross wrote a couple more based on the first one, I might believe that.

[Bellosh 3,369]

CoS was, for some reason, the first HP score i took the time to listen to.

 

I put these off for god knows how long back then.

 

Actually I blame the infamous transition at the latter portion of Prologue: Book II and the Escape from the Dursleys.  I was like ok if I'm gonna listen to a HP score, what a killer track to begin with.  And the rest is history.

 

Although I think choose Sorcerer's Stone for my top 10 if Fawkes' theme didn't exist.