Atonality in Close Encounters

[nicholas 1]

Discussions of the music from Close Encounters tend to concentrate on the score's finale, where suddenly, and symbolically, it becomes lushly tonal and melodic. Yet the majority of the score, and, I would suggest, its most distinctive and memorable passages, are atonal, or at least "expressionist", and it seems to me as if these parts are neglected in any technical discussions of it on these boards (although the expanded CD release has perhaps the fullest technical notes of any Williams score).

To those of us of a certain age who saw the film when it was first released in the late seventies its impact cannot be overstated, and a part of that experience was, of course, the music. It was the reason I became a fan of Williams - Close Encounters was the first score of his, or of anyone's, I ever bought. It was the strangeness of the music I loved, the way it seemed so intimately welded to the experience of the film - the high discordant strings, the deep rumblings and churnings in the bass - to someone who'd never heard Ligeti it was a revelation, like a new musical vocabulary. I also loved the rhythmic, more earth-bound, action music (da da da DA da da da DA), almost a Jaws-like motif, which always seemed to accompany the movement of a car in the film. All of this was unforgettable to an impressionable 14 year old...

It is my belief that Williams' score for Close Encounters, in particular the atonal writing, is amongst his very finest achievements.

Do others share my enthusiasm, or is there, as I suspect, sometimes a feeling of (no pun intended) alienation from this score?

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I certainly need to make more of an effort with this score. While the finale and some of the more quickly accessible parts are easy to recognize as brilliant, the rest of the score is more troublesome for me to get into. But I really haven't listened to it in quite a while, and I'd like to increase my appreciation for it.

Ray Barnsbury

[Jarbas 1]

I love the atonality in Close Encounters... of course, the great finale too. Chasing Ufos, Barry´s Kidnapping, Roy and Gillian on the Road, Climbing the Mountain are amazing!

Maybe because of this my personal taste I liked War of the Worlds score.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

It is my belief that Williams' score for Close Encounters, in particular the atonal writing, is amongst his very finest achievements.

John Williams himself agrees with you.

I do too, by the way, but I'm just a mortal. I think that the overall atonal score makes the finale more powerful, meaningful and subsequently beautiful.

[Jeshopk 8]

When I think of Close Encounters, I think of the whole score, not just the finale or the "signal". The finale is beautiful but the rest of the score is just as amazing. Every cue in that score is a masterpiece, even the sparse sustained strings.

[Luke Skywalker 1,287]

even the sparse sustained strings.

I think they are now called Chalkboard Scratching...

[gkgyver 1,638]

I love every second of Close Encounters. It is also IMO the most effective score John Williams has ever written. There are so many goosebump moments, atonal or not, that really make me yearn. It starts in the desert, when the old man talks about the sun singing to him, continues with the heartstopping "False Alarm", and ends with Roy entering the mothership and nodding towards Gillian.

[AC1 3,565]

I love the new special version. The sound and music are incredible.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

As I've said before, the atonal material of Close Encounters does not interest me. It doesn't give me the creeps and indeed comes across as chalkboard scratching and noise most of the time.

The highlight of William's atonal material can be found in "Images." Now there atonlity score worthy of discussion...that never gets any.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

I also loved the rhythmic, more earth-bound, action music (da da da DA da da da DA), almost a Jaws-like motif, which always seemed to accompany the movement of a car in the film.

It's actually a brilliant take on the classic Dies Irae motiv.

CE3K is brilliant from start to finish. One of Williams' finest scores - right up there with The Fury.

[Composer_Fan 2]

I only have the Close Encounters Suite from the Greatest Hits CD in my collection. There's an interesting quote of "When You Wish Upon A Star" in there. Does anyone know the story behind that? The end of that suite contains what appears to be the finale setting of the 5 note theme. It really blew me away!

I'm sure this score is out of print. Are there any re-recordings of it, or just the 1977 release on CD?

[Romão 1,931]

I also loved the rhythmic, more earth-bound, action music (da da da DA da da da DA), almost a Jaws-like motif, which always seemed to accompany the movement of a car in the film.

It's actually a brilliant take on the classic Dies Irae motiv.

I always thought that was a sort of variation of the Dies Irae motiv, thank you for confirming it. I guess it's the same case with the Mordor theme from FOTR.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I only have the Close Encounters Suite from the Greatest Hits CD in my collection. There's an interesting quote of "When You Wish Upon A Star" in there. Does anyone know the story behind that? The end of that suite contains what appears to be the finale setting of the 5 note theme. It really blew me away!

I'm sure this score is out of print. Are there any re-recordings of it, or just the 1977 release on CD?

Spielberg asked Williams to incorporate "When You Wish Upon a Star" into the score. I'm not sure if there's more of a reason other than the obvious connection between the song's title and the notion of outer space, but I think Pinocchio is a motif throughout the film.

The re-release of the soundtrack may indeed be out of print, but here it is at Amazon.

Ray Barnsbury

[oierem 87]

I still don't have the soundtrack, because it is out of print. However, I do think that it is one of the best soundtracks of Williams. I love how the atonal and tonal music are woven together.

[Luke Skywalker 1,287]

As I've said before, the atonal material of Close Encounters does not interest me. It doesn't give me the creeps and indeed comes across as chalkboard scratching and noise most of the time.

BTW bad use of metaphor.

Chalkboard scratching is one of the sounds that can make your skin crawl, send chills down your spine,by its own at any moment, regarless of fear, creep or similar.

So if close encounters is like this, it must give you the chills. So, it works

[AC1 3,565]

I still don't have the soundtrack, because it is out of print. However, I do think that it is one of the best soundtracks of Williams. I love how the atonal and tonal music are woven together.

You can still buy it from Amazon sellers.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Spielberg asked Williams to incorporate "When You Wish Upon a Star" into the score. I'm not sure if there's more of a reason other than the obvious connection between the song's title and the notion of outer space, but I think Pinocchio is a motif throughout the film.

Roy Neary discusses family plans during the weekend. He wants to take them to the movies to watch Pinnochio, saying that "I grew up with Pinocchio, and if kids are still kids, they're going to eat it up". His kids, which aren't kid-like at all in the romantic/Spielbergian sense of the word, claim that they'd much rather go to Goofy Golf. So, since the finale can be interpreted as a "reward" for Roy's undefiled child-like faith, it's only right that "When You Wish Upon a Star" is referrenced to.

My roommate groaned when the reference came up. I disagree with him.

[Sergeant 1,093]

I agree with your roommate. It almost ruins otherwise the greatest composition ever made.

About that atonality and weird chords : the more you listen to this , you finally

will find just beauty.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

I always thought that was a sort of variation of the Dies Irae motiv, thank you for confirming it.

There's one or two moments where it appears in its "traditional" rhythm, so I'm quite sure it's intentional. And after all, it accompanies a journey to what is supposed to be a deadly place.

[Red 73]

Close Encounters' finale is maybe my most favorite ever.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I agree with your roommate. It almost ruins otherwise the greatest composition ever made.

Which one is the greatest composition ever made, "When You Wish Upon a Star" or Close Encounters?

Ray Barnsbury

[Jeshopk 8]

I always thought that was a sort of variation of the Dies Irae motiv, thank you for confirming it.

There's one or two moments where it appears in its "traditional" rhythm, so I'm quite sure it's intentional. And after all, it accompanies a journey to what is supposed to be a deadly place.

But it never finishes even the first phrase of the dies irae to complete the dies irae quote. After a few notes it is completely different. Other composers never held back. If it a dies irae quote why did he alter the pitches of the second half of the phrase so much? I think people look for it like triangles in Davinci code, like just the fact that it has meaning from the past and has been quoted then people go "A Ha! Is that the dies Irae?! Yes, yes, thank you very much.". I do not think Elfman did it intentionally in "This is Christmas" either. It just sounds forboding and scary. The 1st 4 notes are just too common. Do you think the motif in Jurassic Park is also a Dies Irae? Someone even said that Battle of the Heroes was Dies Irae. It doesn't really make people look smart when they think any simple minor key motifs = dies irae. Almost any composer would think of those 1st 4 or 5 notes on their own at some point. Williams wasn't quoting Star Wars when the train is first shown in HP1 either, but it shares the 1st 6 notes.My question is, who told you it was a dies irae quote and what knowledge do they have of Williams' intention.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

Nobody told me, it just always seemed obvious. It's a sort of doom motif made up of the first four notes of the DI, very fitting. And don't tell me the brief quote in Home Alone isn't the DI either - and that also just 4 those notes.

The raptor theme has four notes, but they are different. They have a certain resemblance, but so do most 4 note motifs.

[Jeshopk 8]

Not the Raptor motif, which has no similarity. The motif for after the first T-Rex attack, when Laura Dern finds Goldblum and the jeep. Found in track 3 and also High-Wire Stunts.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/...8903097-2804013

And even in the case of Home Alone, any time it is just the first few notes of the 19 note theme, I think the composer has to announce his intention rather than assuming it is meant to be the Dies Irae. It is speculation that doesn't have an answer, rather than something needs to be assumed.

[Guest macrea]

The point of the atonality, I believe, is to help emphasize that the ultimate goal is communication with the ET's through musical tones. The atonality represents the struggle to get there... the notes are "all over the place," there is chaos, but to the aliens maybe all of that dissonance is perfectly tonal. When it finally gets to "The Conversation" we have communication, which starts very accessibly, but then even that gets complex and chaotic... yet there is communciation, so maybe all the atonality we heard before was saying something. The score really serves a higher purpose in CE3K. Notice at the very end when Roy goes into the mother ship, that everything disappears from the soundtrack, first the dialogue, then the mother ship sound effect, and at that moment where "When You Wish Upon a Star" comes in all you have is music and light. It's really one of Williams' grandest achievements. I bet he would have preferred to win the Oscar for that instead of Star Wars. The latter is the more memorable, but CE3K is by far the more ambitious and the greater artistic achievement.

Regarding "Dies Irae," it's a common quote and it was really going around a lot in the late 70's. Goldsmith inverted it in The Omen and its sequel, Barry in Moonraker and Williams in Black Sunday as well as in an unused CE3K cue. Later on he used it again for the spider attack in Chamber of Secrets. The four note "Dies Irae" motif is also the basis for "Carol of the Bells" used by Williams in Home Alone and morphed into a motif for the old man. It's in CE3K and it's also the basis for themes in Nixon, the bit in Jurassic Park, and occurs in themes from Hook (in major) and in "Across the Stars" and that mystery/conspiracy French horn whatever-thingy from AOTC. And those are just the ones that come to mind. You don't have to search too far to find it in scores. As a tool it always works and makes its point.

[AC1 3,565]

It was the strangeness of the music I loved, the way it seemed so intimately welded to the experience of the film - the high discordant strings, the deep rumblings and churnings in the bass - to someone who'd never heard Ligeti it was a revelation, like a new musical vocabulary.

I think the atonal choir parts were also a nod to Ligeti's music in A Space Odyssey. Perhaps the whole album can even be described as 'Ligeti meets Williams'.

Alex

[Sergeant 1,093]

I still hear more Ravel and Debussy. Being so atonal there is warmth in CE3K that Ligeti never reached.

[AC1 3,565]

Do you think Ligeti strived for warmth?

[Sergeant 1,093]

Of course not but he should have. In all art there should be glimpse of warmth even if

it lasted one millisecond.Ligeti hasn't got it.Ever.That's why he sucks.

Hornist

[artyjeffrey 20]

As much as I love the special edition cd, I still enjoy the original soundtrack release more. It's not quite as "atonal."

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

In all art there should be glimpse of warmth even if it lasted one millisecond.

Why?

[Jeshopk 8]

Regarding "Dies Irae," it's a common quote and it was really going around a lot in the late 70's. Goldsmith inverted it in The Omen and its sequel, Barry in Moonraker and Williams in Black Sunday as well as in an unused CE3K cue. Later on he used it again for the spider attack in Chamber of Secrets. The four note "Dies Irae" motif is also the basis for "Carol of the Bells" used by Williams in Home Alone and morphed into a motif for the old man. It's in CE3K and it's also the basis for themes in Nixon, the bit in Jurassic Park, and occurs in themes from Hook (in major) and in "Across the Stars" and that mystery/conspiracy French horn whatever-thingy from AOTC. And those are just the ones that come to mind. You don't have to search too far to find it in scores. As a tool it always works and makes its point.

The problem is that Dies Irae is not a 4 note motif, but a 19 note melody (29 notes in just the 1st stanza). The 1st 4 notes are not enough to indicate it as that melody. Taking 4 notes of the Dies Irae and calling them the tune is not true. I know many composers quoted it, but when it was quoted it was more than 4 notes (Berloz, Mozart, etc). If a composer ever did try to quote it with just 4 notes, and they expected it to be self evident, they were people like you who thought those 4 notes "belong" to the Dies Irae and could never exist without it. I find that logic flawed considering the common nature of the phrase. If those 4 notes are always inspired by Dies Irae, then Williams surely must have been plagiarizing when he wrote the Flying Theme to ET - because there we have 6 notes in common, and even more a percentage of the original phrase (Les baxter's "Joy"). Almost any composer who writes lots of music would write those 4 notes, with or without the existence of Dies Irae in the past.

[AC1 3,565]

In all art there should be glimpse of warmth even if it lasted one millisecond.

Why?

Indeed. Why?

[Sergeant 1,093]

Humanity.

This is where the modern music went all wrong , looking cool on the paper , it's

more mathematics than music. If there is even a little hint of warmth , I'm happier.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

So Bach basically was a hack when he wrote his final work?

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

Vor deinen Thron has warmth.

[Jeshopk 8]

Almost every cue of Close Encounters has tonal music in it. I see tolerance must be very low of any atonality by many people here. Blumenkohl, is the music in Azkaban "chalkboard scratching" when the dementors first visit Harry on the train?

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

It's screechy, but it doesn't ramble like something like "Barry's Kidnapping." It has a relatively definite and followable structure, and it's not overlong. There's a little motif that's in it as well that again adds to that definition. But it's still chalkboard scratching.

It's my least favorite track on the album....however it's iteration in The Dementor's Converge is fantastic, and one of the best of the album. It's even more defined there, less screechy, the motif is more prominent, the track is followable, rhythmic, and it is juxtaposed with that beautiful patronus theme at the end.

[Jeshopk 8]

It's screechy, but it doesn't ramble like something like "Barry's Kidnapping."

Shocking opinion. Barry's kidnapping is one of the finest pieces he's written. Very chilling. And you like Images... why? Not that I don't, but if Barry's Kidnapping is rambling how is Images a "masterpiece"?

[Romão 1,931]

I don't know much about atonality, but Barry's Kidnapping alone is worth the price of the cd.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Blumenkohl doesn't like creepy music.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

I like segments of Barry's Kidnapping, Jeshopk. Specifically the first two minutes. The choral materail is great. It all goes down hill from there though, when the string screeching really starts. It just gets progressivley more obnoxious than scary to me. To me it just tends to sound artificial YOU MUST FEAR IT music.

My kind of creepy is like the little howling segment of "The Appearance of Darth Maul," the horns in "The Crypt" from The Mummy, "Khan's Pets" from Wrath of Khan, the Emperor's theme at the beginning of "Shuttle Tydirium approaches Endor," "The Death of David Ferrie" from JFK (a realy great one!).

They just sound much more naturally creepy...and stuff like Barry's Kidnapping just sounds...mechanical and forced.

[gkgyver 1,638]

I never thought of the music in CE3K as intentionally scary.

It's supposed to mingle mystery with strangeness, and both with beauty and elegance.

Williams wrote music that depicts the aliens as different and strange, but at the same time he writes it in a way that you are fascinated, and want to find out more about them.

Fear I didn't feel once during my numerous listens and DVD sessions of CE3K.