skyy38 21 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 I find it sounds and feels vastly different to ESB and RotJ. Why? What happened with JW between EpIV and EpV? We all know how great the action stuff is in Star Wars, but his scoring of moments like early on in the film with Luke at home with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, or when the Stormtroopers are searching for Luke and the droids in Mos Eisley and later with the Death Star scenes where Chewie is cuffed and escorted by Han and Luke, through to the moment where Obi Wan is powering down the tractor beam. The music is somewhat sparse in it's approach, consistently so. I don't mean a literal lack of music, because there obviously isn't; I'm instead referring to the actual writing and orchestration.All of the quieter moments in SW are scored in a way in which the music merely evokes a sense of ambience and atmosphere - its mainly atonal stuff like soft timpani and deep, bassy strings; whereas by the time JW got to ESB he seemed to fully embrace the entire orchestra - fleshing out of the sequel's quieter moments with rich orchestrations of melodic and rhythmic underscore. Why the change? Did he have more time to write? Did he grow in confidence considerably after the success of Star Wars? The answer to the latter is almost certainly a yes of course.I'm not at all criticising JW's 'sparse' underscore style in the first movie; because I in fact love those more subtle musical moments dearly and I'm glad they are the way they are. I'm merely stating that I find it interesting how I was never able to hear that brand of JW ever again after he completed his score to Star Wars.The first score sounds like it's own entity; almost separate to the other movies in the saga and in some ways I think it it remains the best SW score as a direct result.I think it's the best too!I thought the underscore in star wars sounded more "classical" almost like something that would be written by 1700's/1800's composers. And ROTJ's underscore is (somewhat) boring.Add one more century to the 1800's and you've got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hlao-roo 389 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 But another question, I think it is interesting for all members: What does John Williams think about? Which Star Wars score he considers as his best?Suffice it to say that he is consumed by this very question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Mark 3,631 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 EBS is so different that I don't even like it. It's too big, too nervous, too sweeping, too suffocating, too much of everything. Star Wars is a score. EBS is an "overscore".Alexyeah whatever AlexEdit, what?I'm replying to something 3 years old?well here's my original reply then EBS is so different that I don't even like it. It's too big, too nervous, too sweeping, too suffocating, too much of everything. Star Wars is a score. EBS is an "overscore".Alexi've just lost all respect in any of your opinions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Holdo 16 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Might as well ask here then - why exactly is reviving an older thread such a bad thing? Just because something hasn't been discussed for a while doesn't mean it's an invalid discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,378 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Sometimes its appropriate to bump an old thread and keep a discussion going. Sometimes its appropriate to just start a new thread and start a fresh discussion of an old topic.It all depends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datameister 2,044 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 It all depends.On the tempo and time signature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Skywalker 1,796 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 nope, on the certain POW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,378 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 It all depends.On the tempo and time signature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus 5,399 Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 It all depends.On the tempo and time signature?No. It depends upon the will of Top Men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie 1,059 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Who? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,378 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 TOP.... men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datameister 2,044 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Who?EDIT: ...dang it. Late to the party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus 5,399 Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 TOP... Men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,378 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 You both got Ninja'd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus 5,399 Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 I said, TOP...Men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Homo's who like to bum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jair Crawford 1 Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Personally I prefer the score for RotJ better than Star Wars or ESB. The Emperor's Theme, Luke and Leia, all three of the Battle of Endor sequences have the best music in it of the three, imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488 Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Nothing wrong with that. Jedi has loads more music, it's very exotic and there's also more going on thematically. It certainly brings a lot to the table. I've always liked it, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 It brings more to the table, but does not necessarily achieving that much more. Star Wars (1977) is the simplest, purest Star Wars score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488 Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 I think you're right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jair Crawford 1 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 The score to Star Wars is a lot simpler than RotJ. But I think that's part of why I like RotJ more. That and the music is just so intense especially during the final confrontation on-board the Death Star II. All of the music that goes on during those scenes is some of the scariest, darkest, most intense emotionally rich music in all 6 of the SW movies, not to mention just the first three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 There's a complexity in the sequels. They do take us into deeper territory.Star Wars has an innocence to it, this ability to separate it from the rest (as with the movie itself). Less themes (see: whimsical stuff for the droids, sinister brooding stuff for Vader), less scoring, none of the attached baggage of the whole "saga" thing. That playful rendition of the rebel fanfare when Vader flies off the movie at the end is something that Williams would never have composed in the sequels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jair Crawford 1 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 I agree. There is more innocence and playfulness in both the music in Star Wars and the movie itself. In fact, all 5 of the other movies in the series, even with the innocence portrayed in The Phantom Menace, all had some sort of sinister undertone to them. Star Wars never really had that, which is why it tends to feel a bit out of place when you're watching a SW marathon. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 No, the Prequels feel out of place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jair Crawford 1 Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 You know what I meant. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ymenard 54 Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 TESB is part of his "dark" and gloomy period of orchestration, with stuff like The Fury, Dracula and Raiders... heavy and melodramatic underscoring, It's the way he wrote stuff in that era post-SW but pre-ET. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datameister 2,044 Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 I looooooooooove that era of Williams. Raiders and ESB are two of my favorite scores of all time. They have a slightly more modern feel than his work from the 70s, but they're not as light as some of his scores got later in the 80s. Sheer perfection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkissimo 1,973 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 The score to Star Wars is a lot simpler than RotJ. But I think that's part of why I like RotJ more. That and the music is just so intense especially during the final confrontation on-board the Death Star II. All of the music that goes on during those scenes is some of the scariest, darkest, most intense emotionally rich music in all 6 of the SW movies, not to mention just the first three.Agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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