The Book Thief (2013) - New Williams film score!

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Marcus,

Isn't that more a reflection of the state of the music industry than John Williams' chops?

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

Marcus, Isn't that more a reflection of the state of the music industry than John Williams' chops?

Its both. He is that much better and the composers today are that much worse than the length of the universe separates them in talent and accomplishments.

[filmmusic 1,823]

Marcus, Isn't that more a reflection of the state of the music industry than John Williams' chops?

Its both. He is that much better and the composers today are that much worse than the length of the universe separates them in talent and accomplishments.

So, if we were to compare with scores that have been composed, you'd say it's much better than sayyyyyyy.. Atonement?

[Marcus 390]

Oh, unquestionably. Although I enjoy the use of typewriter for "Atonement"'s opening sequence.

@Blume: Sadly -yes, to a certain degree...

[crocodile 7,988]

The Book Thief gets a disappointing 1/12 stars on Rogerebert.com. JW's score is mentioned.

Oooh scatchingly critical Ebert strikes The Book Thief down.

They didn't actually criticise it.

Karol

[Richard Penna 3,674]

Marcus, Isn't that more a reflection of the state of the music industry than John Williams' chops?

Its both. He is that much better and the composers today are that much worse than the length of the universe separates them in talent and accomplishments.

The number of fanboys on this board is growing. What a load of utter rubbish.

I no longer have any pre-conceived notions about a composer's music, as there are far too many variables from project to project to guarantee quality. But I'm happy with this approach, as I already have far too much music as it is.

The last JW score I purchased was War Horse, and I think it's one of his best recent efforts. But on no account do I believe the quality was unique to him.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The Book Thief gets a disappointing 1/12 stars on Rogerebert.com. JW's score is mentioned.

One twelfth of a star? That's pretty bad!

Sigh....

You sigh a lot.

Oh, unquestionably. Although I enjoy the use of typewriter for "Atonement"'s opening sequence.

Djawadi did it first!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

It's such a...modern film score. We found out about it through Facebook of all places. It's fairly unremarkable. Sure, it sounds like Williams at many points, but it's very low key and pretty much unnecessary to have a 50-something minute album release.

Williams (and non-Spielberg film) scores are so scarce these days and that's what makes this a big disappointment for me. The standards Williams himself set are so high, even for similarly restrained types of scores. The Book Thief is just kind of average and a bit bland. But then, it probably serves the film exactly as it should.

Happy listening to those of you who really enjoy it.

[Romão 2,274]

A John Williams score always take quite a while to fully sink in. Some of them I may like almost immediatly, but I can never get a full grasp of the score after a couple of days and a few listens. In a few weeks I will give a more definitive opinion. I like what I hear very much. But I want to get a full grasp. Sleepers, although it is a much different kind of score, did very little for me after the first 5 or 6 first listens. Now it's probably my favorite JW score

[igger6 894]

Just listened to the whole thing, and I love it. Lincoln had some beautiful passages, but it was just too restrained for my taste, and if that's the easiest contemporary benchmark for this score, I'd say the Maestro has surpassed it. It gets a little muddy in the middle, but the two or three themes I've discerned enough to recognize are gorgeous, and an absolute bulls-eye for the tone of the novel.

Yes, there's a cocktail of Seven Years in Tibet, Presumed Innocent, and Memoirs of a Geisha running through it, but the very fact that I have to name that many scores to encapsulate the atmosphere of The Book Thief shows what pedants we're being by making a "this is derivative" argument. Take only the list of his Oscar-nominated scores (which, most of us would agree, falls far short of including all of his greatest work) and you're still looking at almost fifty separate musical landscapes with only a little overlap among them. Find me a composer in history who didn't retread familiar ground over the course of that many hour- or hour-plus-long compositions. All things considered, this doesn't sound quite like any one thing Williams has done. And it's beyond awesome to hear more work from someone who can manipulate an orchestra and structure a composition as he does.

To put it another way, listen to the iTunes samples of Thomas Newman's Saving Mr. Banks, as I just did. That hack has been re-cellophaning the exact same score for most of his career, and he hasn't written a memorable melody since "Road to Chicago." At least when you argue that a Williams score is derivative, you have to specify which version of himself he's ripping off.

(For that matter, that would make a fascinating thread. How many different musical "personalities" does the Maestro have, and which scores would populate which categories?)

[crocodile 7,988]

I'll wait for the album. It shipped yesterday so should be here Monday morning!

Karol - too busy at the moment anyway

[King Mark 3,626]

I thought of this today

The impression it leaves after listening to it is more like a typical Alexandre Desplat score than a JW score

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

Just listened to the whole thing, and I love it. Lincoln had some beautiful passages, but it was just too restrained for my taste, and if that's the easiest contemporary benchmark for this score, I'd say the Maestro has surpassed it. It gets a little muddy in the middle, but the two or three themes I've discerned enough to recognize are gorgeous, and an absolute bulls-eye for the tone of the novel.

Yes, there's a cocktail of Seven Years in Tibet, Presumed Innocent, and Memoirs of a Geisha running through it, but the very fact that I have to name that many scores to encapsulate the atmosphere of The Book Thief shows what pedants we're being by making a "this is derivative" argument. Take only the list of his Oscar-nominated scores (which, most of us would agree, falls far short of including all of his greatest work) and you're still looking at almost fifty separate musical landscapes with only a little overlap among them. Find me a composer in history who didn't retread familiar ground over the course of that many hour- or hour-plus-long compositions. All things considered, this doesn't sound quite like any one thing Williams has done. And it's beyond awesome to hear more work from someone who can manipulate an orchestra and structure a composition as he does.

To put it another way, listen to the iTunes samples of Thomas Newman's Saving Mr. Banks, as I just did. That hack has been re-cellophaning the exact same score for most of his career, and he hasn't written a memorable melody since "Road to Chicago." At least when you argue that a Williams score is derivative, you have to specify which version of himself he's ripping off.

(For that matter, that would make a fascinating thread. How many different musical "personalities" does the Maestro have, and which scores would populate which categories?)

I think Newman wrote some very good stuff for Wall-E.

I thought of this today

The impression it leaves after listening to it is more like a typical Alexandre Desplat score than a JW score

Nooooo! The trouble with this sentence is that a typical Desplat score leaves no impression at all.

[crocodile 7,988]

That hack has been re-cellophaning the exact same score for most of his career, and he hasn't written a memorable melody since "Road to Chicago."

I'd say he has composed an even better one afterwards

And this one is better too:

Heck, he composed Angels in America after Road to Perdition. It might be his best work ever.

Karol

[King Mark 3,626]

I thought of this today

The impression it leaves after listening to it is more like a typical Alexandre Desplat score than a JW score

Nooooo! The trouble with this sentence is that a typical Desplat score leaves no impression at all.

More like no lasting impression other than it was pleasant to listen to and nicely orchestrated. It's also in the same tone as most of Desplat's scores

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

That hack has been re-cellophaning the exact same score for most of his career, and he hasn't written a memorable melody since "Road to Chicago."

I'd say he has composed an even better one afterwards

I think its the love theme beginning at 53 seconds in. I think that's quite good. I remember the love theme has a very memorable and epic rendition during the finale in the film.

[crocodile 7,988]

Oh yes, I mean the "love theme", of course. But there's only one clip from this score on Youtube.

It's like Irina's theme, but even better.

Karol

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

It was of course trying to be like a Golden Age score and in that regard it was successful, atleast the love theme.

But here's the real deal, the love theme from Steiner's The Big Sleep which I think might have inspired the above theme. It starts around 50 seconds in.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

http://www.movie-wave.net/the-book-thief/

James Southall's review.

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

http://www.movie-wave.net/the-book-thief/

James Southall's review.

Reads like a very cursory surface level review.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

I've enjoyed the soundtrack. I think King Mark is right...it's a very...Desplat score. Which isn't a bad thing. In a way, it sort of confirms what we could have expected out of Williams for the darker Harry Potter chapters.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I got bored halfway through and went back to listening to Dylan.

[Incanus 5,713]

I got bored halfway through and went back to listening to Dylan.

[filmmusic 1,823]

Ok, so, I listened to it again today for the 4th time.

I lied down, closed my eyes and didn't have any distraction at all.

As it turned out, the score felt even more rushed that I had thought the first times I've heard it.

by the way, do we know how much time did Williams spend writing it?

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Hey, aren't you the guy, who declared this score not to be a masterpiece, after listening it once?

Anyway, I hate that word. Masterpiece. And fanboy.

[Nemesis 244]

For me this is a delicate masterpiece from the maestro.

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Fanboy!

[indy4 155]

Question: is the track "The Book Thief" completely original? or is some of it tracked/rerecorded from other cues. On a first listen, bits of it sounded like the first or second track (don't remember which).

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

John Barry meets Herrmann's suspense, ending with a sweeping harp a'la A.I. Which track?

[filmmusic 1,823]

Hey, aren't you the guy, who declared this score not to be a masterpiece, after listening it once?

Anyway, I hate that word. Masterpiece. And fanboy.

i didn't "declare". i just said my opinion after hearing it twice.

Why? what is the problem?

Question: is the track "The Book Thief" completely original? or is some of it tracked/rerecorded from other cues. On a first listen, bits of it sounded like the first or second track (don't remember which).

the theme that starts at 4.10 of the last track, is identical to the Visitor at Himmel Street, without the oboe introduction.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Echoing everyone else's sentiments, I think this is one of Williams's most soothing, pleasant scores. Not particularly challenging by most standards, but I can definitely see myself going back to this every so often for comfort listening. I'd probably rank it very snugly in the middle of his discography, which isn't a bad place to be at all. A "middling" JW score is still wonderful music and one of the best of the year (which as Blume said, may be more of a comment on the state of film music than JW's impeccable talent.)

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Question: is the track "The Book Thief" completely original? or is some of it tracked/rerecorded from other cues. On a first listen, bits of it sounded like the first or second track (don't remember which).

It sounds to my ear exactly as the second track(some pats of it). I've been wondering the piano solo in the beginning, why the hurry down(0:08) in that passage or maybe I missunderstood the beat.

[Nemesis 244]

Fanboy!

Stereotype!

[King Mark 3,626]

I dunno there's something else

Like some of the tracks are missing the Williams trademarks. I'm not sure I could identify all of them blind as Williams composed. It's partly why I said it's Desplat-ish

In most Williams scores even the quiet underscore is unmistakably Williams

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

I've been listening to this quite a lot this weekend, I have to say I'm really loving it. And I can't describe, what exactly is the reason for my love. Weird.

[karelm 2,903]

Though I've not seen the movie, I bought the OST today and absolutely love it! It's a winner. All the same finger prints of the master composer in non-bombast mode are here. It is truly lovely - especially enjoyed "Revealing the Secret" and "The Visitor at Himmel Street". The score definitely has a sense of wonder, innocence, and bittersweet longing. Somewhat reminds me of the slow music from A.I., Lincoln, and War Horse. In some small way, I also hear Prokofiev Symphony No. 7 (which I absolutely adore) without the manic nor Russian qualities, but rather the faery tale sweep of the big theme.

7:45 of this:

I really hope this score gets the recognition it deserves because the film seems to not be getting good reviews. I'd love to study this score which is my stamp for any JW score it seems. I believe this might not be the type of score that non-fans would understand what makes it so good. It is so full of high quality that isn't really asked for by most.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

it's hard to take the lastest review seriously after looking at some of Mr. Southhall's other reviews, He's fast with praise for some of the really weak scores that John has created and gives ridiculously low ratings to his masterpieces. I definitely give little credibility to his reviews.

[Nemesis 244]

I dunno there's something else

Like some of the tracks are missing the Williams trademarks. I'm not sure I could identify all of them blind as Williams composed. It's partly why I said it's Desplat-ish

In most Williams scores even the quiet underscore is unmistakably Williams

Hmm, that's strange, I can hear Williams trademarks everywhere in the score. Sure, there are some new aspects but it is IMHO clearly Williams.

[karelm 2,903]

I agree with Nemesis, the trademark is clearly there. King Mark, give more details about what you find Desplatish? There is A LOT of JW in this.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

A solid example of Desplatism is "One Small Fact"

Dark, woody, stringy, gentle orchestration with repeatedly pulsing strings, piano on top. It's Desplat's trademark drama mode.

John does it with a fluidity that is often not as strong with Desplat's writing (which tends toward mechanical), but it's hard not to hear similarities.

Anyways, I think my favorite track by far is "Revealing the Secret"

[Jay 37,317]

Inky's review is now on the main page

http://www.jwfan.com/?p=6325

[Ludwig 1,120]

Inky's review is now on the main page

http://www.jwfan.com/?p=6325

Well written, informative, detailed, and to the point. Well done, Inky.

You know, it's funny. You said the score "might be best described musically as meeting an old and welcome friend." I read another review just this morning that said the score is "almost like a comforting letter from an old friend."

Given the subjectivity of interpreting music, it's fascinating to see that Williams' music can evoke such similar imagery in listeners. A sure sign of quality music, especially for film.

[Jay 37,317]

"I was deeply moved by this truly wonderful movie" - President George H.W. Bush.

Sophie Nélisse, Director Brian Percival, President George H.W. Bush, Mrs. Barbara Bush, and Geoffrey Rush at a special screening of The Book Thief.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Rush doesn't look happy to be there.

[Incanus 5,713]

Inky's review is now on the main page

http://www.jwfan.com/?p=6325

Well written, informative, detailed, and to the point. Well done, Inky.

You know, it's funny. You said the score "might be best described musically as meeting an old and welcome friend." I read another review just this morning that said the score is "almost like a comforting letter from an old friend."

Given the subjectivity of interpreting music, it's fascinating to see that Williams' music can evoke such similar imagery in listeners. A sure sign of quality music, especially for film.

Thank you.

Oh and you are refering to Mr. Southall's review. Yes I just read it myself and found it funny how similarly we described the feeling we got from the score. Not a bad thing of course.

After listening to the score for a few days I have The Book Thief on the brain quite firmly now. The insistent "Liesel's fascination with books" piano motif keeps playing in my head all the time. Damn you John Williams for writing such catchy themes!

[Sandor 796]

Interesting part from interview with the director:

Capone: You talked a little bit last night about getting John Williams to come on board, or I should say John Williams accepting the offer aside to step away from Spielberg. Did he come to you?

BP: Yeah, I think John was aware of it. He had read the book and he was keen, and there was a conversation had somewhere, and I honestly can’t remember whether his people spoke to Fox or the other way around. I think John said the other day that it was Fox who said, “Would you be interested?” And he said, “I would.” And then the powers that be set up a meeting immediately.

We met and we had the same sort of vision for it really. John is known for these huge scores, these huge signature scores, I said, “It should really be a quite small, humble film.” And John always says, “Oh no, it’s a big film because it’s got a big heart and a lot of emotion.” But it’s not really. It’s about a small town, and they're all ordinary people. So I said to John, “You can’t really have anything bigger than the film.” And he said, “Well that’s what attracted me to it because. I’m known for doing these great big signature pieces, and I'd love to do something that is small and intimate and just beautiful, but really has a meaning to it--life and death.” That attracted him, and so I think that’s why he wanted to do it. If you listen to his smaller pieces that he’s not so well known for like ANGELA’S ASHES and SCHINDLER’S LIST even, they’re not all trumpets and warfare and battles; they're really just beautiful, beautiful melodies.

Source: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/65060

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

You know, this is exactly what this score is about: Life and death.

I think by that comment alone my appreciation for this score has grown so much. Listening to it right now with that thought in mind makes so much sense.

[Marian Schedenig 8,176]

Rush doesn't look happy to be there.

Neither would I.

I wonder when Amazon UK is going to ship my CD.

[Incanus 5,713]

Rush doesn't look happy to be there.

Neither would I.

I wonder when Amazon UK is going to ship my CD.

Mine shipped yesterday.

[Ludwig 1,120]

Inky's review is now on the main page

http://www.jwfan.com/?p=6325

Well written, informative, detailed, and to the point. Well done, Inky.

You know, it's funny. You said the score "might be best described musically as meeting an old and welcome friend." I read another review just this morning that said the score is "almost like a comforting letter from an old friend."

Given the subjectivity of interpreting music, it's fascinating to see that Williams' music can evoke such similar imagery in listeners. A sure sign of quality music, especially for film.

Thank you.

Oh and you are refering to Mr. Southall's review. Yes I just read it myself and found it funny how similarly we described the feeling we got from the score. Not a bad thing of course.

That's the one.

No, as I said, I think it speaks very highly of the music to evoke such similar reactions. Composers strive for this to communicate whatever it is they have to say. And in this case, it seems that the message is loud and clear, as is so often the case with Williams.