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

[indy4 155]

The piano stuff was great. Sounds like it could be a main theme for the film.

[filmmusic 2,263]

The discussions about a new masterpiece, started sooner than I thought..

[Joni Wiljami 1,212]

Those are the best 47 seconds Williams has ever composed!

You.Wrong.Pac.Man=Muchos.Better

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,445]

Urgh, i hate those negative "Williams Sucks" trolls!

[King Mark 3,730]

sound nice

sounds Harry Potter ish

[nightscape94 966]

Like what I hear.

[Brónach 1,307]

Those are the best 47 seconds Williams has ever composed!

You.Wrong.Pac.Man=Muchos.Better

Huh?

[Ludwig 1,169]

Did Conrad Pope work on this?

Of course not, he was far too busy cleaning up Shore's mess with the DoS score, after Peter Jackson fired him.

Either that or JW finally realised he doesn't need an orchestrator.....as everyone says his sketches are so complete.

In fact on some of the cues post 2005 are written on 16 staves....... he's really making the orchestrators job a piece of cake!

Isn't the orchestrator more of a copyist in his case anyway as it has been said by Mr. Pope and others quite a few times.

It's always been a bit mysterious what the orchestrator does exactly, I think because it can change drastically. Orchestrators do sometimes add quite a bit from a composer's sketches. But more often discussed are those composers who need very little added from the orchestator. Herrmann was famous for being insistent on writing out all his own orchestrations.

Williams, of course, worked with Herbert Spencer for some time, but as Datameister said, the sketches are quite thorough. Even so, there are aspects that Williams left to Spencer that were more than just copying, generally on deciding how to distribute instrumental parts among the players of an orchestral family like winds or strings. But it's not the kind of thing that changes the sound of the music much. Primarily it's a time-saving practice and the less time there is, the more orchestrators there are. In The Artist (2011), for example, there were five orchestrators!

[Ludwig 1,169]

The first movie clip on youtube (with JW music): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4xYgWKTEg

Anyone else hear a lot of Lincoln in this snippet?

[King Mark 3,730]

A bit of People's House

[KK 3,308]

The first movie clip on youtube (with JW music): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4xYgWKTEg

Anyone else hear a lot of Lincoln in this snippet?

I definitely do. I think it's now been integrated into his drama sound.

[Koray Savas 2,254]

The discussions about a new masterpiece, started sooner than I thought..

Every Williams score is a masterpiece on this board.

[Muad'Dib 1,876]

And every Hans Zimmer score too!

[Datameister 2,304]

It's always been a bit mysterious what the orchestrator does exactly, I think because it can change drastically. Orchestrators do sometimes add quite a bit from a composer's sketches. But more often discussed are those composers who need very little added from the orchestator. Herrmann was famous for being insistent on writing out all his own orchestrations.

Williams, of course, worked with Herbert Spencer for some time, but as Datameister said, the sketches are quite thorough. Even so, there are aspects that Williams left to Spencer that were more than just copying, generally on deciding how to distribute instrumental parts among the players of an orchestral family like winds or strings. But it's not the kind of thing that changes the sound of the music much. Primarily it's a time-saving practice and the less time there is, the more orchestrators there are. In The Artist (2011), for example, there were five orchestrators!

Yeah, an orchestrator's job can vary widely, depending on the composer they're working with. I would put Williams and Hermann and Goldsmith at one end of the spectrum, among others. (I wish I could remember where I read the story about Goldsmith having to be taught to sketch, since his natural inclination was to just write it all out himself.) Then there are composers at the other end of the spectrum, who will pretty much provide a melody line and expect the orchestrators to do the rest. It seems most composers fall somewhere in the middle, with perhaps the majority of the popular composers leaning more toward Williams' side.

For me, the thing to consider is this: would cue X sound any different if a different orchestrator had worked on it? Is the orchestrator's own creative voice at all engaged here, or are their responsibilities primarily technical?

[Incanus 5,818]

The first movie clip on youtube (with JW music): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4xYgWKTEg

Anyone else hear a lot of Lincoln in this snippet?

I definitely do. I think it's now been integrated into his drama sound.

Yes that was my first thought. Which isn't a bad thing. I love the intimate small scale writing in Lincoln.

[Ludwig 1,169]

For me, the thing to consider is this: would cue X sound any different if a different orchestrator had worked on it? Is the orchestrator's own creative voice at all engaged here, or are their responsibilities primarily technical?

Precisely what I was thinking. There's very little literature on the subject, so it's hard to know. For Williams, I'm wondering what interpretive decisions Spencer would had to have made. Or whether it was more an issue of playability since the orchestra doesn't have much rehearsal time, so finding the most idiomatic way of scoring of a line would be a valuable skill. I'd have to do a close comparison of sketches with the final score and see if there are any scorings not marked in the former that appear in the latter. What do you think, Datameister? I know you've looked at a ton of sketches. Have you had a chance to compare them with the scores?

(I once did this with Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, only to be disappointed that Ravel so rarely deviated from Mussorgsky's original pitches - hardly even an octave doubling until near the end of the suite!)

[KK 3,308]

The first movie clip on youtube (with JW music): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4xYgWKTEg

Anyone else hear a lot of Lincoln in this snippet?

I definitely do. I think it's now been integrated into his drama sound.

Yes that was my first thought. Which isn't a bad thing. I love the intimate small scale writing in Lincoln.

It's one of the things I loved most about Lincoln. The delicate sense of intimacy and the masterfully crafted solo writing. Exceptional stuff that you don't hear in film music enough these days.

[Ludwig 1,169]

The first movie clip on youtube (with JW music): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to4xYgWKTEg

Anyone else hear a lot of Lincoln in this snippet?

I definitely do. I think it's now been integrated into his drama sound.

Yes that was my first thought. Which isn't a bad thing. I love the intimate small scale writing in Lincoln.

Yes, more intimate writing is something that composers, at least in the classical world, tend to do in their later years. And more intimate writing is part of a trend toward a greater simplicity in these composers' music, probably as a means of communicating in a more personal and individual way. After all, how much music is written for just one or two parts in symphonic music or film music? In film, the orchestral sound still dominates, so it's nice to hear fresher approaches like the solo clarinet or solo piano we hear in this excerpt.

Further down the road, it will be interesting to see whether Williams incorporates this more pared down sound into his score for Episode VII.

[Hlao-roo 389]

For me, the thing to consider is this: would cue X sound any different if a different orchestrator had worked on it? Is the orchestrator's own creative voice at all engaged here, or are their responsibilities primarily technical?

Presumably the responsibilities are primarily technical; I'm assuming if Williams felt the orchestrator contributed appreciable creative input, it would be reflected in the liner notes (à la Nixon). Does a hypothetical Neufeldian or Papal Empire of the Sun sound any different? Williams would say no.

[Incanus 5,818]

Yes that was my first thought. Which isn't a bad thing. I love the intimate small scale writing in Lincoln.

Yes, more intimate writing is something that composers, at least in the classical world, tend to do in their later years. And more intimate writing is part of a trend toward a greater simplicity in these composers' music, probably as a means of communicating in a more personal and individual way. After all, how much music is written for just one or two parts in symphonic music or film music? In film, the orchestral sound still dominates, so it's nice to hear fresher approaches like the solo clarinet or solo piano we hear in this excerpt.

Further down the road, it will be interesting to see whether Williams incorporates this more pared down sound into his score for Episode VII.

I think it is still the question of what dynamics work in a scene/film coupled with the composer's personal instincts, in this case simplifying the writing. Scores like Lincoln and the Book Thief require subtlety so as not to drown the drama and the actors' performances or try to force the emotions. It is a delicate balance to be able to let the music speak while remaining supportive of the dialogue and atmosphere.

[Hlao-roo 389]

Yes that was my first thought. Which isn't a bad thing. I love the intimate small scale writing in Lincoln.

Yes, more intimate writing is something that composers, at least in the classical world, tend to do in their later years. And more intimate writing is part of a trend toward a greater simplicity in these composers' music, probably as a means of communicating in a more personal and individual way. After all, how much music is written for just one or two parts in symphonic music or film music? In film, the orchestral sound still dominates, so it's nice to hear fresher approaches like the solo clarinet or solo piano we hear in this excerpt.

Further down the road, it will be interesting to see whether Williams incorporates this more pared down sound into his score for Episode VII.

I think it is still the question of what dynamics work in a scene/film coupled with the composer's personal instincts, in this case simplifying the writing. Scores like Lincoln and the Book Thief require subtlety so as not to drown the drama and the actors' performances or try to force the emotions. It is a delicate balance to be able to let the music speak while remaining supportive of the dialogue and atmosphere.

I disagree. If Williams had scored Lincoln in 1978, he would have written very bombastic action music for full orchestra, and it would have been all wrong. Thank God he didn't get the assignment until reaching his "intimate" period.

[Incanus 5,818]

Yes that was my first thought. Which isn't a bad thing. I love the intimate small scale writing in Lincoln.

Yes, more intimate writing is something that composers, at least in the classical world, tend to do in their later years. And more intimate writing is part of a trend toward a greater simplicity in these composers' music, probably as a means of communicating in a more personal and individual way. After all, how much music is written for just one or two parts in symphonic music or film music? In film, the orchestral sound still dominates, so it's nice to hear fresher approaches like the solo clarinet or solo piano we hear in this excerpt.

Further down the road, it will be interesting to see whether Williams incorporates this more pared down sound into his score for Episode VII.

I think it is still the question of what dynamics work in a scene/film coupled with the composer's personal instincts, in this case simplifying the writing. Scores like Lincoln and the Book Thief require subtlety so as not to drown the drama and the actors' performances or try to force the emotions. It is a delicate balance to be able to let the music speak while remaining supportive of the dialogue and atmosphere.

I disagree. If Williams had scored Lincoln in 1978, he would have written very bombastic action music for full orchestra, and it would have been all wrong. Thank God he didn't get the assignment until reaching his "intimate" period.

OK now your sarcasm is getting a bit dull. No one was suggesting that Williams wrote just bombast in the past and now has somehow found skills for intimate writing if the scene requires it.

[Hlao-roo 389]

I think it is still the question of what dynamics work in a scene/film coupled with the composer's personal instincts, in this case simplifying the writing. Scores like Lincoln and the Book Thief require subtlety so as not to drown the drama and the actors' performances or try to force the emotions. It is a delicate balance to be able to let the music speak while remaining supportive of the dialogue and atmosphere.

I disagree. If Williams had scored Lincoln in 1978, he would have written very bombastic action music for full orchestra, and it would have been all wrong. Thank God he didn't get the assignment until reaching his "intimate" period.

OK now your sarcasm is getting a bit dull. No one was suggesting that Williams wrote just bombast in the past and now has somehow found skills for intimate writing if the scene requires it.

It was dull ten years ago, but I stand by my point, which was intended to dovetail with yours: Williams wrote intimate, small-scale music in the seventies. From Jane Eyre to the "E.T. and Me" material in E.T. to The Accidental Tourist to Stepmom, Williams has always loved this stuff. If Williams's music is somehow more objectively "intimate" now than it's ever been, it's a function of the films Spielberg is making, not of classical world compositional trends. He writes music that is functionally appropriate to the film. Period.

[JamieC 13]

Hi gang

Do any of you know the book The Film Music Reader ? It's a book that includes an interview with Jerry Goldsmith (perhaps the interview has been published elsewhere, too) and he discusses the role of an orchestrator.

Here's a link to Google Books; p. 230 of the text made available is where to read JG's comments.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FhUZ4nphj58C&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=mervyn+cooke+orchestrators&source=bl&ots=Vxx1jxw2D6&sig=y5ukZG7yScTD98XbUsbhYxLbjnI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I3pnUtm9H-WW0QWSroGYAQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=mervyn%20cooke%20orchestrators&f=false

It still seems a little unreal that a new JW score will be out witihin the next few months doesn't it ? There we all were waiting patiently for his new work for Star Wars.

JC

[Datameister 2,304]

Presumably the responsibilities are primarily technical; I'm assuming if Williams felt the orchestrator contributed appreciable creative input, it would be reflected in the liner notes (à la Nixon). Does a hypothetical Neufeldian or Papal Empire of the Sun sound any different? Williams would say no.

I would, too. Williams' orchestrators are there primarily to perform the technical and fairly time-consuming task of translating his sketches into a format that is more standard and explicit, but the vast majority of the information is already there in the sketches, especially in his later works.

Precisely what I was thinking. There's very little literature on the subject, so it's hard to know. For Williams, I'm wondering what interpretive decisions Spencer would had to have made. Or whether it was more an issue of playability since the orchestra doesn't have much rehearsal time, so finding the most idiomatic way of scoring of a line would be a valuable skill. I'd have to do a close comparison of sketches with the final score and see if there are any scorings not marked in the former that appear in the latter. What do you think, Datameister? I know you've looked at a ton of sketches. Have you had a chance to compare them with the scores?

(I once did this with Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, only to be disappointed that Ravel so rarely deviated from Mussorgsky's original pitches - hardly even an octave doubling until near the end of the suite!)

It's interesting to compare Williams' sketches to his orchestrators' manuscripts. In his earlier scores, there are more changes and additions noticeable in the manuscripts, although most of these are quite subtle: doubling a violin line on clarinet, slightly strengthening a bassline, things of that nature. Of course, it's hard to know who came up with these ideas. Based on what little footage we have of Williams and Spencer working together, they would apparently sit down at the piano and go through the next day's sketches together, half-talking and half-playing through them. It's possible that some or all of these changes were suggested by Williams on the fly during this process, just as it's possible that Spencer suggested them to Williams while working on the cues, or any other number of possibilities.

For what it's worth, I don't think playability has tended to be the issue with Williams' works - I don't play a huge variety of instruments myself, but from what I've been able to gather, he's quite good about writing the music in a way that's perfectly idiomatic and playable, so his orchestrators don't have to make many changes on that front.

[King Mark 3,730]

Every JW score has more or less the same feel. Maybe Williams learned from Spencer how to make his "post Star Wars sound" more uniform. Now he just applies that automatically in his sketches

[karelm 3,099]

It's always been a bit mysterious what the orchestrator does exactly, I think because it can change drastically. Orchestrators do sometimes add quite a bit from a composer's sketches. But more often discussed are those composers who need very little added from the orchestator. Herrmann was famous for being insistent on writing out all his own orchestrations.

Williams, of course, worked with Herbert Spencer for some time, but as Datameister said, the sketches are quite thorough. Even so, there are aspects that Williams left to Spencer that were more than just copying, generally on deciding how to distribute instrumental parts among the players of an orchestral family like winds or strings. But it's not the kind of thing that changes the sound of the music much. Primarily it's a time-saving practice and the less time there is, the more orchestrators there are. In The Artist (2011), for example, there were five orchestrators!

Yeah, an orchestrator's job can vary widely, depending on the composer they're working with. I would put Williams and Hermann and Goldsmith at one end of the spectrum, among others. (I wish I could remember where I read the story about Goldsmith having to be taught to sketch, since his natural inclination was to just write it all out himself.) Then there are composers at the other end of the spectrum, who will pretty much provide a melody line and expect the orchestrators to do the rest. It seems most composers fall somewhere in the middle, with perhaps the majority of the popular composers leaning more toward Williams' side.

For me, the thing to consider is this: would cue X sound any different if a different orchestrator had worked on it? Is the orchestrator's own creative voice at all engaged here, or are their responsibilities primarily technical?

I love orchestrating and have been fortunate to have had some wonderful opportunities to work on nice, big, meaty projects in this capacity. Orchestrators are professionals and as such there is often a hierarchy. The lead orchestrator might be responsible for the overall score but others have sections to orchestrate. In school, we all orchestrated the same sketch using the composer's direction. Though everyone sounded pretty close, we all obviously had different perspectives. Exactly how much creativity the orchestrator is entitled to depends on the project and the who the boss is. Even when you see only one orchestrator credited the odds are there are assistantant orchestrators involved who have the job to do their work in the style of the lead/principal orchestrator. In "Star Trek, the Motion Picture", Goldsmith had Arthur Morton as principal orchestrator but also Sandy Courage, Fred Steiner, and himself so a team of at least four who handled different scenes. So a good orchestrator can either work in the style of someone else or in their own way depending on the need they are asked to serve. Additionally, some composers seek ideas from orchestrators and will see them as trusted allies & collaborators. The relationship between composer/orchestrator is quite good overall since they might take the composers efforts up a notch while allowing the composer to focus on the next in a long list of headaches.

As an analogy - if you are recording a world class orchestra in a pristine hall with the best conductor, instruments, gear, etc., you probably want as true a reflection of the performance as possible. Alternatively, sometimes you actually might want some nuance, or color that specific mics or pre-amps can add. There is a Neumann 1950's sound that differs from the 2010's sound (both good but quite different). Pre-amps can generally add a tone color that some might find off-putting ("...that is not what the 3million dollar Stradivarius sounded like live so don't cheapen it with a $10,000 preamp that colors it unnaturally!") whereas sometimes what you want is that nuance added. So you can think of this with orchestrators as well. They have a sound of their own that can be heard (there is a Neve "sound" which is great for films not so great for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) but you can usually dial them up or down to select the amount of tone color desired based on the intention. You might have orchestrators who excel at various things (such as the love theme orchestrator, the action music orchestrator, the main titles orchestrator) all for the same project. Sometimes the issue is the dreaded lack of time...situations where the orchestra is recording at 9am on Monday morning, it is 9pm on Sunday and the composer is still working on the cue because the director isn't happy with something - it has to be orchestrated for 120 piece orchestra and STILL GO OUT TO THE COPYIST TONIGHT TO BE READY TO RECORD BEFORE 9AM! (<- Real scenario). In cases like this, you might get multiple orchestrators on the same cue where the speed is the most important thing...you are in disaster mode here and won't be able to ask anyone a question for clarity so it all comes down to judgment. In situations like this, it might look like the orchestrator took too many liberties but the reality is you saved the day. The time crunch can be difficult to comprehend in its cruel intensity.

With this said, sometimes orchestrators just divvy up the work load arbitrarily (you handle the "A" orchestra and I'll handle the "B" orchestra) but in general, top level orchestrators should not be very noticeable when on the same project because they have one ultimate boss. Examples where the orchestrator is just helping save time is where the composer might say something like "take the idea from cue 1M2, bar 5-10, and extrapolate it to this new cue in a similar way but matching the new harmony". In that case, though the orchestrator is creating notes that are not in the sketch, the intent is clear and the notes are still technically all from the composer. Sometimes the request from the composer is: "I'm sorry, I fell behind and didn't have time to work on the the directors latest notes - he didn't like these 30 seconds, can you please get rid of what I have and do something that addresses his notes"). In that case, the orchestrator is composing (creating new material) but doubtful would be credited as such.

95 % of music that is orchestrated can be done by any other proficient and experienced orchestrator. That remaining 5% is for the specialist you call in for a particul need ("I need an authentic 1920's style orchestration of a pop tune" or I need maximum carniage from the orchestra here, Mr. avante guarde composer/orchestrator"). With JW, he is very specific about how it should be orchestrated because he knows what he's doing whereas others, don't even double check the orchestration before it is recorded with the orchestra and might not even be aware of what changes to their score the orchestrator did in the service of the schedule and demands placed on them. It is a gray area full of judgement and professionals are adaptable, dependable, and knowledable.

You can sumarize the job of the professional orchestrator as this: make the person who hired you look good. To do this, one might need to add new material that wasn't there before but serves their need regardless. It should be performed/recorded quickly and probably not be noticed that you are the one who solved the problem in which case you might have been too distinctive.

[TownerFan 5,267]

Spencer was more like a friend and mentor to Williams. They shared a very unique and special working relationship, much like Rozsa and Eugene Zador or Goldsmith and Arthur Morton did. I'm sure they had a lot of mutual feedback. There's a quite extended quote about it in a 1978 interview Williams did with Derek Elley.

Anyway, it should be reminded that, as Conrad Pope recently told, Williams' sketches aren't merely "sketches", but it's more like a short score, or "compressed" score, very much like Prokofiev used to write. In fact, you can easily follow the music while reading through them (it's actually a fantastic experience to see how Williams' musical mind works on the page).

Back to the small Book Thief clip preview: while I was reading the book, in my mind I heard clarinet solo accompanying Liesel. Glad to see Williams thought the same! I guess Aquarians think alike

[filmmusic 2,263]

Back to the small Book Thief clip preview: while I was reading the book, in my mind I heard clarinet solo accompanying Liesel. Glad to see Williams thought the same! I guess Aquarians think alike

You mean in the specific scene?

Because we don't know yet if a theme for Liesel is by default performed in the clarinet.\

This scene sounded to me like a pure underscore with a typical clarinet intro.

[TownerFan 5,267]

Of course, we don't know yet. I was just saying that I hope the score will be along these lines. I expect lots of woodwind and piano solos.

[Not Mr. Big 4,741]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qU1ZeLWg28#t=33

What's the music playing while she talks? It sounds like it could be JW's music.

[TownerFan 5,267]

Mm, sounds like JW more than the stuff heard in both trailers.

[Sandor 846]

Sounds like a great theme.

[publicist 4,647]

Are you all deaf? That cymbal-crash happy sap might come from someone doing an impression of THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, Williams hasn't written stuff like this even in his most populist days.

[Sandor 846]

Are you all deaf? That cymbal-crash happy sap might come from someone doing an impression of THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, Williams hasn't written stuff like this even in his most populist days.

Yeah, those cymbal crashes ruled out Williams for me...

[TownerFan 5,267]

Are you all deaf? That cymbal-crash happy sap might come from someone doing an impression of THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, Williams hasn't written stuff like this even in his most populist days.

My ears are good, thank you.

I was just noting that it might be Williams more than the stuff heard in the last trailer, that's it. The cymbal swells aren't indeed something Williams is usually that keen to.

[Doo_liss 6,639]

I have not heard the piece in question, but in some trailers etc. cymbals are sometimes added in editorially to create a "false syncpoint" of sorts.

[Ludwig 1,169]

It's interesting to compare Williams' sketches to his orchestrators' manuscripts. In his earlier scores, there are more changes and additions noticeable in the manuscripts, although most of these are quite subtle: doubling a violin line on clarinet, slightly strengthening a bassline, things of that nature.

Interesting. It would be fascinating to see an analysis of an entire score along these lines (your next analysis?) as the orchestrator's job varies greatly, as karelm so thoroughly wrote above.

For what it's worth, I don't think playability has tended to be the issue with Williams' works - I don't play a huge variety of instruments myself, but from what I've been able to gather, he's quite good about writing the music in a way that's perfectly idiomatic and playable, so his orchestrators don't have to make many changes on that front.

I miscommunicated here. I was asking whether the scoring decisions that the orchestrator makes in places where Williams writes a general direction of "wind" or leaves it simply to the strings (which could be distributed among the parts in various ways including the use of divisi) are dictated by the most practical playability. I'm thinking of the short rehearsal times orchestras have and getting the most out of those hours with the players.

[Sharkissimo 1,974]

Every JW score has more or less the same feel. Maybe Williams learned from Spencer how to make his "post Star Wars sound" more uniform. Now he just applies that automatically in his sketches

I think his more his time with the Boston Pops. In that decade his sound became more polished, with a better sense of orchestral balance.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,081]

The piano bit sounds like Williams is taking the idea that started in War Horse, refined in Lincoln, and further refining it here. It's clearly in the same family, but different.

[Ludwig 1,169]

If Williams's music is somehow more objectively "intimate" now than it's ever been, it's a function of the films Spielberg is making, not of classical world compositional trends. He writes music that is functionally appropriate to the film. Period.

I'm speaking mostly about the writing of cues with primarily only one or two instruments. From what I recall, in the earlier scores you mention, there is usually a fairly full sound harmonically. So the sound might be more intimate in terms of having a softer, more thinly scored sound, but harmonically it's usually pretty complete. By contrast, in scores like Lincoln and this new clip from The Book Thief, there is a solo clarinet then a solo piano, much like several cues in Lincoln, giving a more pared down sound than in his earlier scores. Minimal, though not minimalist.

It's this kind of paring down that many composers have sought after a lifetime of experience composing. I bring in the classical world merely as a comparison. I'm sure there is some influence from changes in Spielberg's filmmaking style, but to ascribe this more minimal sound solely to that influence seems unconvinving to me. I would think that's more the case with most other Hollywood composers, who have to follow strong mandates from the director and producer(s). With Williams, I would think that he is given far more flexibility than most others because of his stellar history, so he's probably freer to "do what he likes" than just about anybody else in the business.

[Jay 39,761]

I still haven't received any samples or the disc itself from Sony for review, but they did confirm for me that the tracklist on Amazon UK is legitimate.

1. "One Small Fact"

2. The Journey to Himmel Street

3. New Parents and a New Home

4. Ilsa's Library

5. The Snow Fight

6. Learning to Read

7. Book Burning

8. "I Hate Hitler!"

9. Max and Liesel

10. The Train Station

11. Revealing the Secret

12. Foot Race

13. The Visitor at Himmel Street

14. Learning to Write

15. The Departure of Max

16. "Jellyfish"

17. Rescuing the Book

18. Writing to Mama

19. Max Lives

20. Rudy is Taken

21. Finale

22. The Book Thief

[Incanus 5,818]

Great!

[BloodBoal 7,541]

So even Sony believed publicist's fake track titles!

[Not Mr. Big 4,741]

I still don't see how "Jellyfish" could be relevant to the movie.

[Sandor 846]

Does anyone know the music from the first 40 seconds of this video...?

http://youtu.be/8qU1ZeLWg28

[Ludwig 1,169]

The opening seconds sound like the Star Spangled Banner with the first two notes lopped off!

[Mari 279]

Review of The Book Thief from the Chicago premiere here

Director Brian Percival told the audience that Allum's voice was quite famous from his work onstage in Germany and he felt that the voice of Death should "have a warmth and providential nature." The score by John Williams---one of the few not done for Steven Spielberg---"was based on the tonality of Roger's voice," said Percival. As Percival explained, "It was one of the rare moments that John Williams was not scoring a Spielberg film. It's really quite something. We met up in Los Angeles and seemed to just get on." Rush's character (Hans Hubermann) also plays a concertina at several points in the film, which gives the film a very Germanic, almost folk music feeling.

[Mari 279]

This clip was posted today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rufqX6fS-Fg

[Muad'Dib 1,876]

The editing is a little weird.