THE BFG OST ALBUM Discussion

[King Mark 3,625]

Hmm, that sort of good and bad news.  It means the album is pretty much it and it won't be one of the classics like we hoped for. On the other hand there won't be that 20 year wait for an expanded album

[Jay 37,281]

The complete score would probably fit on one disc. I dunno why JW said two hours of music recorded unless that includes the classical pieces and he was rounding up.

[JacksonElmore 69]

2 minutes ago, king mark said:

Hmm, that sort of good and bad news.  It means the album is pretty much it and it won't be one of the classics like we hoped for. On the other hand there won't be that 20 year wait for an expanded album

no it won't be another classic, but i think (and fucking hope) that this is more than meets the eye. I know this has been said plenty but my first listen through of TFA i hated it, and that grew on me so much. We just gotta dig

[Incanus 5,713]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

The complete score would probably fit on one disc. I dunno why JW said two hours of music recorded unless that includes the classical pieces and he was rounding up.

Or perhaps there were 2 hours of music recorded all in all, not that there is 2 hours of music in the film.

[King Mark 3,625]

1 minute ago, Jay said:

The complete score would probably fit on one disc. I dunno why JW said two hours of music recorded unless that includes the classical pieces and he was rounding up.

 

 

so your sure there's no kick ass , soaring rendition of the main theme that's unreleased?

[Jay 37,281]

2 minutes ago, Incanus said:

Or perhaps there were 2 hours of music recorded all in all, not that there is 2 hours of music in the film.

I really doubt it.

2 minutes ago, king mark said:

 

 

so your sure there's no kick ass , soaring rendition of the main theme that's unreleased?

Absolutely not.

[JacksonElmore 69]

maybe he spent two hours writing the score lol

[Jay 37,281]

Can someone link to the interview where he says this?

[King Mark 3,625]

I dunno Ricard said that so it's probably the one on the main page

 

Anyways if there's no extended soaring flying music it means that Spielberg just didn't create the opportunity for Williams to write that. In Hook he made a 3 minute flying scene so we could have a full throttle Williams cue that lasts a long time. I was hoping for at least one cue similar to that

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I haven't listened to it. So it's a one-and-done?

[mrbellamy 6,272]

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Can someone link to the interview where he says this?

 

It was from this: http://variety.com/2016/film/spotlight/john-williams-afi-1201792072-1201792072/

 

And Burlingame said it, not Williams. Though I guess we don't know if Williams threw out that number in the interview, but it's not a direct quote.

 

Quote

Williams, who says he has no thought of retiring [“Steven expects me to work until I’m 100”], still spends every day writing music, whether for film or the concert hall. After a heavy schedule over the past 14 months, writing three hours of music for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and another two for Spielberg’s The BFG,“I could use a little break,” he says.

 

 

[Jay 37,281]

@king mark no one flies in the movie.

[Incanus 5,713]

8 minutes ago, Jay said:

I really doubt it.

Well Williams said they recorded about 95 minutes of music for Lincoln and the final score is 45 minutes long.

[King Mark 3,625]

that could have been exagerrated

[Jay 37,281]

I guess Burlingame rounded, or assumed because the film is two hours the score is too.

[Lockdown 238]

Sophie's theme reminds me a lot of Young Anakin's from Phantom Menace.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Rick Berman said they recorded over 2 hours of music for Attack of the Clones, but we know that isn't true.

[Incanus 5,713]

Just now, Nick Tatopoulos's Beret said:

Rick Berman said they recorded over 2 hours of music for Attack of the Clones, but we know that isn't true.

It's Rick McCallum. And the score is a little shy of two hours I guess. They seem to round up to make it sound better.

2 minutes ago, Lockdown said:

Sophie's theme reminds me a lot of Young Anakin's from Phantom Menace.

I have only heard the preview clips and it sounded quite Harry's Wondrous World-y to me. But of course I have not heard the entire thing yet.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

What is it with Ricks?

[King Mark 3,625]

Overall I can say I liked my first listen, more than TFA but it falls short of being a masterpiece. I'd rank it slightly below War Horse but higher than his other scores from the past few years. Ranking may go way up factoring in the unreleased music, but apparently there's almost none


The main theme is very nice but too short! I was expecting it to be expanded in some cues but it's never developed further than what we get in Overture. There's some very nice renditions of it in Building Trust and Sophie's Future. There's also a secondary "noble" theme that shows up in a lot of cues like Blowing Dreams that I like a lot too

Overture is kind of a useless track since it's repeated in the last track

To Giant Country sounds like Harry Potter (Mr. Longbottom Flies)

Dream Country is very nice and etheral, although not too thematic, it's still still sprinkled with classic JW moments. At 7.33 it feels like the Main Theme is gonna bust out and give us an E.T. flying over the moon moment, except it doesn't... At least this cue has the music I wanted from the B-roll recording sessions video.

I don't like Frolic. I don't like mock classical pieces like that . I wasn't too crazy about Aunt Marge Waltz (HPPoA) either

Dream Jars: some random solo flute playing followed by an alternate version of Fluffy's Harp. not one of my favorite cues

The Boy's Drawing is an example of the main thing that's missing from this score compared to E.T.,HP or Hook. The music finally gets soaring at the 1.30 mark but it only last 30 seconds. That happens several times in the album. Very short bursts of exciting music then back to the low key twinkly stuff.

Sophie's Future. Possibly the most touching track on the album. This is most "classic Williams" sounding cue.The opening reminds me of the opening of Mischief Managed played slower. The end of the cue is the closest thing we get to a powerful rendition of the Overture main theme

The Finale is the shortest Williams Finale ever. Continues the trend of piano finales like in War Horse and Book Thief

I think that Sophie and the BFG might be edited from earlier cues? . But in the B-Roll video we did see Williams conducting "End Credits" so it might be a distinct recording too
 

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Any of the tracks known to be concert stores that don't appear in the film?

[King Mark 3,625]

Doesn't sound like it

[Jay 37,281]

1 minute ago, Pieter_Boelen said:

Any of the tracks known to be concert stores that don't appear in the film?

Definitely not.

[King Mark 3,625]

it's kind of a first. A Williams score with no concert version. I definatly think he should have expanded the main theme in the overture and made a 3 minute piece

 

Oh well I had the same problem with Tintin. the "heroic" Tintin being very short and under developped

[JacksonElmore 69]

For themes this is what I have so far. 

 

Sophies theme

Giant Country theme

Giants theme (there might be multiple. Theres a motif thats repeated over and over in "giants netted" but i'm too tired to figure it out)

Bad dream theme (?) [heard at 0:45 in "The Queen's Dream, and probably in a bunch of other places]

 

 

[King Mark 3,625]

What's the theme 30 seconds into Blowing Dreams? It's also all over the place

[JacksonElmore 69]

4 minutes ago, king mark said:

What's the theme 30 seconds into Blowing Dreams? It's also all over the place

yeah i'm not sure. reminds me a lot of lincoln for some reason. Could it be a theme for their friendship or something? Seemed to play when they were both on screen but don't remember too well

[King Mark 3,625]

wait overture is not the same as the End Credits opening

[Incanus 5,713]

2 minutes ago, king mark said:

wait overture is not the same as the End Credits opening

Well that's good news then.  

[King Mark 3,625]

In the End Credits the main theme is repeated one more time and more extended

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

27 minutes ago, Lockdown said:

Sophie's theme reminds me a lot of Young Anakin's from Phantom Menace.

 

Agreed.

 

27 minutes ago, Lockdown said:

Sophie's theme reminds me a lot of Anakin's from Phantom Menace.

Disagreed.  

[publicist 4,643]

 

[King Mark 3,625]

The opening and the last 2 minutes of the End Credits make it more clear that the "overture main theme" and the "lincoln" like friendship theme might just be sections of the same theme

 

anyways now I think it sounds a bit like Harry's Wondrous World

[Jay 37,281]

Here's my first stab at a chronological order of the OST

 

02 The Witching Hour (4:40)
03 To Giant Country (2:33)
05 Sophie's Nightmare (1:57)
07 Fleshlumpeater (1:36)
06 Building Trust (3:25)
08 Dream Jars (3:30)
13 There Was a Boy (3:29)
09 Frolic (1:43)
04 Dream Country (10:10)
10 Blowing Dreams (3:46)
11 Snorting and Sniffing (2:13)
15 The Boy's Drawings (3:05)
14 The Queen's Dream (3:08)
16 Meeting the Queen (3:00)
12 Sophie's Future (2:30)
17 Giants Netted (2:03)
18 Finale (2:13)
19 Sophie and the BFG (8:08)

01 Overture (1:18)

 

I'm actually not sure where There Was A Boy should go, nor do I know right now if any tracks contain cues from 2 different parts of the film combined together

 

 

Also I listened to the second half of the OST on my way back from the movie and in Giants Netted, the first minute is the "action climax" and the second minute is the start of the denouement of the film.  I don't remember now if they play connected together in the film like they do on the OST, and that first minute might be an edit of the full cue, I dunno.

[King Mark 3,625]

you should have recorded the audio of the movie!

[publicist 4,643]

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Thank God we already have a chronological list. I hate when Williams puts all the tracks in the wrong order!

[Incanus 5,713]

1 hour ago, publicist said:

 

Looking forward to giving this a listen once I get off from work.  

[Jay 37,281]

After my first listen to the OST: This was my impression: It's the first "just good" score of his renaissance era.

 

What I mean by that is: When JW was at his most prolific, say from 1975-2005, he would come out with new scores all the time.  Some were amazing 5 star masterpieces, and some were "just good".  Meaning, not as good as his most amazing epic work, but still better than what many other composers would do.

 

Since "semi-retiring" from 2006-2010, every score he's done since returning to the scene in 2011 has been "above average" to me.  I consider War Horse to be one of his best scores of his career, and Tintin, Lincoln, TFA, and Book Thief are amazing scores as well.  The BFG isn't an instant classic or new masterpiece.  It's "just good".

 

It's not going to be in many people's top 10 list of his work, but its still loads better than what most composers are putting out in 2016 that's for damn sure.

 

 

 

And that was just after 1 listen.  Now that I've heard it 3 times and have seen it in the film, I'm already liking it more and more.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

You'd even rank The Book Thief over it?  Ouch.

[Jay 37,281]

The Book Thief is great!

 

And as I said, that was after 1 listen

BTW I listened to it in my chronological order posted above for my third listen, and found it to me a much better program than OST order.  He shouldn't have put Dream Country so early in the program.  You need to earn that long track instead of forcing it on the listener so soon.

[Bowie 45]

Nearly finished. I think the score can be summed up as 'lots of extremely enjoyable but relatively brief passages separated by lots of quite enjoyable but slightly longer passages, punctuated by a lovely main theme that verges on instant classic status, and a handful of less memorable but relatively distinct ones'. Well, in my opinion, anyway.

 

Bottom line is someone could create a brilliant 10-to-15-minute suite from the material presented here, where less is more, and that rivals some of Williams' best.

[King Mark 3,625]

War Horse is the best recent score

But I'd rank BFG  higher than Lincoln, Book Thief and Tintin

TFA is growing on me so I'm not sure where it fits yet

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

Going through it, first impressions that come to mind - this music is very sophisticated and refined - specially for a children's film - but even otherwise. I sometimes sense a tendency in late Williams - to gratify his own higher aspirations for his music - what he gets out of writing music - but also meld it to the format of mainstream Hollywood cinema. Sometimes the twain don't merge and instead diverge.

 

A lot of the main theme plays definitely like ballet or classical music.

 

I notice a lot touches of War Horse and Lincoln in some of the long-lined constructs and slowed tempi.

 

I guess when one aims higher, one loses simplicity. Williams lost his much earlier than people realize.

 

This would again be a typically excellent score, something that is quite literally sophisticated for films and maybe even beyond the comprehension of most modern composers.

[Damien F 1,742]

I haven't listened to it yet because I've a horrible cold and I don't want that to taint my first listening experience.

 

I'm very wary of my initial reaction to this score given my lukewarm first listen to TFA which is now a classic.

[Jay 37,281]

It's kind of interesting there's so much effort put into a score for such a dumb children's movie.  I mean its great for us, we have this awesome album of great music, but the majority of kids in the audience (which will be a small audience anyway, the movie will bomb) won't know the difference.

[Quintus 5,399]

14 hours ago, Richard said:

What's wrong with watching a film with, or, at least alongside, children, and families? I enjoy watching children's reactions to films. I also enjoy being around childrden. Besides, I have a vested interest in pieces of entertainment aimed for children.

 

Bridges burned with Cremers. 

[King Mark 3,625]

When the main theme appears in the score, pretty much all the renditions are  awesome

4 minutes ago, dfenton85 said:

 

 

I'm very wary of my initial reaction to this score given my lukewarm first listen to TFA which is now a classic.

 

 

BFG has more instantly likable parts

[publicist 4,643]

After having skimmed through it while doing the extremely pleasant chore of preparing my tax declaration i say it's 70% Potter outtakes with a heavy dash of Rimsky-Korsakov for which i am just not the right audience. 

 

Whenever it's more sweetly melodic it's nice in that innocuous Horner children's score way just with more of a waltzy kind of feeling (too seldom!).

 

Will give it two more whirls but great shakes it ain't, compositionally it's all been there before and better. Some of the flute work threatens to become more unique but drowns in a sea of self-referential quotations. After Tintin and TFA i become more and more convinced that this isn't stuff Williams should spend his precious afternoons with.

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

Just now, Jay said:

It's kind of interesting there's so much effort put into a score for such a dumb children's movie.  I mean its great for us, we have this awesome album of great music, but the majority of kids in the audience (which will be a small audience anyway, the movie will bomb) won't know the difference.

 

The same's true for Harry Potter 1. The score is so elaborately and densely orchestrated - beyond the scope of children to even notice or appreciate. It is extraordinarily complex even in its beginning when the orchestra swirls with malice around the main theme.

 

But look at it another way - scores like Harry Potter 1 and BFG might also end up being the first introduction for many children to orchestral and/or symphonic music. They might not get the music fully, but they will remember the sound. This is the capacity of aesthetic surprise - children can slowly be surprised into appreciating more complex things. And a Williams score is a good place to start. I mean all children have to start somewhere to start admiring other things.

 

I think a lot of Williams music worked for me this way in my younger days (specially when I saw E.T.), the complexity of the music definitely made an impression on me and made me want to understand it better. And the more I understood it, the more pleasure I got out of it - the development of taste, as people might call it.