Favorite short musical moments in Williams scores?

[Balahkay 629]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who repeats short musical moments (15 seconds or less) of a Williams' piece. I've discovered probably a close to hundred of these moments in Williams music, especially in his Star Wars scores... a few of them I enjoy more than the full cue.

 

2:36 - 2:47

[Xander Harris 8,494]

That's a Williams trademark, creating mini one-off bits of music that could be epic standalone themes to carry an entire score.

[Cerebral Cortex 3,363]

I always really liked this little bit from 1:23 to 1:49. As far as I can tell, it doesn't show up anywhere else in the soundtrack.

[Muad'Dib 1,997]

You reminded me of a great one from CoS

3-30 to 3:42

It's some sort of Russian dance or march on cocaine. I love it!

[BloodBoal 7,545]

You reminded me of a great one from CoS

3-30 to 3:42

Yes! A thousand times yes!

Though I'd include 03:16 - 03:30 with that.

[Arpy 4,218]

One from recent memory: Star Ship Escapes (1:34 - 2:16) from Superman. Love that little bit

and another

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2:07 - end

For some reason, it's really a warm, fuzzy ending in the film as the scene of Grant and the kids are sleeping in the tree changes to Ellie watching Hammond.

[Jay 43,905]

It's some sort of Russian dance or march on cocaine. I love it!

[The Psycho Pianist 221]

I've always loved the string line from 1:54-2:15 on this track from Philosopher's Stone. So much so that one day I had to transcribe it.

[DreamTheater 131]

There are way too many little moments in Williams' scores that give me goosebumps, but the one part of Superman I ALWAYS become emotional to is the gorgeous melody for when Jor-El and Lara are saying goodbye to Kal-El, putting him in the crystal ship and the planet is moments away from destruction.

[Cerebral Cortex 3,363]

You reminded me of a great one from CoS

3-30 to 3:42

It's some sort of Russian dance or march on cocaine. I love it!

That's an amazing one! Excellent choice.

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

The "Sith History" chorale, of course.

[JWfangirl1992 18]

I don't know why but I absolutely love this part of the Battle of Hoth in Empire, such a great climatic moment (4:01-4:23). I have not watched Empire in quite some time but I do believe this part is not in the actual movie itself, but I could be wrong.

One goosebumps moment that comes to mind right now is this part of Revenge of the Sith which is actually not on the OST (which kills me). Someone on youtube must agree with me on how great this moment is because they made a short video of just it. It kinda cuts off the beginning part that's not on the OST but you all get the idea.

Actually while I was looking for the last clip I was watching this video trying to find the right cue and watching it reminded me that this entire scene is a goosebumps moment for me. I know some people are not huge fans of the movie and the score (as compared to the original trilogy), however, I think that this is one of the best examples in the entire Star Wars Saga that shows Williams' brilliance in writing a piece that gives the scene the exact feel that Lucas wanted the audience to feel while watching it.

I know I have many others, however, Star Wars ones are only coming to mind right now.

[Jay 43,905]

I don't know why but I absolutely love this part of the Battle of Hoth in Empire, such a great climatic moment (4:01-4:23). I have not watched Empire in quite some time but I do believe this part is not in the actual movie itself, but I could be wrong.

Correct, that bit was dialed out of the final film. Always loved that part!

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

Yeah that middle one you posted is badass.

[Balahkay 629]

Yeah that middle one you posted is badass.

Fortunately, we have a clean version of that piece. I remember listening to a DVD rip of that small segment for years.

That spiders bit from CoS has been stuck in my head all day!

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

And unfortunately the "Sith History" chorale I mentioned before is still elusive.

[Balahkay 629]

There are still so many great unreleased cues from many of Williams' scores. This cue from POA has been burned in my memory since I first saw the film 10 years ago, especially :32 - :40. Can't wait for a clean version some day.

[BloodBoal 7,545]

Mandatory clip in a thread like this:

01:00 - 01:22

[Not Mr. Big 4,851]

Mandatory clip in a thread like this:

01:00 - 01:22

One of John Williams' best ever tracks if you ask me.

[leeallen01 2,223]

1:04 - 1:18 of The Catamaran Race from Jaws 2. Stunning. Classic frantic and explosive Williams. The whole piece is one of my absolute favourites of Williams from anything he's done. Total Wild Western adventurousness.

[BloodBoal 7,545]

Mandatory clip in a thread like this:

01:00 - 01:22

One of John Williams' best ever tracks if you ask me.

And a good companion piece:

01:33 - 01:58

[leeallen01 2,223]

0:19 - 0:32 of The Asteroid Field.

[JWfangirl1992 18]

Mandatory clip in a thread like this:

01:00 - 01:22

One of John Williams' best ever tracks if you ask me.

And a good companion piece:

01:33 - 01:58

I agree with both of these! When I was listening to Bloodboal's clip I immediately thought of those few seconds in the Battle Over Coruscant, which is such a great opening piece.

[Xander Harris 8,494]

0:55

[JWfangirl1992 18]

This is an excellent thread topic because I always appreciate these little moments but I don't think it has ever been brought up other than here or there so it is nice to have an entire thread dedicated to it. I do find it very interesting that a lot of the ones everyone is mentioning are from the Star Wars scores.

[Jay 43,905]

Mandatory clip in a thread like this:

What Williams does with The Force Theme in the prequels is just awesome

[Thor 9,323]

I'm terrible at remembering and/or obsessing over micro details like this unless I'm doing actual academic analysis. For me, the whole 'journey' is the thing, at least on a 'track level', at a bare minimum. That's not to say there aren't invidivual, small moments with great beauty that I treasure, but they tend to be part of a whole.

[peter.anschutz 43]

I've always liked the part of Imperial Attack where the droids escape in the pod (4:20-4:55).

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 11,275]

Thats just beautiful

[Jay 43,905]

Great example!

Keep em coming!

[BloodBoal 7,545]

04:17 - 04:40

Love the creepiness.

[Jay 43,905]

YES!!

Such a great moment!

[Ricard 2,416]

I've always liked the part of Imperial Attack where the droids escape in the pod (4:20-4:55).

A personal favorite since day one. I think most of my choices last more than 15 seconds, but I'll keep thinking.

[Code 000. Destruct. 0. 4,261]

2:42 - 2:50

10:19 - end

2:44 - 2:58

3:06 - 3:22

1:22 - 1:32

2:20 - 2:33

2:39 - 2:56

2:46 - 3:06, 3:19 - 3:35

4:20 - 4:50

7:12 - 7:32

And, as always, the Sith chorale from the Darth Plagueis story scene.

[Balahkay 629]

One of many I enjoy from TLW - 6:51 to 7:05

[Balahkay 629]

1:13 - 1:20, 1:30 - 1:40, 1:52 - 2:00, & 2:58 - 3:11

[Jilal 655]

EDIT: I somehow didn't realize this was a thread reserved for Williams's music.

[Loert 3,049]

Few excerpts from Temple of Doom:

2:02 - 2:20

I've noticed that whenever Williams goes aleatoric like this, with the strings going crazy, he decorates around it by adding short phrases and 'snippets' to make the music more interesting. For example here, on top of the strings you hear the bassoon, then clarinet, then horns...all of which give entirely different sounds, and keep the listener engaged.

0:30 - 0:37

This is like some sort of tribal dance on acid...(and I should also give special mention to those orchestral slides down, which are also great snippets!)

And a couple more from the Harry Potter series:

1:39 - 1:45

If there's one snippet of music in Harry Potter that sounds definitely 'wizardly', it's this! (this also appears in "Cornish Pixies" in CoS)

2:09 - 2:15

I like the counterpoint in this one!

[Jay 43,905]

Great examples from Indy 2!

Also yes, pretty cool how he has those different other instruments do stuff behind the aleotoric strings

[Not Mr. Big 4,851]

I absolutely love the string interlude at 0:54 or so of this clip, particularly in the context of the film.

[Gurkensalat 367]

I always get goosebumps at the first 30 sec of this Schindlers LIst Track.

For me the most beautiful music of John Williams is 2:22 to 2:55 in this Always compilation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bmdIjSh4cA

[Oskar 80]

Two of my absolute favorite short musical moments are from Jane Eyre: 2:03 to 2:33 and 3:31 to 3:41.

[MrScratch 296]

That brief action cue from the Battle of Endor. I don't know the exact track and time, but the cue right before The Final Duel. That music was always memorable from watching the movie and I remember hoping it would be on the 1993 Anthology Box Set.

[Jay 43,905]

They called it "Overtaking The Bunker" on the 1997 set.

Original cue title: "The Battle Rages"

[Loert 3,049]

A very short snippet:

0:10 - 0:12

There's literally no better way to orchestrate that "Ta DA" chord at the end.

[Muad'Dib 1,997]

I mentioned it in another thread but I love Stepping Stones from KOTCS.

[nightscape94 967]

1:09 - 1:26

THOSE CELLOS

[Jay 43,905]

How about that glorious fanfare that opens "Swordfight" on LLL's Hook CD?

The one at 12:11 in this video

The B section of Luke's theme in Main Title / Ice Planet Hoth (4:25-4:43)

That little run-through is so unlike the way Luke's theme is ever handled anywhere else......

[Jilal 655]

1:24

Horn section playing parallel major chords. Brilliant!

[Jay 43,905]

This is a thread for JOHN WILLIAMS short musical moments.......