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Has The BFG grown on you?


Josh500

Rate the score of The BFG!  

43 members have voted

  1. 1. Rate the score of The BFG!

    • 5 stars
      8
    • 4.5 stars
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    • 3.5 stars
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    • 3 stars
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    • 2.5 stars
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Do you like it more or less now than four months ago, when it was released?

 

I find that, rather surprisingly, it has grown on my quite a bit. It's still not a masterpiece, or on the same level as Tintin or War Horse, but it's better than I thought at first. 

 

Especially the last track stands out. It's catchy. I find myself listening to it quite often these last few weeks....

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I thought it was underwhelming at first. I even stopped listening to it after a few listens...

 

But relistening to it again, I find it to be much better than previously thought. It will never be a classic, but it's not bad at all.

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I have to admit that the score has grown on me. Just took a listen and there is a lot to admire. Sophie/BFG related melodies are terrific old fashioned nostalgic "they lived happily ever after" type of feel-good material and genuinely moving and things like Dream Jars is a fun curiosity but what brings this score down a couple of notches for me is the over-familiarity of the Williams' children's fantasy scoring tropes that he leans on quite heavily in many places here.

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4 hours ago, Josh500 said:

I thought it was underwhelming at first. I even stopped listening to it after a few listens...

 

But relistening to it again, I find it to be much better than previously thought. It will never be a classic, but it's not bad at all.

 

I felt that way the first time I heard CE3K.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

I actually haven't listened to it once since a week or so after I saw the film

 

Really?

 

Man, I've listened to this probably once a week since July!  Wonderful, beautiful music. Much better than the movie!

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I think it had all the building blocks to be a classic, but the themes aren't developed enough to be really satisfying. The score always seems to be building on something without ever getting there

 

so no, it hasn't really grown on me

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22 minutes ago, king mark said:

I think it had all the building blocks to be a classic, but the themes aren't developed enough to be really satisfying. The score always seems to be building on something without ever getting there

 

so no, it hasn't really grown on me

 

I actually mostly agree with you while still really liking the OST.  Maybe not an all-time classic Williams, but I just...like listening to it.

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4 hours ago, Quintus said:

 

That's the opposite of what I've heard. 

 

Well, I still haven't seen it yet.

 

Have you? 

5 hours ago, king mark said:

I think it had all the building blocks to be a classic, but the themes aren't developed enough to be really satisfying. The score always seems to be building on something without ever getting there

 

so no, it hasn't really grown on me

 

Hmmm, developed or not, there is a hummable main theme.

 

When I first heard MoaG, I thought Sayuris Theme was totally lacking and simplistic. But then it grew on me.

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4 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

Hmmm, developed or not, there is a hummable main theme.

 

 

  yes, the main sophie's theme is great..but it's never developed into a full version. We only hear teasing snippets of it

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5 hours ago, king mark said:

  yes, the main sophie's theme is great..but it's never developed into a full version. We only hear teasing snippets of it

 

I disagree. 

 

The first portion of the very last track. That's the "full version."

 

Now, may we see an even more developed and expanded "concert version"? That's a different question. But that's not always needed... And I don't think that for this theme it is.

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In all honesty, I haven't been able to get to it. Its resting under a pile of un-opened cds. I have to find the right kind of time and feeling to play it. My spare time is mostly spent with my toddler son and I enjoy his company more then my cds. I'am the 'Peter Pan' who has grown up suddenly-HELP!

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It has grown on me, but not nearly in the same capacity as, say, TFA was for me a couple months after release. With The BFG, it went from me thinking it was okay to then being good, whereas TFA went from being good to a masterpiece. Never before has a score grown that much on me upon first listen. It's honestly a little silly how much my opinion improved on it, as I regard it now as one of the best film scores of the last 15 years. Perhaps The BFG hasn't been able to blossom in the same way for me, because I haven't brought it into the light for an objective and isolated listening experience free from expectations, and instead have it still firmly planted mentally in TFA's shadow, which is a quite unfair thing for me to do to it.    

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The thing with BFG is that I kind of forget it exists unless it comes up whilst my playlist on Spotify is on shuffle mode. Due to the fact I haven't listened that much means I get pleasantly surprised whenever it comes on.
Like others have said, some nice moments but nothing really stands out to me. That could also be due to the fact I haven't seen the film though so I don't have much connection with the music... 
Needs a few more listens really! 

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One of the most intriguing things I find about the score is that, despite Williams' evolving writing style over the last 25 years, this could easily pass as a score he wrote in the early 90s. He really is a chameleon composer in that respect.

 

It makes scores like the Star Wars prequels and KOTCS even more fascinating, given the way they 'feel' quite different to the SW and IJ scores from the 80s. With the prequels especially, there's a clear evolution of writing style and orchestral textures used.

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I often listen to BFG in the car and always discover new nuances and details. it is such a finely crafted, exquisite score. Sure, there are similarities to other JW scores, but if I would never have heard one other JW score before, I would be totally blown away by this and see it as the best score of the decade, just for the quality of the composition and instrumentation. And even with the knowledge of all the JW scores before, I like it very much. And I am slowly becoming convinced that since 2010 we are witnessing a second golden era of JW scores with Tintin, War Horse, TFA and BFG, second only to his 1977-1984 phase.

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Cripes, some very euphoric descriptions of latter-day Williams here. Figures that when I finally encounter some positivity on this board, it's in an area where I'm rather negative.

 

It is my opinion that BFG -- like almost all of Williams' genre scores in the last 10 years -- suffers from "approximation syndrome", i.e. he's trying to approximate a more consonant sound he nurtured with ease in the 90s and before, whereas his own preference these days lies with stuff like "Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra" and "Conversations". Exploring more avantgarde and modern soundscapes. So these approximations become half-baked.

 

That's not to say that BFG, TFA, TINTIN, INDY 4 etc. don't have values -- of course they do! -- but they're relegated to moments rather than an overarching, consistent level of quality. Williams has been at his best and most consistent in recent years with more "serious" fare, like LINCOLN, WAR HORSE (OK, except BOOK THIEF; that also suffered from 'approximation syndrome').

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4 hours ago, Thor said:

Cripes, some very euphoric descriptions of latter-day Williams here. Figures that when I finally encounter some positivity on this board, it's in an area where I'm rather negative.

 

It is my opinion that BFG -- like almost all of Williams' genre scores in the last 10 years -- suffers from "approximation syndrome", i.e. he's trying to approximate a more consonant sound he nurtured with ease in the 90s and before, whereas his own preference these days lies with stuff like "Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra" and "Conversations". Exploring more avantgarde and modern soundscapes. So these approximations become half-baked.

 

That's not to say that BFG, TFA, TINTIN, INDY 4 etc. don't have values -- of course they do! -- but they're relegated to moments rather than an overarching, consistent level of quality. Williams has been at his best and most consistent in recent years with more "serious" fare, like LINCOLN, WAR HORSE (OK, except BOOK THIEF; that also suffered from 'approximation syndrome').

 

This is when we get the Marshall McLuhan scene from Annie Hall.

 

(John Williams steps out from behind a pillar)

Williams: I heard what you were saying. You know nothing of my work!

 

Boy if life were only like that.

 

 

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I can think of a fair share of opinions on this board that Williams would have issues with. Mine is probably the least controversial; in fact, he'd probably agree (notice how his favourite score of his own has changed from JANE EYRE to CLOSE ENCOUNTERS).

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On 9/27/2016 at 4:54 AM, Josh500 said:

 

I disagree. 

 

The first portion of the very last track. That's the "full version."

 

Now, may we see an even more developed and expanded "concert version"? That's a different question. But that's not always needed... And I don't think that for this theme it is.

 

JW wrote one concert piece for the BFG, "Suite from the BFG." It's basically the end credits suite with some material cut out but also some cool short additions (but nothing major; no huge thematic statements missing from the actual film score, certainly). Definitely worth a listen if you liked the score (as I did). This performance is the Boston Pops at Tanglewood on Parade in August:

 

The_BFG_Suite.wav

 

I agree that the beginning statement feels like the "full version."

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5 hours ago, Will said:

I really must refute the notion that this score is more or less a repackaged collection of old JW fantasy ideas. Because I find this score incredibly fresh in many respects.

 

5 hours ago, Will said:

I'm not very familiar with JW's oeuvre compared to most members here.

 

There. That's all that needed to be said.

 

You like The BFG? That's fine. You call it fresh? That's inaccurate!

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