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THE ADVENTURES OF HAN - 2018 John Williams theme for Solo: A Star Wars Story


Obi

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The train your dragon scores from sound like loud bussy souless music. Parts of Solo are like this, i dont enjoy the CD from start to finish like i do Rogue one.

I dont very much like the HTTYD film so maybe that's it.

 

I rather have most of the giacchino output. sorry :P

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That's cool that JW checked in with Powell occasionally even after the demos were recorded and Powell was writing his own material! So his involvement was definitely much greater than merely writing the two main themes and then leaving the project entirely behind, which is what I'd initially assumed was the case. 

 

As for the (absolutely awesome!!) related passages with Han's theme in "Hyperspace" and "Flying With Chewie" -- I've long assumed they were both based closely off of JW sketches. However, particularly for "Hyperspace," I do feel like there is definitely some Powell enhancement added. The brass flourishes seem a tad too extroverted to me to be pure JW...

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yeah so, basically we don't know what JW suggested or added after he recorded the main theme like I've said all along. some of the themes like Mine Mission sound too much like Williams that he might have had a hand in them.

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On 5/16/2020 at 1:15 PM, King Mark said:

yeah so, basically we don't know what JW suggested or added after he recorded the main theme like I've said all along.

 

It's funny to read everyone in this thread saying this or that part of the Solo score HAS to be JW, it sounds so much like him, when we just went through all this with the "Anthony Daniels videos".

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  • 4 months later...
41 minutes ago, rpvee said:

Powell commented this will contain 5+ minutes of new Williams!

 

Right, but I assume that means 5 minutes of Powell's score that use Williams themes or are re-recorded moments from the LA demos - not that the actual LA demos will be here

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9 hours ago, Jay said:

A new edition of Powell's score is coming to digital streaming by Disney Records

 

Hopefully this editions contains all of Williams' LA recordings and not just the concert arrangement recording

 

Cool!

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On 9/23/2020 at 3:42 AM, Jay said:

 

Right, but I assume that means 5 minutes of Powell's score that use Williams themes or are re-recorded moments from the LA demos - not that the actual LA demos will be here

 

This. Williams' demo cues were never intended for usage. Plus, they were recorded in LA, which complicates things in terms of re-use fees etc. Whatever Powell used and re-recorded from those demos will likely be presented, though.

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25 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

 

This. Williams' demo cues were never intended for usage. Plus, they were recorded in LA, which complicates things in terms of re-use fees etc. Whatever Powell used and re-recorded from those demos will likely be presented, though.

 

He said as much when I asked him about the LA demos.

 

Sadly I don't get the impression that everything Williams recorded in LA was repurposed verbatim in the London sessions, only fragments here and there. Seems unlikely we'll ever hear the early LA demos beyond a session leak.

 

Curious to see whether Powell divulges a bit more information about which cues have pure Williams material once the Deluxe Edition comes out. Personally I prefer the mystery; it's a testament to Powell's craft that he was able to blend their two styles so seamlessly and keep us guessing.

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That is the bummer about these major label expansions vs the specialty label expansions - the nicely researched liner notes that go into detail about how the score came together

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  • 7 months later...
1 hour ago, igger6 said:

I've been mainlining Star Wars tracks for two days, as is my custom this time of year, and wasn't it a treat to hear this little chestnut spontaneously evolve into existence about a minute into "You Got a Name?" from TFA, as Han leads Rey, Finn, and BB-8 into Maz's bar...

 

I know, I know.  But wouldn't it be something if it were?

I would have loved a little snippet of Han's theme in ROS.  

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1 hour ago, igger6 said:

I've been mainlining Star Wars tracks for two days, as is my custom this time of year, and wasn't it a treat to hear this little chestnut spontaneously evolve into existence about a minute into "You Got a Name?" from TFA, as Han leads Rey, Finn, and BB-8 into Maz's bar...

 

I know, I know.  But wouldn't it be something if it were?

 

Hey, you never know -- maybe Haab was inspired by the motif at 1:06 (which is exactly the first 6 notes of Solo's Han Theme) when writing "Han's Kessel Run" for Battlefront II. And then Williams was inspired by Haab. And around it goes.

 

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Sorry, @Falstaft, not even a scholar of your caliber can pry me out of my denial about the Haab-Solo connection. I’ll go to my fiery grave in the core of Starkiller Base insisting it was a coincidence. 

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41 minutes ago, igger6 said:

Sorry, @Falstaft, not even a scholar of your caliber can pry me out of my denial about the Haab-Solo connection. I’ll go to my fiery grave in the core of Starkiller Base insisting it was a coincidence. 

 

Even with the obvious temp tracking is TROS?

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17 hours ago, igger6 said:

I've been mainlining Star Wars tracks for two days, as is my custom this time of year, and wasn't it a treat to hear this little chestnut spontaneously evolve into existence about a minute into "You Got a Name?" from TFA, as Han leads Rey, Finn, and BB-8 into Maz's bar...

 

I know, I know.  But wouldn't it be something if it were?

 

Reminds me of when I was watching The Force Awakens and heard Anthem of Evil playing all throughout the underscore for Kylo Ren's first tantrum scene. How does Johnny baby do this shit?

 

You can actually hear a bit of it on the official soundtrack version of The Girl With The Staff at around 1:15.

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18 hours ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

 

Even with the obvious temp tracking is TROS?

 

I find it more plausible that JW mimicked the stylistic features of a temp track at the eleventh hour for a comparatively minor individual cue than that he cribbed the main phrase of a major theme that was his chief contribution to a score.  Listening to "Han's Kessel Run" again as I write this, I also notice that the five notes that make up JW's Han theme actually appear in the second phrase of Haab's theme, as a permutation of the opening melody with the same rhythm but slightly different notes.  And the identical notes are really a transition to the louder and more dominant four notes that close the second line.  (I'm sure there are better musical terms for all this.)  If the melody were written out as text, the identical portion would be lowercase, while the final four notes would be all caps and italic.  I'm still not convinced that JW personally listens to every note of everyone else's scores, and I probably won't be until I hear him say it himself.  But even if he did hear this before writing his Solo theme, I still think it's more a coincidence than anything nefarious.  Taken as musical "paragraphs," themes go in different directions.  (UPDATE: I looked up the conversation on Haab's Facebook, and he actually says "Total coincidence" himself.)

 

But all that said, it's still the best thing Haab ever wrote.  It's catchy, melodic, and not easily traceable to any specific prior Williams piece.  In my experience, it's hard to find another cue on the BF1 or BF2 albums that hit that trifecta.  (But I'm willing to be proven wrong if anyone wants to proffer a track.)

 

 

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  • 4 months later...
8 minutes ago, igger6 said:

The Film Symphony Orchestra just debuted their performance of AoH, and it rocks! Give it a look and fall in love with this piece all over again! These guys should do a Blu-Ray…

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of energy! Great performance.

 

Works substantially better with the faster tempo. Anyone know how fast Williams conducted it last weekend?

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12 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Anyone know how fast Williams conducted it last weekend?

If I remember right it was lively enough, though probably not as fast as that clip.

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50 minutes ago, igger6 said:

The Film Symphony Orchestra just debuted their performance of AoH, and it rocks! Give it a look and fall in love with this piece all over again! These guys should do a Blu-Ray…

 

 

 

Their technical proficiency seems to be improving quite a bit these days which is great - not that they were bad before but there are certainly fewer shaky moments in the more challenging passages. A fine performance. Is it my imagination or are there a couple of extra bars here and there? Nice to hear some of the orchestral textures not as immediately obvious in the original recording.

 

I just hope that Powell doesn’t get too shafted by orchestras just performing music from Solo as his music is just as good as Williams. I’m pretty sure there was a compilation which did actually feature a Powell cue much to my great surprise although I can’t remember which one it was now!

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2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I’m pretty sure there was a compilation which did actually feature a Powell cue much to my great surprise although I can’t remember which one it was now!

Probably it was the Mine Mission that he got awarded for.

 

This piece shows, just like "The Lost World Theme" in particular how Williams makes those at first glance simple themes interesting by shifting the counterpoints and rhythms to unusual, not obvious patterns.

I am not aware of any film composer who does that in such masterful way.

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6 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Probably it was the Mine Mission that he got awarded for.

 

This piece shows, just like "The Lost World Theme" in particular how Williams makes those at first glance simple themes interesting by shifting the conter points and rhythms to unusual, not obvious patterns.

I am not aware of any film composer who does that in such masterful way.

Yeah I think you might be right. But yeah JW does some interesting stuff with the theme although I still find the segue about halfway through into the more searching part of the theme a little less satisfying. It sounds more like an album edit than a compositional choice even though I’m sure it’s the latter.

 

2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

It's certainly longer than on the OST. Could this be the official concert arrangement?


Most likely. The changes are fairly minor (if there are any). As I say the  extra bars could be me imagination and any orchestral adjustments may just be in the performance/mix. 

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3 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Most likely. The changes are fairly minor (if there are any). As I say the  extra bars could be me imagination and any orchestral adjustments may just be in the performance/mix. 

 

Just listened to the OST version and now I'm not sure. :lol:

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3 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I just hope that Powell doesn’t get too shafted by orchestras just performing music from Solo as his music is just as good as Williams.

 

Powell revealed recently on his Instagram that he's at work on a concert suite from Solo:

 

 

Schermata 2021-09-10 alle 11.22.50.png

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Just listened to the OST version and now I'm not sure. :lol:

Haha. The changes are certainly marginal at best!

Just now, TownerFan said:

 

Powell revealed recently on his Instagram that he's at work on a concert suite from Solo:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTCzhHzPC58/

Hopefully it’ll appear on volume 2 of his music following the surprise one he put out last year (still after some custom art for that if anyone’s up for it… the official artwork is oddly dreadful).

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Hopefully Powel's suite will be better than his end credits suite from the score. 

I was really dissapointed how loveless he just plugged 1:1 excerpts from the score together without any recognizalbe transition between them.

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1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

Hopefully Powel's suite will be better than his end credits suite from the score. 

I was really dissapointed how loveless he just plugged 1:1 excerpts from the score together without any recognizalbe transition between them.

I think I’m the only one here who really enjoys the end credits suite. Sure it’s just various cues edited together but i don’t really mind and it covers many of the score’s best ideas. If nothing else, the performance of the main Star Wars theme that kicks it off is punchy and exciting. Makes JW’s own performances from the sequels seem kinda anaemic. 

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1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

Hopefully Powel's suite will be better than his end credits suite from the score. 

I was really dissapointed how loveless he just plugged 1:1 excerpts from the score together without any recognizalbe transition between them.

 

Having a finalized end credit roll upon which the composer can write a proper concert-like suite is a luxury that nowadays isn't allowed to anybody.

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Fantastic performance.  The hero melody seems slightly tweaked, but it might just be the syncopation choices of the orchestra.  The timpani explosion at the end--I love this piece.  Williams needs to release Galaxy's Edge if for no other reason than to hear FSO's take on it.  

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2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I think I’m the only one here who really enjoys the end credits suite. Sure it’s just various cues edited together but i don’t really mind and it covers many of the score’s best ideas. If nothing else, the performance of the main Star Wars theme that kicks it off is punchy and exciting. Makes JW’s own performances from the sequels seem kinda anaemic. 

 

I agree with this. Powell really brought the energy back to those older themes in Solo, but it really feels like Williams going through the motions in the sequels.

 

His best work in the sequels, unsurprisingly, is with new material. 

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What Williams did with The Emperor's Theme in Falcon Flight is very inspired! 

 

But yes most of the ST highlights revolve around ST themes

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Yeah that is one highlight that shines above the rest, but you'd be hard pressed to find many other OT theme renditions (used in both the ST and PT) that didn't have far more inspired renditions in the prequels.

 

He was clearly more interested in developing new ideas and I'm totally on-board for that. Rey's Theme and the Resistance March being obvious standouts in the sequels.

 

Reminds me of Crystal Skull, where it really felt like the Raiders March had run out of steam.

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