Quintus 5,399 Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 I wouldn't even put Schindler's List in the top 100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bespin 8,480 Posted October 22, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted October 22, 2020 Finally, here's what other composers think of John Williams: Raiders of the SoundtrArk, Disco Stu, Fabulin and 3 others 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,498 Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 "He's not as good as me". Mans Rizmeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post toothless 963 Posted December 13, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 13, 2020 https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&u=https://www.bfmtv.com/people/alexandre-astier-devoile-les-secrets-de-la-bande-originale-de-kaamelott-premier-volet_AN-202011270089.html The automatic translation is terrible but I don't have time to properly translate for now. If Alexandre Astier admits that he was not inspired by Hisaishi, he fully claims the influence of John Williams: "It is the ultimate reference in film music! I looked at his scores. It's very beautiful. He's a completely crazy guy. For me, he is not especially a composer of film music: he is a composer, who follows the others and who has his place in the pantheon of composers at all. The film wears it, because it composes in an era when the film is a good carrier of classical music. But he doesn't need the film to support him. His music works on its own. The film doesn't often work without him." The article is about this OST: Once, Fabulin and Bayesian 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayesian 1,359 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Smart man, this Alex Astier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulin 3,510 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,030 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Well, a film without music is pretty boring... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,173 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 10 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: Well, a film without music is pretty boring... Naïve Old Fart and SteveMc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,030 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Right on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,465 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 Love films without a non-diegetic score. Michael Haneke for the win! TheUlyssesian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,173 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: Right on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,498 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 25 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said: Well, a film without music is pretty boring... Aren't we forgetting that THE CHINA SYNDROME did have a score, that was removed, and that it has a song? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,173 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 14 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said: Aren't we forgetting that THE CHINA SYNDROME did have a score, that was removed, and that it has a song? The main title music doesn't count. I did forget that it had a score written for it (I haven't heard it), but that doesn't change the fact that it ended up being a music without a score. And it's not boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,030 Posted December 13, 2020 Share Posted December 13, 2020 31 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said: 25 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said: Aren't we forgetting that THE CHINA SYNDROME did have a score, that was removed, and that it has a song? There's a film about the China virus already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toothless 963 Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 It's me again with a new quote Quote The difficulty is not so much composing. It is not that difficult to have ideas. On the other hand, orchestration requires real engineering. So, of course, I'm an admirer of great orchestrators. Williams orchestrates himself ; not everyone does. You can be at school your whole life just by having John Williams Sheets of Music in your drawer. He is a born orchestrator, he is a genius of orchestration. Once and Bayesian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerateWohl 4,337 Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 15 hours ago, Thor said: Love films without a non-diegetic score. Michael Haneke for the win! "The Birds" come to mind. And almost all Dogma movies. TheUlyssesian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,030 Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 The cantina scene in Star Wars. Regarding orchesration: it would be absolutely fantastic if JW could orchestrate some music by one of the classical greats - like a Beethoven quartet or piano sonata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,173 Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 8 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said: Regarding orchesration: it would be absolutely fantastic if JW could orchestrate some music by one of the classical greats - like a Beethoven quartet or piano sonata. Bach not good enough for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,030 Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 What? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,173 Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 He arranged some Bach for The Paper Chase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toothless 963 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 In this interview we learn that Astier was impressed with the OST for AOTC. Also, he talks a bit about Catch me if you can. it’s funny cause I didn’t know Astier was such a huge John Williams fan but now it seems pretty clear 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,030 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Has this guy composed anything good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toothless 963 Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 I think so far he only composed for Kaamelott (Tv Show) and two movies: I know he studied here https://www.asmm.fr/en/ but other than that I haven’t been following him as a composer but more as a screenwriter and director Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arpy 4,145 Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 17 hours ago, toothless said: In this interview we learn that Astier was impressed with the OST for AOTC. Also, he talks a bit about Catch me if you can. it’s funny cause I didn’t know Astier was such a huge John Williams fan but now it seems pretty clear 🙂 Is there a translation or English captions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toothless 963 Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 So, I'm not a Tom Holkenborg fan but nor am I a Tom holkenborg hater. I happen to like some of his scores. However on this instance, when he talks about the relationship between composers and sound designers, I think he is wrong in saying that a "John Williams style" composer can just do his thing and the sound designer will fill the gap. I remember seing an interview where JW says he would explicitly work in tandem with sound design to get around it and compliment it. Any thought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,030 Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 2 minutes ago, toothless said: Tom holkenbord It's difficult to hate a person you've never heard of. toothless 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Skywalker 1,792 Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 Jurassic Park and War of the Worlds come to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eitam 364 Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 On 12/21/2020 at 7:18 PM, toothless said: In this interview we learn that Astier was impressed with the OST for AOTC. Also, he talks a bit about Catch me if you can. it’s funny cause I didn’t know Astier was such a huge John Williams fan but now it seems pretty clear 🙂 I'm quite surprised that he singles out Attack of the Clones as one of the film scores he was most impressed with. Surely he hears things there that I don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Fabulin 3,510 Posted June 25, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted June 25, 2021 "I think it is probably fair to say that he is the last of the greats... and I don't think that's an insult to any of our contemporary "great" composers... but in terms of classical, golden masters... he absolutely is a treasure, and every composer looks up to him. He is the master, an extraordinary lifetime of writing and an extraordinary catalogue of music that has affected generation after generation".---David Arnold, June 2021 SteveMc, SingeMoisi, Naïve Old Fart and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayesian 1,359 Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Lovely quote. In what interview or situation did Arnold say this? Edit: never mind, I see you started a new thread on it 👍🏻 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post eitam 364 Posted August 9, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted August 9, 2021 Not a composer but: an interview with a Japanese koto player on the Geisha soundtrack. Quote It was a sudden call that led to her involvement in Memoirs of a Geisha. “I got a call out of the blue one day from someone at Sony Music, saying, ‘Come out to Hollywood: John Williams is looking for a koto player for a movie.’ My first reaction, I’m ashamed to say, was: ‘John Who?’ But then I started to look him up, and soon realized what a big deal he was.” John Williams, a well-known name to movie fans, is the composer of some of the best-loved scores in cinema history, including those for Star Wars, E.T., and many others. And now his representative was on the phone with a job offer: one of those things that could only happen in America. “I flew out with my instrument and went to his office to meet him. I think it was the first time he’d ever heard a koto played live. He seemed to really like the sound.” For the recording, Ishigure joined an orchestra of more than 100 musicians, including international stars like the cellist Yoyo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman. “They did the recording scene by scene. The filming for the movie had already been done, and we played in time to that. But John was the only one who actually watched the footage. He conducted in time with what he was watching, and the music we played ended up fitting perfectly. It made me realize what a master he is at his profession, after all those years working on so many movies.” Ishigure became a big fan of Yoyo Ma during the recording. “He was always ready with a joke to lighten the mood—and he was always really relaxed and approachable with the other musicians.” After the recording was finished, Ishigure was asked to stay behind with a harpist after all the other musicians left. “At first, I didn’t know what was going on. Turned out they wanted us to play a duet together, just the two of us. In front of about 50 members of the film crew. Everyone fell totally silent. So much pressure! I just concentrated on trying to play the best I possibly could. Actually, one of the crew had handed me a copy of the score before recording started. I’d told them flat out: this is unplayable on a koto! But they decided to go ahead anyway. I can’t remember exactly how it worked out now, but I got through it somehow.” Fifteen years later, she still cherishes the memories of an unforgettable time and a picture taken at the sessions is on proud display in her apartment. Fabulin, MikeH, crumbs and 6 others 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Skywalker 1,792 Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 I hope that duet is on the sessions... if they ever surface.. or the score can be released. crlbrg and crumbs 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Aenae 41 Posted September 15, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted September 15, 2021 Steven Stucky, the late Pulitzer Prize-winning composer on John Williams (this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Stucky): "Loved Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But it absolutely stars John Williams! What a genius this guy is." karelm, Joni Wiljami, Cerebral Cortex and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TownerFan 4,983 Posted September 20, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted September 20, 2021 Interview from 2012 with the late Arthur B. Rubinstein (a very fine film composer) mostly about JW: Disco Stu, Joni Wiljami, GerateWohl and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 I can’t help noticing the disparity in length between the Williams and the Goldsmith….. Loert 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80sFan 108 Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Johan de Meij: "With star composer John Williams, at the NY Philharmonic, 2011 New York City" Top right: https://johandemeij.com/events Left side/bottom: https://johandemeij.com/gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Once 604 Posted November 15, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted November 15, 2021 I found this Danny Elfman quote from 1990; Quote "It's the roller coaster of Hollywood," he adds. "Except for John Williams, everyone else I can think of has had ups and downs. He's the only one to come in with a bang and hang in there with a bang." Bayesian, Naïve Old Fart and GerateWohl 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TheUlyssesian 2,473 Posted January 11, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 11, 2022 Desplat continues to be effusive in his praise of Williams any chance he gets. https://www.awardsdaily.com/2022/01/10/alexandre-desplat-dispatch/ What would you say are your quintessential works? If you had to create a Mount Rushmore for your career, which scores would you choose? ... two Harry Potter movies, the last ones because I learned a lot doing that and thanks to David Haymen, who gave me the opportunity to score the last two films. Also, my proximity to John Williams meant that I could get closer to him, he was my idol, and he is still my idol. Remco, Bayesian, Once and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,030 Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 A few words on JW by sheet music arranger Jeffrey Sultanof: https://jeffreysultanof.substack.com/p/john-williams-aka-johnny-john-t-john?s=r It's funny that JW made an album experimenting with the then new stereo format. It's like he's always been around. GerateWohl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Marian Schedenig 8,173 Posted June 15, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted June 15, 2022 Via Doug Adams on Twitter: ‘I’VE NEVER JUDGED MYSELF AGAINST HIM, EVER’: TOTO’S JOSEPH WILLIAMS ON HIS FATHER, ‘STAR WARS’ COMPOSER JOHN WILLIAMS Edmilson, mrbellamy, michael_grig and 6 others 6 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 4,639 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said: Via Doug Adams on Twitter: ‘I’VE NEVER JUDGED MYSELF AGAINST HIM, EVER’: TOTO’S JOSEPH WILLIAMS ON HIS FATHER, ‘STAR WARS’ COMPOSER JOHN WILLIAMS Damn, that was a good article, even touching and a bit heartbreaking about the death of his mom. When asked about the key to success, Joseph said his dad's advice is "just discipline and a little bit of talent." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bollemanneke 3,337 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Robert Greenberg, professor and composer who became one of my heroes because of all his great courses (no pun intended), claims in lecture 20 of The Symphony that JW 'gracelessly ripped off' a composer I can't even recall now in his ET Bicycle Chase. My imbalanced emotions cannot cope with this opinion as the spell is now broken, either Greenberg or JW just became imperfect. I'll choose JW for now. BB-8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 4,639 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 29 minutes ago, bollemanneke said: Robert Greenberg, professor and composer who became one of my heroes because of all his great courses (no pun intended), claims in lecture 20 of The Symphony that JW 'gracelessly ripped off' a composer I can't even recall now in his ET Bicycle Chase. My imbalanced emotions cannot cope with this opinion as the spell is now broken, either Greenberg or JW just became imperfect. I'll choose JW for now. Howard Hanson. There are some similiarities with the flute motif and such. Nothing more than some of Mozart sounding like Haydn, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bollemanneke 3,337 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Right. I never understood why Mozart 'ripping off' Haydn IS oay. Because Mozart is less dull? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 59 minutes ago, bollemanneke said: Robert Greenberg, professor and composer who became one of my heroes because of all his great courses (no pun intended), claims in lecture 20 of The Symphony that JW 'gracelessly ripped off' a composer I can't even recall now in his ET Bicycle Chase. My imbalanced emotions cannot cope with this opinion as the spell is now broken, either Greenberg or JW just became imperfect. I'll choose JW for now. Both are great! And really after the opening similarity, ET goes in a vastly different direction. I would certainly not describe it as "graceless," a rather judgey adjective to choose. Bayesian and Taikomochi 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Naïve Old Fart 9,498 Posted July 31, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 31, 2022 Hey! This dude ripped-off the End Title, from ALIEN! Tallguy, Martinland and Brónach 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taikomochi 1,136 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 As in nearly all cases where Williams is accused of ripping someone off, Williams did it better. Fabulin and DangerMotif 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayesian 1,359 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Oh Greenberg. I sure hope you made it a point in your course to point out all the instances when the classical greats lifted, quoted, or mimicked their peers and forbears and didn’t just pick on JW because he’s an easy target. It’s not just Greenberg though. I googled just now for composers lifting from other composers and basically every hit came back JW. Maybe that’s just my phone knowing I was on JWFan a moment before and trying to feed me supposedly relevant links, but if not, what a ridiculous burden JW is forced to endure among the uninformed masses. The so-called tall poppy syndrome—what an invidious and corrosive thing for successful people to have to deal with. People can be so petty. It’s sickening. I’m just glad the cognoscenti are above it and rightly shower JW with the volume of love no other film composer is likely to ever receive again. I have nothing more to say about the glee with which so many people attempt to slander JW (for now at least), except to offer this link to a Quora post where Curtis Lindsay offers an answer that sets the record straight in an evenhanded way. @bollemanneke, read it and restore your faith in JW. https://www.quora.com/Why-does-a-talented-composer-like-John-Williams-seem-to-rip-off-pieces-from-classical-music bollemanneke 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
publicist 4,643 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 The bicycle music wasn't the only passage from E. T.'s tearful goodbye sequence that takes its cue from Hanson. And while it's inevitable that such mentions arouse fan wrath, i always get a chuckle when that dreaded sentence appears 'JW did it better'...yeah sure, when your point of reference is a heart tugging movie from your formative years, sure, beats Hanson. But it's also true that such opinions are 99.99% held by guys who never listen to anything but film music and/or have little knowledge of the classical repertoire. Brundlefly and Fabulin 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbellamy 6,272 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 To me it's less relevant that Williams did something "better" than that he did it differently. The Hanson in Adventures on Earth is what I would call a pretty substantial lift but it's not Adventures on Earth and it's not what I admire and enjoy most about Adventures on Earth as a composition. The Dvorak as the precedent for the ET theme is in that category, I guess, too. The Dvorak melody is gorgeous and elusive, ET makes it more direct, a simple lullaby, and then continues extending it and varying it into something else. It's not necessarily "better." Maybe better for ET, better for a memorable film score theme and a melody that can stick in your brain, better as the anchor to a major work of transcendent popular art, certainly that all counts for something but none of these were Dvorak's intention when it pops up at the end of his Dumky trio. In any case it's definitely not just a straight ripoff considering the whole of that melody in Williams's score. On the other hand, like, Mars in Star Wars, I could pretty much dismiss that riff as straight plagiarism in the first score. But it's not the best of John Williams' Star Wars or even close to representing what I appreciate about the totality of that score. That's kind of the whole problem with YouTube videos or tweets that will sample these clips, the laziest implication being "I rest my case, you can find equal parallels in every moment of a Williams score, I just don't have time to search for them all." I mean, King's Row is barely even a challenge, the similarities to the Star Wars fanfare are so fleeting and generic. As far as nostalgia goes, it's definitely part of it but it's not everything. I mean, I always loved Honey I Shrunk the Kids and James Horner's "Ant Rodeo" was a scene I loved watching for the score. But then, you know, I became aware of Dave Grusin's "Fratelli Chase" (which I can't assume is the most original piece in the first place) and Copland's "Hoedown", not to mention other pretty shameless and uncreative lifts in that score like Raymond Scott and Nino Rota, so it's not like it survived my childhood to rate as a great piece of music. It's not like I'm incapable of thinking critically when it comes down to it. But at the same time I didn't stop enjoying it either. It's a hack job but it's my hack job. Not Mr. Big 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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