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The Rise of Skywalker - COMPLETE SCORE Discussion - SPOILERS ALLOWED!


Jay

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Across the Stars isn’t necessarily the most developed theme, but it’s the most prescient one. It was written by a composer who knows where the story is headed. It’s also a theme that’s embedded into a lot of other material in the two prequel scores.

 

Another theme to have major development across the six-part series is the Imperial March, although it’s absence from the original score slightly undermines that.

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40 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Another theme to have major development across the six-part series is the Imperial March, although it’s absence from the original score slightly undermines that.

 

Off the top of my head, it's the only theme to appear in 8 of the 9 scores (and its absence in the original is only because it wasn't written yet), with the Force and Luke's theme being the only ones in all 9 (the latter simply because of the main title though). It's cleverly developed in the prequel trilogy because Williams knew where it was heading. Its appearances in the ST are pretty much just scene specific, an obligation due to the appearance of Vader's helmet.

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Good point... well, I guess if you exclude the obligatory titles/credits, it's tied with Luke's Theme on 8 films (with the Force Theme the only one in all 9).

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Check out @Falstaft (hiatus til TROS)'s post here.  He pointed out, with an audio example, that they are not in fact the same music... but they are similar!

Basically, the thinking now is that that music in the film/FYC track is an alternate for Rey's arrival on Exegol

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11 hours ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

Rey's theme is first heard in TFA in a way that very much hearkens to the idea of someone who is just beginning their journey while also expressing the loneliness and perhaps lost nature that someone currently finds themselves in in searching for greater purpose

"Rey, who?"
"Rey... Ben's Theme."
"Ben, who?"

Very thoughtful and thought-provoking post, thanks!

 

--

 

On a separate note, I wasn't expecting an explicit, slowed-down Nibelung motif (as opposed to any instances in JW's music where it was stylistically implicit). And sorry if this has been posted already here or on another thread. Despite JW's known aversion to Wagner and his reticence to have his leitmotivic approach in SW associated with that of the Ring, here it is:

It makes sense given Kylo (or Rey or whoever in whichever intended scene) is journeying to what is very much the underworld, a "gaol" of the "exiled."

 

 

 

That anvil audio is still one of the dopest things for its time and context.

 

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I've mentioned this chord before (and its nearly note for note similarity to the climactic chord in CE3K's End Titles),

 

 

but I didn't realize at the time that it was heard earlier in the film, and probably tracked at that, here:
 


Perhaps it's foreshadowing or even shipping, as it were. I find it very interesting tonally; a chord that has tension with B-flat major (Main Title/Luke's key) and its relative minor, G minor (Vader), and even can be transposed and spelled as the Death Star chord below (C# minor major 7th third inversion vs. E-flat minor major 7th first inversion in TROS).

 

 

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I never made that connection with the intro (Victory) and Rey's intro. The main melody (Trio) always reminds me of Poe's theme:

 

 

The first four notes and the progression seem very similar to me.

 

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Also I love how he used the emperor's theme for Snoke in TLJ, which now totally lines up with Snoke being created by Palpatine. Either they're coincidences, or John can see the future lol

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The language of the Star Wars scores is a meta language, and a fantastic one at that, between the themes that are intertextual with existing classical and film scores and the others (the majority of them) that refer back to themselves or are an outgrowth. It's really quite amazing.

Ludwig's analysis posted today has a nicely diagrammed explanation of Victory being derived from Rey's Chimes:
 

 

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40 minutes ago, King Mark said:

the Anthem of Evil bit in Finale is longer on the OST than in the film End credits

 

On 1/5/2020 at 2:39 AM, Jay said:

The End Credits roll, after the traditional opening, contains arrangements of We Go Together (1:20-2:05), Anthem of Evil (2:05-3:25), The Imperial March (3:25-4:51), Rey's Theme (4:51-6:09), The Victory Theme (6:09-7:32), and Luke's Theme and the Rebel Fanfare (7:32-end)

 

In the final film, the Anthem of Evil passage is cut down to 38 seconds, The Imperial March is cut down to just over a minute, and The Victory Theme passage is cut down to just under a minute.

 

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5 hours ago, artguy360 said:

I like the idea that the chimes expressing loneliness in the opening of Rey's Theme evolve into the warm, familial melody that opens TROS theme. It's a clear contrast and a comforting musical bookend.

 

Plus the gorgeous, resolved rendition in A New Home.

 

4 hours ago, Jay said:

In the final film, the Anthem of Evil passage is cut down to 38 seconds, The Imperial March is cut down to just over a minute, and The Victory Theme passage is cut down to just under a minute.

 

Ironic that despite waiting until almost the last session to record the credits suite, not even that was safe from being hacked up by JJ.

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Well to be fair, we don't have a good enough recording of the film's audio to tell if they actually recorded long and short versions of those pieces or if it was simply edited down by the music editor... that being said, it's like 99% likely to be the latter anyway

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Considering how the rest of the score was treated... and both previous film's credits suites were tampered with as well. 

 

Not to say he wasn't aware it could get cut down... Same thing happened with that extended Throne Room suite on ROTS; presumably he knew it would only feature complete on the OST? 

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The more I think about it, I think TROS is my least favorite John Williams Star Wars score.  I just can't seem to get excited about hearing Rey's and Kylo Ren's themes every two minutes. 

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Is that a hint of Kylo Ren's theme right after the Yoda and the Force 'X-Wing levitation statement? It seems to hint at the firsttwo notes without being resolved!

4:55- 

 

 

Also love what appears to be a little allusion to Kylo's theme in Battle of the Resistance as it starts off strong but deflates immediately.

0:32-0:37

 

 

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On 1/8/2020 at 11:51 PM, Evanus said:

Also I love how he used the emperor's theme for Snoke in TLJ, which now totally lines up with Snoke being created by Palpatine. Either they're coincidences, or John can see the future lol

 

Probably incorrectly, but I always assumed the Emperor Theme was more The Dark Side Theme, could be that Williams or Johnson had also that idea in their mind?

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3 hours ago, Arpy said:

Is that a hint of Kylo Ren's theme right after the Yoda and the Force 'X-Wing levitation statement? It seems to hint at the firsttwo notes without being resolved!

4:55- 

 

 

 

It's probably more of an allusion to the Lydian mode of Yoda's theme. You're right, it's unresolved (unlike other times in Yoda's theme), but I hear it as a kind of tag on the end of the cue, like a tiny reminder of the main feature of Yoda's theme. Ends of classical pieces do this a lot on a broader scale and it wouldn't surprise me if Williams is channeling that in miniature format here.

 

4 hours ago, Arpy said:

Also love what appears to be a little allusion to Kylo's theme in Battle of the Resistance as it starts off strong but deflates immediately.

0:32-0:37

 

 

 

I don't recall this part in the film - was it not included? I always look for evidence in the film to support more uncertain theme statements.

 

I'd probably chalk this up to Williams' love of the Hungarian minor scale in action cues (minor scale with raised 4 degree), and that's the same scale Kylo's theme is forged from, so it does have a common sound with his theme. He loves his cascading low brass arpeggios in these kinds of cues as well - there's something kind of apocalyptic about them, and again Kylo's theme does the same. So I'd say they're cut from the same musical cloth but are probably separate in identity. My two cents, anyway!

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I was a little disappointed because I hadn't detected it in the film, but I can hear now that that section of Palpatine's Seduction is in the film. When Palpatine says the thing about being every voice inside Kylo's head

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Probably has been mentioned before in the thread, but I really like the little passage starting at 1:40 here.  Such a distinctive sound, has really been staying with me.

What kind of orchestration is involved?  I hear low and middle strings, or course, and I think horns, but is that all that is making for this almost crystalline effect? 

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11 hours ago, crumbs said:

Has anyone noticed that the music in the B-Roll footage contains an alternate ending to OST track Journey to Exogol?

 

 

 

 

Actually, that seems to be "Approaching the Throne":

 

 

The "Journey to Exegol" version includes Kylo Ren's Theme, while the B-roll footage/"Approaching the Throne" contains a few notes of Anthem of Evil. (Also note that this version is a bit slower than in "Journey to Exegol".) 

 

Based on the B-roll footage, it almost seems like the faster music starting at 2:18 of "Approaching the Throne" for the following scene (Finn and Jannah on the Star Destroyer) might have been a separate cue that was edited onto a truncated version of this (the album/film versions of "Approaching the Throne" leave off 7:13-7:21 of the B-roll), to fit the film.

 

So, I think "Approaching the Throne" is actually two cues put together. @Jay, any thoughts?

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9 hours ago, crumbs said:

Uhh, no, it's clearly an alternate ending. There's no choral elements involved in either version. Maybe you need to check your speakers? :P

 

As Tydirium pointed out, you're thinking of the wrong cue. The B-Roll footage is showing the ending to "Approaching the Throne" without the choir.

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This is such a catchy little tune, I wish it had a bigger part in the score

 

or maybe it was just meant to refer back vaguely to this (other than them both being chase scenes with a "boat" I wouldn't know why):
 

 

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18 hours ago, crumbs said:

 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Tydirium said:

 

Actually, that seems to be "Approaching the Throne":

 

 

Based on the B-roll footage, it almost seems like the faster music starting at 2:18 of "Approaching the Throne" for the following scene (Finn and Jannah on the Star Destroyer) might have been a separate cue that was edited onto a truncated version of this (the album/film versions of "Approaching the Throne" leave off 7:13-7:21 of the B-roll), to fit the film.

 

So, I think "Approaching the Throne" is actually two cues put together.

 

This is correct. The B-roll footage shows the recording and performance of 2:06 to 2:18 of the album track; the ending is obviously as recorded, so it is the ending of the cue. It would immediately segue into 2:18 of the album track, which is the next cue. This was micro-edited out for the album track, and it is unused in the film.

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