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Star Wars Suites in Concert - how would you program them?


lairdo

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With the release of the Rise of Skywalker OST, we have received 2 new concert suites which presumably John Williams hopes will become part of the performance repertoire as the Imperial March, the Main Title/Closing Titles, Yoda's Theme, Rey's Theme etc have become.

 

If you had to include Rise of Skywalker in a concert, which other pieces would you put around it (and in which order) to make a nice Star Wars Symphony or tone poem - say no more than 4 in total (3 is ok too).

 

For example:

Star Wars Main Theme

Rey's Theme

Rise of Skywalker

March of the Resistance

 

Or:

Anakin's Theme

Rise of Skywalker

Yoda and the Force

Rey's Theme

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is an interesting question and it reminds me that I can’t confidently identify all the concert suites across all nine episodes. Can someone list them here (or maybe point to a thread that has them)?

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Right, I used to have my compilation in Hal Leonard order, ending with all the unpublished material, but this morning I suddenly realised that didn't work at all and thought I would do it according to OST order and came up with this. What do you think? I think this is a vast improvement.

 

01 Duel of the Fates
02 Anakin's Theme
03 The Adventures of Jar Jar
04 The Flag Parade
05 Across the Stars
06 Battle of the Heroes
07 Main Title
08 Princess Leia's Theme
09 Here They Come
10 The Little People
11 Cantina Band
12 The Battle
13 Throne Room & End Title
14 Yoda's Theme
15 The Imperial March
16 Han Solo and the Princess
17 The Asteroid Field
18 Finale
19 Luke and Leia
20 Parade of the Ewoks
21 Jabba the Hutt
22 The Forest Battle
23 Rey's Theme
24 Adagio
25 March of the Resistance
26 Scherzo for X-Wings
27 The Jedi Steps
28 Finale
29 The Rebellion is Reborn
30 The Rise of Skywalker
31 Anthem of Evil
32 Galaxy's Edge Symphonic Suite
33 The Adventures of Han

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Anakin's Theme (the main protagonist that started it all)

Battle of the Heroes (the descent into the dark side) 

Yoda and the Force (the wisdom and hope of what Star Wars is all about)

Rise of Skywalker (it's in the title name)

 

And also, I would love to hear all those for the first time in concert.  Preferably by Williams.

 

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Only 4 pieces allowed? Impossible to encompass the entire saga in just 4 works. But I would go with:

 

Princess Leia's Theme

Luke and Leia

Anakin's Theme

The Rise of Skywalker

 

Because it's all about the Skywalker family.

 

Here's a playlist of Star Wars concerts suites that's available on Spotify from my findings updated with TROS.

 

 

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On 12/19/2019 at 11:23 PM, lairdo said:

With the release of the Rise of Skywalker OST, we have received 2 new concert suites

 

Which track are you referring to in addition to The Rise of Skywalker? The Speeder Chase?

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I was referring to the tracks Rise of Skywalker and Anthem of Evil (based on @Jay's track work - see the first post of that thread). 

 

But it's very possible Speeder Chase is now a concert suite since that music is not in the movie.

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On 12/22/2019 at 6:17 AM, bollemanneke said:

01 Duel of the Fates
02 Anakin's Theme
03 The Adventures of Jar Jar
04 The Flag Parade

 

Published order is better, I think.

 

On 12/22/2019 at 6:17 AM, bollemanneke said:

07 Main Title

08 Princess Leia's Theme
09 Here They Come
10 The Little People
11 Cantina Band
12 The Battle
13 Throne Room & End Title

 

I agree this is an improvement. However, personally I leave out Cantina Band per se, and add the Meco suite at the end.

 

On 12/22/2019 at 6:17 AM, bollemanneke said:

14 Yoda's Theme

15 The Imperial March
16 Han Solo and the Princess
17 The Asteroid Field
18 Finale

 

I think I prefer Imperial March first, but, I’ll try it out your way.

 

IMO it should definitely be the old arrangement of Han Solo and the Princess, here.

 

On 12/22/2019 at 6:17 AM, bollemanneke said:

19 Luke and Leia

20 Parade of the Ewoks
21 Jabba the Hutt
22 The Forest Battle

 

Again I should think Parade first.

 

On 12/22/2019 at 6:17 AM, bollemanneke said:

23 Rey's Theme

24 Adagio
25 March of the Resistance
26 Scherzo for X-Wings
27 The Jedi Steps
28 Finale

 

I’m currently leaning towards…

 

01 Rey’s Theme

02 Adagio

03 Han Solo and the Princess (new arrangement; placement per Han and Leia on the TFA OST)

04 Scherzo for X-Wings

05 The Jedi Steps

06 Finale (with the full March of the Resistance edited in as in the film/FYC)

07 Jabba Flow

 

If you’re not willing to make that edit, then I would put the March first.

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The Little People Work from ANH plays like a concert arrangement and I couldn’t imagine a “concert suite” playlist without it.

 

I put Hyperspace from ESB and Into The Trap from ROTJ in the same category.

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I always intended to buy the Gerhardt SW album but never got around to it (I did buy both the ESB and ROTJ though).

 

I’ll give it a listen as soon as I have a minute to sit down with a smoke, relax and focus on the music...

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After Sony Music's license to sell/stream Star Wars 1-6 music ended, Disney Records took over and "reset" things by remastering the OST albums for the original six scores.

 

Mike talks a bit more about it here:

 

https://www.jwfan.com/?p=9994

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@Jay Thanks for directing me to Gerhardt’s recording of The Little People.

 

It’s competent, no doubt about it. It’s played more “forceful” and with more intent than the original recording, or on the Skywalker Orchestra recording.

 

Which makes it both better and “not” at the same time...

 

Also, in addition to the great performance of the orchestra, the recording sounds great.

 

I wasn’t really surprised, having listened extensively to Gerhardt’s recordings of TESB and ROTJ, but I’ll be coming back to ANH for sure.

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On 12/30/2019 at 7:02 AM, Jay said:

Gerhardt did a great job with those albums.  I wish he did something similar to Indiana Jones music

 

Would have been amazing!

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