Favorite John Williams score of the 2010s

[Tom 4,639]

On 11/13/2020 at 12:42 AM, bruce marshall said:

I want the name of the person who voted for BFG.

 

Detain him for questioning!

 

 

😆

While I do not think BFG is near the top of this list, I would argue, and have argued, that the concert suite is in the top three from the last 10 years--maybe even the top.  

[Gurkensalat 336]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

What about Munich and Catch me if you Can?

 

Munich I found not very much interesting except the nice main themes. CMIYC is best represented in the Saxophone concerto version; again, nice themes, I like his excursion/return to jazz, but not music I listen to without the movie very much.

 

In fact both scores show the problem I have with Williams in the 90s and 00s. Of course, there are a lot of great scores, but I think he tried too much to do very different things, and this with varying degree of success. I am not a friend of change for the sake of change, so while I respect his diversity and talent, I rejoice when he finally does again what he does IMO best. And this he did in the 10s. 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

3 minutes ago, Gurkensalat said:

In fact both scores show the problem I have with Williams in the 90s and 00s. Of course, there are a lot of great scores, but I think he tried too much to do very different things, and this with varying degree of success. I am not a friend of change for the sake of change, so while I respect his diversity and talent, I rejoice when he finally does again what he does IMO best. And this he did in the 10s. 

 

But wouldn't you call his 2010s output diverse as well?

[Gurkensalat 336]

yes, but within his "A-game"-Zone. The Post is the exception and ranks last for me. Not only because I don't like electronics, but also because it is a not very substantial score. I love the dynamics of Setting the Type and The Presses roll but that´s it. The rest is mostly average underscore.

 

The diversity was much greater in the 2 decades before, if you look at Rosewood, Sleepers, Sabrina, Catch me if you can, Minority Report, Munich etc. Those are still good scores, but I often have the feeling that he is not feeling totally at home in those idioms.

[Thor 7,466]

Pretty amazing that I disagree with basically everything you said, Gurkensalat - from the ranking of THE POST last to the salutations for the 2010s to the downplaying of the 90s and 2000s stuff etc. You are the yin to my yang.

[Gurkensalat 336]

Hi yang, how are you doing today? :-)

 

There are of course a lot of really great scores in th 90s and 00s like Hook, Angelas Ashes, Phantom Menace, Harry Potter, Geisha. And even The Post is by far no bad score, just not on the same lofty highs as the others.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

14 hours ago, Thor said:

Pretty amazing that I disagree with basically everything you said, Gurkensalat - from the ranking of THE POST last to the salutations for the 2010s to the downplaying of the 90s and 2000s stuff etc. You are the yin to my yang.

Yup.

After the great trilogy of MR...WOTW..A.I. * we got the wonderful ,  if traditional,  WH then....

A bunch of scores where he regressed into that 18th century Neo Classical groove. I guess if you like JW in Haydn/Mozart mode it's a great period.

But, except for modernistic THE POST, it doesn't excite me.

 

*I also  really like the concert version of CMIYC which I'm listening to at this very moment!

[Gurkensalat 336]

I don't hear Mozart and Haydn in those scores, although he gets back to some of their ideals like motivic work. The musical roots are firmly in the first half of the 20th century: Debussy, Strauß, Puccini, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Prokofiev, Shostakovitch,  etc.

 

If you need a modernistic sound to get excited, then I understand that you dismiss those scores. I personally am not getting excited just because he started experimenting with modernistic elements that have been already used by modern classical composers in the last 50 years. And being/doing/thinking different is not a merit in itself. Only the quality of the end product counts.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

"....not getting excited just because he started experimenting with modernistic elements..."

 

" Experimenting"?!😳

 

   "...musical roots are firmly in the first half of the 20th century: Debussy, Strauß, Puccini, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Prokofiev, Shostakovitch,  etc.."

 

That's part of the problem.

 

 

[Gurkensalat 336]

That's part of the appeal and of his genius! He recognizes quality in music and continues this tradition. Those are the composers that are performed in concerts, are recorded and listened too. They will be remembered in 100 years, many others not.  

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

1 hour ago, Gurkensalat said:

That's part of the appeal and of his genius! He recognizes quality in music and continues this tradition. Those are the composers that are performed in concerts, are recorded and listened too. They will be remembered in 100 years, many others not.  

 

Well said, but that applies to most of JW's scores.

[GerateWohl 4,338]

8 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

But, except for modernistic THE POST, it doesn't excite me.

The Post modernistic? The score with its jazzy themes seemed to me quite traditional. Quite close to Catch Me if You Can for my ears. 

Both brillant scores.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

You have to keep in mind that Bruce is a very old man, so everything post 19th century is modern to him.

[Thor 7,466]

I also don't see it as 'modernistic'. If anything, it's post-modernistic (no pun intended), playing around with established jazz tropes and whatnot.

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

But it's got electronics!

 

Hehe...

[bruce marshall 1,315]

4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

But it's got electronics!

 

Hehe...

Right.

To the fans cloistered in the 19th century, it's avant- garde!😉