Evolution of the Theme for Jurassic Park

[artguy360 1,843]

I'm not very knowledgeable on this subject and everything I'm about to write may be incorrect in some way, but I am very curious about the evolution of the Jurassic Park theme, and especially its concert arrangement.

 

On the LLL release there is a track titled Jurassic Park theme or something that is roughly 3 minutes long and is only the slow-ish, religioso theme most prominently featured in the film during the awesome reveal of the brachiosaurus.

 

But at some point, JW added the journey to the island motif to the Jurassic Park theme? Is that what happened? I'd love to learn more about this.

 

Also, I have heard a concert version of the Jurassic Park theme that has both major themes but ends in this very awkward and abrupt ending that I don't like at all. But the version that JW recorded for the 2nd Spielberg and Williams collaboration album has a much nicer, natural ending. Where do these two different endings come from and why are there two endings in the first place?

 

Any insight on the evolution of the Jurassic Park theme and its concert arrangement would be much appreciated.

[Holko 9,526]

Yeah it's weird. The piece on the LLL is just the film cue "The Dinosaurs" with new opening and ending inserts. I've heard versions of the combined dinosaurs+island one where it ends with the credits' ending, and ones where it ends with T-Rex Rescue and Finale's ending. Ones where the Dinosaurs part is taken slow like the original or fast like the TLW recording. The concert opening fanfare is a rising Raptor theme, it seems to invite the credits ending at the end (descending Raptor motif) for a bookend.

[GerateWohl 4,369]

There was also already a combination of both themes in the original album called "Welcome to Jurassic Park" which I thought was rather the template for the concert suite Theme from Jurassic Park. Or the end credits. I cannot check it anymore.  I gave away the OST album to my brother when I got the LLL set. 

[Holko 9,526]

3 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

There was also already a combination of both themes in the original album called "Welcome to Jurassic Park"

Yeah that's just the end credits.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Williams preferred version seems to be the version from the Lost World, tempo included.

[Incanus 5,714]

The "official" concert version is the one found on the Williams on Williams: The Classic Spielberg Scores album, which I think is also the signature edition available for performance.

 

On the OST the Theme from Jurassic Park is just the cue Dinosaurs (from Journey to the Island) with a new horn intro and harp ending edited into it, creating a new independent thematic suite of the hymn theme for the soundtrack album.

 

The track called End Credits on the OST is actually just an edit of the end half of the actual end credits suite Welcome to Jurassic Park with the island fanfare theme, piano rendition of the dinosaurs theme and ending with the ominous 4-note Carnivore motif. I think Williams sort of meant this as the suite of the island fanfare.

 

The "official" suite is pulled together from several elements from the score:

1) The horn opening of the Theme from Jurassic Park and the dinosaurs hymn theme, 

2) then it goes to a bit of material from Welcome to Jurassic Park (a development of the bridging string melody) and

3) then launches into the island fanfare in the style of the Welcome to Jurassic Park but ends with the triumphant fanfare that closes T-Rex Rescue and Finale.

 

The Lost World end credits suite contains a straight re-recording of the  "official" concert suite and Williams does indeed seem to favour a significantly faster reading of the opening dinosaurs hymn theme (similarly as on the Williams on Williams album) compared to the film version.

 

[artguy360 1,843]

Thank you all for your replies and information!

[QuartalHarmony 543]

This reminds me of a question I’ve had for a while about the JP concert version. Erich Kunzel’s 1994 The Great Fantasy Adventure Album was the first time I heard the usual selection of themes end with the (to my ears) slightly clumsy tacked-on ending from T-Rex rescue. This recording predates the Williams on Williams album by over a year.

 

What intrigues me is that the Kunzel album credits one ‘Mark McGurty’ as the arranger of this particular presentation, which seems very similar to the ones presented in 1995 and subsequently by JW as his own arrangement.

 

Anyone know anything about this?

 

Mark

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

On 6/26/2021 at 9:52 PM, QuartalHarmony said:

Mark McGurty

 

It's an anagram of JW.

 

On 6/26/2021 at 9:52 PM, QuartalHarmony said:

The Great Fantasy Adventure Album was the first time I heard the usual selection of themes end with the (to my ears) slightly clumsy tacked-on ending from T-Rex rescue.

 

It's a great way to end the piece, and It depends very much on the conductor whether the transition feels clumsy.

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

39 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

It's an anagram of JW.

 

 

It's a great way to end the piece, and It depends very much on the conductor whether the transition feels clumsy.

Re the Jurassic Park concert arrangement… Agreed that the use of the finale from T-Rex Rescue and Finale is considerably dependent on the conductor as the pacing can be a significant issue if it’s not done properly. It can easily feel stilted or too fast (more the latter), getting it right is certainly something of a challenge. However I think it works well as an ending; the gently ominous ending from Welcome to JP (I.e the end credits) would be too low key for the concert hall. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

11 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Re the Jurassic Park concert arrangement… Agreed that the use of the finale from T-Rex Rescue and Finale is considerably dependent on the conductor as the pacing can be a significant issue if it’s not done properly. It can easily feel stilted or too fast (more the latter), getting it right is certainly something of a challenge. However I think it works well as an ending; the gently ominous ending from Welcome to JP (I.e the end credits) would be too low key for the concert hall. 

 

The problem to me is when the conductor anticipates the ending. It should come suddenly, completely out of the blue, with no trace of setup.

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

The problem to me is when the conductor anticipates the ending. It should come suddenly, completely out of the blue, with no trace of setup.

Interesting. Which versions did you have in mind that did this? What is your preferred version?

[Jurassic Shark 12,076]

3 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Interesting. Which versions did you have in mind that did this? What is your preferred version?

 

JW gets it right:

 

I checked out the recordings I could think of, and all of them get it quite right. What I'm opposed to is accelerando or ritardando right before the ending, and none of the ones I checked had significant use of that.

[danbeck 123]

I remember reading somewhere that it was Erich Kunzel who first included the t-Rex ending on his recording of the theme and that John Williams liked it and adopted it for his concert versions.
 

I prefer the original album version with the theme ending quietly on piano/harp. For me the transition to the T-Rex finale is always jarring, do not work.

[blondheim 1,157]

I think the official arrangement is just about the best one-track distillation of a score I've ever heard. Probably JW's best concert suite, when performed correctly. The Vienna recording. That's the one. It has the most effortless transition into the Welcome to Jurassic Park interlude before the Island Fanfare, but I wouldn't expect anything less from the Wiener.