Obi-Wan Theme debuts at Star Wars Celebration, conducted by John Williams

[Jay 26,018]

Here's a clean presentation of just the music, no audience noise before or after

 

 

[Chewy 1,638]

So JW also conducted the Raiders' March and Imperial March after the Obi theme: 

 

[Will 1,985]

Not the biggest fan of the actual theme melody (might grow on me), but the piece is great! (I felt the same way about Galaxy's Edge.)

[Brando 189]

7 minutes ago, Chewy said:

So JW also conducted the Raiders' March and Imperial March after the Obi theme: 

 

Harrison's follow up comments from the AFI speech made me happy

[Muad'Dib 1,495]

Sounds FANTASTIC 

 

The melody itself is great, but I like the ostinato part the best. Kinda like with the Solo theme where the B section was the best part.

[Richard Penna 1,902]

I'm not finding it an instantly hummable theme - it feels more to me like a melody from somewhere within a score.

 

It's nice, but in my view hardly the most amazing thing he's ever done.

[Tom 2,559]

When you start humming it, you find it shares some structure with the SW main theme--a nice little tie in. 

[Stu 13,857]

On my way out of my office building to go home, I found myself whistling the melody to myself  

[bollemanneke 2,512]

I like this much more than Solo, though that piece needed Berlin to grow on me. The slow bits are magnificent!

[Tom 2,559]

Williams has conducted live things a bit slower lately.  I would bet the official recording (whenever it might be released) will be a bit quicker (say 4 minutes total).  

[BB-8 828]

Idiomatically, my first association was Bruckner's 4th opening followed by Qui-Gon's funeral procession.

[mrbellamy 5,123]

Melody didn't instantly hook me either from that clip of the opening solo but by the end of the full piece, it's in my head. 

 

Reminds me a little of Anthem of Evil, actually, would put this a notch above that. 

[eitam 321]

I like it ! And it fits the description made by Natalie Holt. Now I wonder how (or if) it's going to be used for the title sequence in the show. Not long now ! 

[Van_Etten 89]

The theme is mainly the ostinato part I guess? Not what I expected honestly, it's more akin to just some underscore.

[TJH132 41]

19 minutes ago, Tom said:

When you start humming it, you find it shares some structure with the SW main theme--a nice little tie in. 

 

I noticed this immediately!  Very nice tie-in.

[BB-8 828]

Mystical and religious.

Felt a notion of this too:

 

[eitam 321]

7 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Reminds me a little of Anthem of Evil, actually, would put this a notch above that. 

 

Yes ! And Holdo's theme from Last Jedi. 

[igger6 630]

I think this is more instantly cohesive and hummable than Galaxy's Edge, Anthem of Evil, and Holdo's theme (the latter two are almost identical in my book).  Its best moments aren't as great as the best moments of Solo, but the goals, musically and narratively, are so different that it's futile to compare them.

 

What's incredible is that it occupies a completely different musical space than any of his other recent pieces.  The last totally slow, meditative piece we've had in Star Wars is, what, Anakin's Theme?  Adagio counts, I guess, but this feels different and more classically Star Wars to me than that does.  

 

I especially love the opening note/chord.  It's sudden and energetic and sort of paranoid-sounding, befitting the subject perfectly.

[Jay 26,018]

2 minutes ago, igger6 said:

Anthem of Evil, and Holdo's theme (the latter two are almost identical in my book). 

 

[King Mark 2,901]

Amazing. Can't wait to hear it in studio quality.

 

I predicted right  that it would be some sort of reflective theme in the line of Jedi Steps and not a heroic theme. And that it would be a 4-5 minute concert version

 

[ragoz350 257]

26 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Reminds me a little of Anthem of Evil, actually, would put this a notch above that. 

Yea, this 1-3-2-5 motif (grown out of Ludlow's demise) is now becoming a kind of JW's version of DSCH   And it's remarkable that both the themes from sequels and Obi's begin with this motif, a seed for new musical ideas...

 

[igger6 630]

@Jay I'm not crazy!

 

 

 

Another interesting musical neighbor (the main horn line about 15 seconds in)...

 

 

 

[KK 3,188]

I dig it! The middle ostinato is more present than I'd like, but I like the subdued, twilight-years quality of the melody.

[Docteur Qui 1,158]

38 minutes ago, Van_Etten said:

The theme is mainly the ostinato part I guess? Not what I expected honestly, it's more akin to just some underscore.

Eh? There’s a whole wonderful, wistful melody in there, played several times, with deliberate resemblance to The Force theme, Luke in Exile, Jedi Steps etc.

 

listen harder.

[Chen G. 2,477]

Yeah, it just has an ostinato as a little bridging section.

[Taikomochi 769]

I actually hear a lot of similarity between this theme, Holdo, and Anthem of Evil, in that opening gesture on the horn. What I love about Williams is that he is able to take these relatively simple constructs and imbue them with such dramatic depth, and, while all three have a basic structural similarity to my ears, they are all completely different in emotional meaning. Williams’ work is always so much richer than any of us has ever deserved. I am so grateful for this man.

[Chen G. 2,477]

2 minutes ago, Taikomochi said:

What I love about Williams is that he is able to take these relatively simple constructs and imbue them with such dramatic depth

 

Well, that's the whole point of this kind of leitmotif writing, isn't it? No just the themes themselves, but the various, shared musical building blocks that connect them.

 

Its inevitable that, with so much musical water under the Star Wars bridge, we hear a lot of things in this theme.

[Taikomochi 769]

2 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

Well, that's the whole point of this kind of leitmotif writing, isn't it? No just the themes themselves, but the various, shared musical building blocks that connect them.

Well exactly. I am speaking in a broader sense, I guess, to musical elitists who shit on Williams for “borrowing” when his work has its own unique feel, not that there really is any of that on this particular forum. 

[Docteur Qui 1,158]

The big leap up to the tonic is a lovely reference to Luke’s Theme as well. This is vintage Star Wars!

[TheAvengerButton 105]

I do agree with whoever said it has a lot in common with the Main Title theme, but I also hear spurts of the Force theme as well, as well as what someone said about William's Ludlow-ing.

[Antonb 97]

The beginning is the best part for me personally. I do like the rest also. its A win for me. Its a good main theme, with some lovely other bits thrown in! Sorry I'm not the best and braking music down! I do want to listen to a studio version. 

[Jay 26,018]

9 hours until the first episode drops and the studio version can be heard within the episode

[Space Pineapple Prod. 151]

I was in tears by the end of that. I always am, hearing him conduct something even on video.

[Chen G. 2,477]

4 minutes ago, TheAvengerButton said:

I do agree with whoever said it has a lot in common with the Main Title theme, but I also hear spurts of the Force theme as well, as well as what someone said about William's Ludlow-ing.

I do have associations with the Force, too. Also, in the early part of the piece, I recall the Young Anakin.

[Antonb 97]

Hell as well, I got my prediction right. Kind off! 

[King Mark 2,901]

12 minutes ago, Jay said:

9 hours until the first episode drops and the studio version can be heard within the episode

you mean the  1 minute edited down version.

 

I want this concert version he just conducted

[igger6 630]

Hey, for all we know, he may have recorded a specially arranged alternate for the main or end titles, or even some Olympics-style bumpers or something. The ad-supported Disney+ tier is coming, after all!

[rpvee 376]

I was there in that room and definitely cried. I’ve seen the maestro live many times mere feet away, but being caught off guard with a sudden performance by him, and with the debut of a major new theme no less, was quite something. When I last saw him in Pittsburgh last month, I thought DC next month would be the next performance of his I’d be at. Just wow.

 

 

 

 

[Docteur Qui 1,158]

Listening again and I reckon the "show version" is likely the first 2 minutes of the suite, probably a title card situation like Mando/Boba where we only get a snippet at the start but a longer version in the end credits. Not that there's much point in speculating this close to the air time lol.

 

1 hour ago, King Mark said:

I predicted right  that it would be some sort of reflective theme in the line of Jedi Steps and not a heroic theme. And that it would be a 4-5 minute concert version

 

 

I mean, that was all but confirmed weeks ago judging by Holt's comments. Unless you predicted it before then, in which case, fair enough.

[Jay 26,018]

17 minutes ago, King Mark said:

you mean the  1 minute edited down version.

 

I want this concert version he just conducted

 

Have you watched a Disney+ show before? The end credits are 4 minutes long every episode 

[JohnnyD 944]

YES!!! THIS IS PHENOMENAL!!

[Romão 1,881]

Oh, I like this very much

[ymenard 35]

There's a piano in the last portion doing ostinatos, but something else twingly too, no?  

[Stu 13,857]

Oh yeah   

3 hours ago, Stu said:

When the piano arpeggio comes in.... that's the stuff.

 

[Bespin 6,103]

I'm still watching the "Day 1" live broadcast, I guess they'll show JW conducts the new piece in HQ in it, no?

 

Do we know the program of this live? What time is this supposed to end?

[Bayesian 828]

3 hours ago, igger6 said:

Holy mackerel, we do not deserve him.  But there he is.

Beautifully said. If this is the last new Star Wars music we ever get from this man, what a mesmerizing and deeply felt way to go out.

 

We really do not deserve him. New JW music sometimes feels to me like the only truly and thoroughly decent thing to come out of this wretchedly flawed century. I savored those few minutes watching him conduct that suite.

[Brando 189]

From the SW Facebook page

[Tom 2,559]

There is a crazy-level epicness to this piece that I have not heard from Williams in a main theme presentation in a while.  In its own way, it reaches DotF-level gravitas.  I don't mean to piss people off, but the last two minutes have a (completely Williams-styled) Zimmer vibe to them.  

[Bespin 6,103]

Oh, don't tell me they are live till midnight?

 

It's now 7 PM in Québec, we have 3 hours of difference with California! I can't go to sleep at 3 AM, I have to work tomorrow!

[Fabulin 3,278]

I would never have thought that Star Wars makers would give Williams an opportunity to write a concert piece on a topic of tragedy and focus on the psychology of a traumatized character. This is the kind of unconditional dramatic seriousness that Williams's blockbuster scores has often been accused of lacking in contrast to operas or, say, Herrmann's scores. But even with that being the case in this assignment, the choice of Wagnerian/Brucknerian tonality and rhythm is not something I expected from Williams, certainly not to that extent. Always a step ahead of us he is.