Your favourite Williams score random moment?

[Tommy Lellan 11]

What's your favourite random moment in a Williams score that you don't tell anybody because you can;'t possibly expect them to understand why you love it so much? One of mine for example is the descending chords in the track 'Death of Topthorn' from War Horse (precisely 0:55 to 1:16).

The reason I love it so much is that each chord descends, as if walking down a staircase, and with each chord change the main note takes a second to follow, and it creates this sublime melancholy. And it just keeps going longer than you think it possibly could. Probably doesn't make sense, which is why I've never mentioned it before.

 

Share your own moments with time-stamps if you like!

[BB-8 5,944]

I love these sudden religioso vibes, e.g.:

 

[artguy360 2,168]

6 hours ago, BB-8 said:

I love these sudden religioso vibes, e.g.:

 

One of the best SW musical moments of all time and the unexpectedness and uniqueness of it has never been matched in SW. Such a beautiful moment.

[Andy 7,138]

Hi @Tommy Lellan!  You should have a look at this thread.

 

Favorite Short JW Moments
 

 

It’s a long read, but loaded with lots of great short moments to get lost in. 😊

[Bellosh 4,489]

2 hours ago, Andy said:

Hi @Tommy Lellan!  You should have a look at this thread.

 

Favorite Short JW Moments
 

 

It’s a long read, but loaded with lots of great short moments to get lost in. 😊

 

So many posts in here spark me to listen to a whole score from front to back. A truly perfect thread on JWfan forum.

[BB-8 5,944]

11 hours ago, artguy360 said:

One of the best SW musical moments of all time and the unexpectedness and uniqueness of it has never been matched in SW. Such a beautiful moment.

 

...molto religioso...

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 12,665]

The dedication in the Main Title from THE TOWERING INFERNO, where it all goes quiet and respectful, before heading for the big finish.

[MikePetersen 8]

INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM: The plane crash sequence, the engines are failing, the propellors are sputtering to a halt, Indy looks out the window and says "I think we have a big problem." Cut to a view of the jagged mountaintops. That rise in the french horns at that exact second is one of my favourite Williams moments of all time. That, and the sudden trilling of flutes that kicks in when the yellow raft is in mid-fall.

[Andy 7,138]

11 hours ago, MikePetersen said:

 That rise in the french horns at that exact second is one of my favourite Williams moments of all time. 

 

It almost sounds like a new motif, almost like the Tintin Theme, or the motif from Episode I's  "Panaka and the Queen's Protectors"

 

I could pick out anything from Temple of Doom, but these swirling strings in Approaching the Stones caught my ear today.  I just love this passage of unsettling strings from about 00:41 to 01:00...and I'm not even talking about the huge crescendo and choir that builds afterwards.  

 

 

[Edmilson 11,600]

I love how delightfully cartoony the score gets for TLJ's Fathiers scene. It is so fun, it reminded me of 80s and 90s scores, before blockbuster movies got so dark and disturbing that this kind of mickeymousing felt out of place.

 

 

[Edmilson 11,600]

1:14 to 1:19 and 1:33 to 1:36 are SO MUCH FUN! 

 

 

[publicist 4,650]

Always loved the octave leaps from the woodwinds in Dracula's theme here. Stuff like that made it clear immediately that this music may have been orchestrated 'classicaly' (for standard 19th century symphony orchestra sections) but the writing has its own, modern imprints.

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 12,665]

@Andy, that's fantastic.

APPROACHING THE STONES is my favourite cue from TOD, by a country mile.

[Andy 7,138]

It’s a remarkable  cue. Stunning use of that the huge choir accompanied by the rarely used Shiva-Linga motif.  This cue would’ve made for a better inclusion on the OST than Children in Chains, the cue that directly follows this one.  

[GerateWohl 6,395]

I love it, when Williams uses that canon structure repeating the main theme melody over a b-section of the theme like here in The Towering Inferno:

 

Or here in The Children's Crusade:

 

Anyway, when people are praising JW's music, they are often talking about his usage of chords. But I also think, his counter pointing is exceptional.

[Naïve Old Fart 12,665]

I love it at, the end of THE ASTEROID FIELD, when, on the last of the nine descending notes, there's a little brass chord...and the lights on the Falcon come, on, right on that hit.

Genius.

[BB-8 5,944]

I like these kind of small wood-wind gestures, which have such a strong effect against the backdrop of the arpeggios.

 

 

[Marc 1,005]

The very last chord from Man Againt Beast !
I just adore it 

 

[The Score Cleaner 9,516]

On 15/08/2022 at 6:43 AM, GerateWohl said:

I love it, when Williams uses that canon structure repeating the main theme melody over a b-section of the theme like here in The Towering Inferno:

 

Or here in The Children's Crusade:

 

Anyway, when people are praising JW's music, they are often talking about his usage of chords. But I also think, his counter pointing is exceptional.

Are those B-sections in the room with us?

[BB-8 5,944]

 

[Marc 1,005]

I've always loved that short piano solo !
 

 

[JW collector 83]

On 02/08/2022 at 10:01 PM, artguy360 said:

One of the best SW musical moments of all time and the unexpectedness and uniqueness of it has never been matched in SW. Such a beautiful moment.

 

I rembember this moment SO well - when I saw this the first time: 

 

 WTF....

 

I got goosebumps..... and tears im my eyes ..... then chills and as bonus: a big lump in my throat .

 

I thought that the ( fantastic  otherworldly )  music seemed so sad - even though it was for a strikenly heroic moment .....

 

[scoreman36 187]

On 10/12/2025 at 9:19 AM, Marc said:

I've always loved that short piano solo !
 

 

This is amazing, I’ve always wanted to see this piano solo written out - do you have any more of it?

[Marc 1,005]

Here's the rest of it  

 

[QuartalHarmony 963]

On 27/11/2025 at 1:56 PM, Marc said:

The very last chord from Man Againt Beast !
I just adore it 

 

D13 over an Eb, assuming those staves are harp + strings. Although isn’t that an F natural high up in the cellos, rather than an F#? And the harp’s treble clef F is sharpened but the bass clef one isn’t.

 

A classic JW ‘mystery’ chord!

[Marc 1,005]

On 02/01/2026 at 5:40 PM, QuartalHarmony said:

A classic JW ‘mystery’ chord!

I just love these !
Here's another one, the "Yamamoto chord" from Midway

 

[Marc 1,005]

That part from Slave Children's Crusade  
 

[RomanticStrings 43]

This chord:

 

One thing that has struck me is that a lot of current scores are brass and string heavy, but woodwinds aren't getting the love they need. Maybe it's just a particular type of score these days, but still...

[BB-8 5,944]

On 10/12/2025 at 10:19 AM, Marc said:

I've always loved that short piano solo !
 

 

Somehow a little "Rachmaninoffesque"...

 

[scoreman36 187]

On 13/1/2026 at 9:39 PM, RomanticStrings said:

This chord:

 

One thing that has struck me is that a lot of current scores are brass and string heavy, but woodwinds aren't getting the love they need. Maybe it's just a particular type of score these days, but still...

Because writing for woodwind is so much harder. Don’t get me wrong, nothing about orchestration is easy, but voicing strings and brass is fairly rudimentary if you’re a good pianist with an understanding of good chordal structure. Voicing wind instruments (that sound so unlike each other) is a whole different thing - it needs much more experience and knowledge of classical orchestration. 

[Marc 1,005]

On 14/01/2026 at 12:02 PM, BB-8 said:

Somehow a little "Rachmaninoffesque"...

 

Definitely a similar vibe !

[RomanticStrings 43]

On 16/01/2026 at 5:55 PM, scoreman36 said:

Because writing for woodwind is so much harder. Don’t get me wrong, nothing about orchestration is easy, but voicing strings and brass is fairly rudimentary if you’re a good pianist with an understanding of good chordal structure. Voicing wind instruments (that sound so unlike each other) is a whole different thing - it needs much more experience and knowledge of classical orchestration. 

Strings and brass really do blend well within their sections. That's a good point. It takes classical training to handle woodwinds well, or even to think of them.

 

There is also a stylistic aspect, I suspect. Strings can sustain and brass are brass, but woodwinds are fairly nuanced. You can definitely make a lot of different sounds in woodwinds, but generally they are neither "pad-like" nor bombastic, which is the general style lately.

[The Score Cleaner 9,516]

Also in the wrong hands, they can sound "silly" especially Bassoons and Clarinets.

[MrJosh 1,183]

I love the oboe solos in both Stepmom and Angela's Ashes. Anyone know off hand if they are the same oboist? 

 

Here's a little moment I enjoyed today. 

 

 

And also at 2:10