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The Fabelmans - score mentions in film reviews


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"...a rousing and deeply intimate score by John Williams – the best he's been in years – with a prominent piano that serves as an homage to Spielberg's mother."

 

"...and one of John Williams' best scores in years."

 

Source: The Fabelmans Review - IGN

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2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Williams has nothing to prove, no need to make some “final statement.”  He will give the film in front of him the score it needs like he always does.

 

I agree with Disco Stu. 

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Having recently gotten into some smaller JW scores through new expansions and streaming exploration, like Accidental Tourist, Always and Presumed Innocent, I'm completely open towards this one! AI has a lot of smallish cues and a piano-heavy finale, and it's still one of JW's best.

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22 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

Does the score have end credits?

Are you asking if the Toronto premiere included the end credits?  I would guess no.

I don't see a scenario where the released version will not be 100% JW for the credits.  

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‘The musical score by John Williams, albeit less memorable when compared to his past iconic collaborations with Spielberg, still captivates and is a gorgeous supporting facet throughout The Fabelmans.’
 

https://discussingfilm.net/2022/09/12/the-fabelmans-review-an-endearing-tale-for-the-ages/

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‘And John Williams’s musical score is absolutely incredible, even if it is largely just piano themes. The piano works so well with the story as Mitzi Fabelman is a piano player, with each theme Williams composed perfectly capturing the emotion of every scene of the film.’

 

https://www.moviescenecanada.com/fabelmanstiffreview

 

‘[…] John Williams‘ gently nostalgic score.’

 

https://theplaylist.net/the-fabelmans-review-steven-spielberg-bares-his-soul-in-his-most-personal-film-tiff-20220911/

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Reposted from The Fabelmans movie thread, in case anyone missed it:

 

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Just as my film brain is always focusing on the camera movement and editing, my film score ears are tuned in to catch and place as much music as possible. Williams’ score is sparse but thoughtfully spotted and quite elegant in a sombre way, as KK has already mentioned. My estimate is probably not much more than a half-hour of original music, if even that much. It’s possible Williams wrote and recorded some other suites or arrangements intended for the album, but otherwise I imagine the OST will be a combination of licensed music and original score. There are a couple period needledrops from the radio, a number of classical piano pieces played by his mother (credits listed Satie’s Gymnopedie, and others by Beethoven, Haydn, and maybe Bach), as well as some diegetic Western music heard on records during the movie screenings (I recognized the villain theme from Bernstein’s The Magnificent Seven and the title melody from Newman’s How The West Was Won, credits also listed something by Victor Young, Max Steiner’s The Searchers, and more Alfred Newman- Captain From Castile may have been it). As far as Williams’ score goes, there’s one main idea for celeste, strings, harp, and what I think was an oboe or clarinet. It appears about three times in the film proper, and is also the basis for the 4 to 5-minute end credits suite, which is a unique recording and the longest piece of music altogether. That one is sure to get a lot of plays. All the players are listed, including a standard string section, french horns, and soloists on piano, celeste, and guitar. Whoever drew the Book Thief comparison was about as close as they could have gotten, even though this is still pretty unique territory from a functional standpoint. Being reminded of Williams' grace and deftness after the sequel trilogy years of wall-to-wall tentpole scoring is of course another testament to his genius. Certainly worth a closer listen.

 

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If I had to guess, I'm thinking the OST will be a mix of the classical piano, which I suspect Williams may have even lightly arranged to fit the film, interspersed between a few actual score cues and any other potentially unused pieces or suites. Again, there's really not a lot of Williams music, but that combination would form a coherent listening experience and probably bring the album to around The Post length. Keep an open mind and we'll see! The credits cue is a lovely summary and maybe the only significant full piece aside from the first appearance of the main theme.

 

Original post:

 

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Slightly preemptive word of caution for anyone on the hype train who was getting their hopes up about the chance of another gold statuette for Williams.
 

It's honestly a little funny to read many of the reviews citing the mother's "memorable" piano pieces which are understandably being misidentified by some press members as original score instead of pre-existing classical music. I don't know what the Academy's rules are for this particular category anymore but I wouldn't be all that surprised if somehow Williams winds up being ineligible for the nomination and nobody realizes it yet because the critics...don't know any better? I mean, the ratio is pretty significant. There's simply not that much Williams material here, even though it is quite lovely. Nothing certain, just something to keep in mind as we wait for the awards campaign to kick off.

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If it were somehow deemed eligible, the fact that voters would be too ignorant to know most of the score isn’t Williams seems like the type of thing that would make a win more likely. The Oscars love fucking that stuff up. 

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39 minutes ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Slightly preemptive word of caution for anyone on the hype train who was getting their hopes up about the chance of another gold statuette for Williams.
 

It's honestly a little funny to read all the reviews citing the mother's "memorable" piano pieces which are understandably being misidentified by press members as original score instead of pre-existing classical music. I don't know what the Academy's rules are for this particular category anymore but I wouldn't be all that surprised if somehow Williams winds up being ineligible for the nomination and nobody realizes it yet because the critics...don't know any better? I mean, the ratio is pretty significant. There's simply not that much Williams material here, even though it is quite lovely. Nothing certain, just something to keep in mind as we wait for the awards campaign to kick off.

I like the caution.  However, I don't think many here think this score (whether it is 30 minutes of brilliance or 2 hours) would realistically win an Oscar--we have a long conversation about such in another thread.  I would love to be proven wrong, but Williams will never win another one. 

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How good or bad a score is it not really a factor in whether or not it wins the Oscar for best score these days. 

 

Though, there is some prestige to getting nominated still. 

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1 hour ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Slightly preemptive word of caution for anyone on the hype train who was getting their hopes up about the chance of another gold statuette for Williams.
 

It's honestly a little funny to read all the reviews citing the mother's "memorable" piano pieces which are understandably being misidentified by press members as original score instead of pre-existing classical music. I don't know what the Academy's rules are for this particular category anymore but I wouldn't be all that surprised if somehow Williams winds up being ineligible for the nomination and nobody realizes it yet because the critics...don't know any better? I mean, the ratio is pretty significant. There's simply not that much Williams material here, even though it is quite lovely. Nothing certain, just something to keep in mind as we wait for the awards campaign to kick off.

 

Oh they changed the rules recently. Only 35% of the music needs to be original score to qualify now I think.

 

It used to be 60%. 

 

Source: https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/2022-oscars-rule-changes-academy-awards-9595361/

 

So yes, Williams will qualify. Yes, he will be nominated. No, he won't win. UNLESS The Fabelmans becomes this big thing where it is winning like 6-7 oscars in that case Score will be added to that tally.

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56 minutes ago, King Mark said:

So all the critics praise so far is for the non-Williams classical music?

With Star Wars, John Williams brought orchestral scoring back into the mainstream.  With The Fabelmans, he brings classical music itself back into the mainstream.  The man is a genius.  

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If a considerable amount of the classical pieces heard in the movie are used as diegetic music (as being played by the mother), do they still count towards the overall percentage of original Vs pree existing music?

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2 hours ago, Romão said:

If a considerable amount of the classical pieces heard in the movie are used as diegetic music (as being played by the mother), do they still count towards the overall percentage of original Vs pree existing music?


Yes. Of all the music heard in the film, original score has to be 35%. If the academy thinks that too many songs or existing music are diluting the original score, then a score is disqualified- like Arrival for example.

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3 hours ago, Sandor said:

 

This was composed specifically for the film and it is in my opinion one of the best things ever written for film.

 

 


I honestly don’t get the love for this score (or this track). I love plenty of Morricone’s other scores, but this is so repetitive. It sounds lazy. Still haven’t seen the film.

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3 hours ago, Tydirium said:


I honestly don’t get the love for this score (or this track). I love plenty of Morricone’s other scores, but this is so repetitive. It sounds lazy. Still haven’t seen the film.

 

Yes, it is repetitive from a melodic viewpoint -much like Ravel's Bolero-, but the arrangement and orchestrations keep the piece interesting and fresh throughout. 

 

I find it a haunting and hypnotic composition, a definite highlight in the maestro's final years. 

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I heard that for the first time just now and I'd definitely be amongst its supporters. It's repetitive but it keeps changing and building.

 

Wouldn't say it's one of the finest cues ever written or anything, but it's nice.

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1 hour ago, crumbs said:

Alright you clever mockup people... have at it!

 

Enhanced version of the sheet music posted the other day:

 

1469400268_fabelhigherres.png

You know, if word of this gets around enough, they’re gonna ask people to stop posting any pics at all from inside the scoring stage 😉 (mind you, with JW retiring, I suppose it’s all moot.)

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