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The Fabelmans - OST Album


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58 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

They'll give it to him for Indy 5! He's never won for Indiana Jones! They can use that! 

Nah. It's difficult I think for a sequel score to win, with the rehashed material and all..

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The only chance JW has of winning another Oscar (and this would still be low probability) is if he is nominated while alive but dies before the ceremony.  

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12 minutes ago, Tom said:

The only chance JW has of winning another Oscar (and this would still be low probability) is if he is nominated while alive but dies before the ceremony.  

 

It's sad how true this probably is.

 

Or the music branch lobbying him to get a non-competitive Oscar, but those are generally for people who never won competitively.

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13 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

It could be a struggle for him to even get nominated, considering it's a summer release. Last couple times he blanked were Crystal Skull and BFG. 

 

The film would need to be seriously good and have a strong critical reception.

 

I think the music branch will look after him either way, but the odds of winning are basically zilch.

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I've listened to Fabelmans quite a few times since it was released and always enjoyed it. Yesterday I saw the movie, which I thought was great, and I'm now listening to the score again and having heard it in context I like it even more. This is probably my favorite JW score since TFA and the score is just a perfect musical accompaniment to the film. The magic and underlying sadness and melancholy in Mitzi's Dance is a masterclass in film scoring.

 

I think Simon Franglen should have won the Oscar every day of the week but of the 5 nominated scores, JW should definitively have won for Fabelmans.

 

The OST is short but having seen the movie, I'm not sure if much is missing, except maybe a few clean openings. Does anyone know if/how many missing cues there are in the film?

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1 hour ago, Mr. Who said:

I've listened to Fabelmans quite a few times since it was released and always enjoyed it. Yesterday I saw the movie, which I thought was great, and I'm now listening to the score again and having heard it in context I like it even more. This is probably my favorite JW score since TFA and the score is just a perfect musical accompaniment to the film. The magic and underlying sadness and melancholy in Mitzi's Dance is a masterclass in film scoring.

 

I think Simon Franglen should have won the Oscar every day of the week but of the 5 nominated scores, JW should definitively have won for Fabelmans.

 

The OST is short but having seen the movie, I'm not sure if much is missing, except maybe a few clean openings. Does anyone know if/how many missing cues there are in the film?

 

Just a very brief cue at the start (basically the same material contained in the album's final track) plus a brief french horn cue when Sammy is directing Escape to Nowhere.

 

It appears the album uses alternate takes to the film though, so it's a real shame we didn't get a legitimate FYC in this instance.

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2 hours ago, Mr. Who said:

Does anyone know if/how many missing cues there are in the film?

 

See here (and some posts prior to it).

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  • 2 months later...

Thanks for that! 

 

I swear, this must be the least discussed film score the man has released since the site was created. 

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Just now, Jay said:

I swear, this must be the least discussed film score the man has released since the site was created. 

Maybe because expectations were high and it failed - for many - to deliver?

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Or expectations were suitably adjusted based on what we were told about the score, and what he did come up with in response to what the film needed was just a bit average. I appreciate that a lot of people around here do love what he did, and that's great, but I merely extend filmmusic's words about why enough of us didn't 'get' it to dampen discussion.

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I loved the scene the main theme appeared in. Something got in my eye and water started leaking from it. It got better. And I enjoyed the movie far far more than I expected to. I wasn't excited really at all by a movie based on Spielberg's childhood. 

 

I'm happy with the score on CD. Sure I wish there were more, but I think that about every score release of Williams' music. 

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10 minutes ago, Tom said:

The main theme has that special Williams's quality that if it comes on, your attention is immediately rapt.  You describe it well as gentle but hinting at sadness.  The theme would be mawkish by many other composers, but Williams layers it with a bittersweet sadness that keeps you a bit off balance

It's one of Williams' most simple and elegant melodies.  Sure it's simple enough that another composer could eventually happen upon something like it while writing in a similar style. That doesn't make it any less of a well-thought out and heartfelt expression from Williams as an artist.

 

Film music discourse too often devolves into reductive "note counting".  

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20 hours ago, Jay said:

Thanks for that! 

 

I swear, this must be the least discussed film score the man has released since the site was created.

 

I think The Post was pretty similar, although that had the extra obstacle of being released alongside The Last Jedi. 

 

I think it's just a hard one to really talk about, but there are definitely things to explore. I think the most interesting thing he's doing with the score is when he's mirroring Mitzi's headspace. I feel like more than Sammy or Burt, the music is identifying with her most. Which makes sense as she's the musician and the "dreamer" while Burt is the realist.

 

The big Williams moments for Sammy I recall are still important interactions with Mitzi...and the main one I remember from Burt's perspective is at the end, "The Letter" when "Mitzi's Dance" reprises and it becomes clear how much he's haunted by her absence. There are also the divorce-specific cues, which of course involved all of them, but like "New House" for instance culminates in that slow-motion shot watching Mitzi's face turn into a grimace. There's also "Midnight Call" which is literally about what's going on in Mitzi's mind. 

 

I think the "Mitzi's Dance" cue itself is kind of amazing because it does noticeably shift the movie...aside from Mitzi giving Sammy his first camera, it's the first substantial Williams cue and it's almost 40 minutes in.

 

It was especially this moment I loved, the way he scores Mitzi and Burt's kiss...in a way it seems like he's doing nothing special but it's when the movie starts acknowledging something's a bit off, especially with the awkward interjection from Benny. Just a good example of Williams finding the right thing that feels tender but kinda sad and uncomfortable. 

 

 

Also when the oboe comes in as the camera starts to push in on Benny and then follows him to the car...that is such a layup for Spielberg/Williams and yet I still feel like I would rarely see that anymore except from them lol. Simple Hollywood elegance that always gets me. 

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Musically, I will say the one thing that's gotta be the most unusual thing in the score....I'm not sure it even got that much focused discussion here, but specifically the piano accompaniment in the very last statement of the main theme 

 

 

It's definitely a choice lol. I'm still not sure if I love it, it kinda took me aback when I first heard it because I found it distracting. But I like how off-kilter it is? I guess that also is in keeping with the mom's character. Along with the smaller string ensemble, it's a little scrappier than how he'd usually orchestrate a big final theme statement. 

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9 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

It's definitely a choice lol. I'm still not sure if I love it, it kinda took me aback when I first heard it because I found it distracting. But I like how off-kilter it is? I guess that also is in keeping with the mom's character. Along with the smaller string ensemble, it's a little scrappier than how he'd usually orchestrate a big final theme statement. 

It starts out pretty wild but becomes much more "classic Williams" at the end (similar to JW string counterpoint writing in Hymn to the Fallen or more specifically the end of Somewhere in My Memory)

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I think I've shared this thought before, but Mother and Son is the best track on the album. The guitar is so tender, it could make me cry. Lately, listening to it has made me think of Cat Steven's Father and Son.

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And it's interesting that Spielberg didn't use the guitar solo in the scene in the film, replacing it with the piano rendition of the main theme. 

 

But then he puts the guitar solo in the end credits instead. 

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  • 2 months later...

Williams has conducted several concerts at several locations since the movie came out.  Why hasn't he performed it?  The end credits suite is ready to go as a concert piece.  He seems fond of it, based on all the interviews.

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While I know it is probably not the case, it would be interesting if he decided to use the themes as the basis for the piano concerto he is working on.  

 

I suppose he has never performed The Post in concert either, but this one seems much more odd, given the sentimental connections to Spielberg.  

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It's also strange given how much they roped Williams into the Oscar campaign. He was more directly involved than usual in trying to raise the visibility of the project and play on the idea of the importance of their collaboration, positioning this as some kind of culmination of their working relationship. You would think with so much emphasis on the project, that he be compelled to add it to his concerts. So I can only imagine he must not think the material he has is suitable somehow, and hopefully in the future he'll work up something for performance.

 

Of course, there's also the fact that his concert programming decisions, and omissions, sometimes don't make a whole lot of sense. I thought it was hilarious at Film Night that he opened his segment of the show with Adventures of Mutt. That one already felt like it was attached to a very "stale" movie even before Dial of Destiny came out, but now that we have yet another Indy movie, it feels even more passé, however much I enjoy the piece itself. If you're going to play something from a poorly-received franchise movie that's come and gone, why not Rise of Skywalker??

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I never really understoof what it is about Adventures of Mutt that he has enjoyed playing it SO OFTEN over the last 15 years.  It's a nice piece, sure, but other pieces of similar nature come and go, this one has really stuck.  And yea, why not play something fun and action-y from Dial of Destiny or Rise of Skywalker instead?

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He must either have a personal attachment to it, or else there's something about it that's useful for him in a live setting. Maybe he put it at the beginning of the set thinking it's a good warmup piece for himself and the orchestra? Or maybe he thinks of it as a "recent" exciting action piece that's suitable for performance. This would also explain why he seems to like "The Duel" so much. It would be nice to get that slot updated to March of the Resistance or The Speeder Chase after all these years though.

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32 minutes ago, Jay said:

I never really understoof what it is about Adventures of Mutt that he has enjoyed playing it SO OFTEN over the last 15 years.  It's a nice piece, sure, but other pieces of similar nature come and go, this one has really stuck.  And yea, why not play something fun and action-y from Dial of Destiny or Rise of Skywalker instead?

It's lively, has a lot of notes and has a very "JW ceremonial piece" type ending

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53 minutes ago, Smeltington said:

Maybe he put it at the beginning of the set thinking it's a good warmup piece for himself and the orchestra? 

 

Maybe he thinks this because it starts with a bunch of tutti descending major scales in different keys

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  • 3 weeks later...

I see the sept 23 BPO John Williams Tributes concert has a pianist listed as special performer.  I wonder if this might just include a concert premiere.  

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On 11/08/2023 at 3:11 PM, Jay said:

I never really understoof what it is about Adventures of Mutt that he has enjoyed playing it SO OFTEN over the last 15 years.  It's a nice piece, sure, but other pieces of similar nature come and go, this one has really stuck.  And yea, why not play something fun and action-y from Dial of Destiny or Rise of Skywalker instead?

 

i find this funny personally because i don't enjoy it

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