Angela Morley and John Williams

[TownerFan 4,983]

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[Jeshopk 8]

You're coming up with this theory based on a rumor on FSM message board that the spreader of the rumor couldn't even give me a source. He just heard it through the grape vine. There's no proof that Williams ever entrusted her to write his cues based on sketches. That's a huge leap. Why don't you believe Kevin Kaska who reorchestrated Superman from the liner notes of the rerecording? Williams writes everything in his short scores, alone. A little rumor from a competitor who heard it through the grapevine is nothing compared to the many testimonies by his orchestrators that his sketches were complete, and they were basically copying.

[Eplicon 53]

Morley describes a couple of her contributions from the orchestration end:

http://www.jazzprofessional.com/profiles/morley.htm

Do you know the scene in Star Wars where Luke goes down into the Death Star trench and the voice says ?Use the Force, Luke??? Morley asks, as if anyone would not know the famous moment. That?s my orchestration.? So is the ice-palace music in Superman. (?Lots of sliding glissando? she says, in a disapproving tone.)

[Hector J. Guzman 1]

Morley has been my favorite arranger for the Boston Pops CDs. I did not know she worked on film. Everytime I see the "arr. Angela Morley" I know it's gonna sound good, whether it's Max Steiner's Gone with the Wind or Raksin's Laura to a Frank Sinatra classic like "Night and Day".

It's all good!

[Hector J. Guzman 1]

An excerpt from the autobiography:

John Williams still seems to like my arrangements. I wrote three for a CD that he recorded with the LSO in London called The Hollywood Sound and three more that he recorded conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony with Itzhak Perlman playing the violin solos on a CD called Cinema Serenade. I wrote five more scores for Itzhak Perlman a year later for a sequel called Cinema Serenade II. I’ve also continued to write occasional scores for the Boston ‘Pops’ under their new conductor Keith Lockhart. In March of 2001, I was asked to arrange a medley of the five nominated film scores for Itzhak Perlman & Yo Yo Ma to play at the Academy Awards ceremony. I’m very happy to be in that sort of company!

Angela Morley Web Site

Williams Pops on the March

The Boston Pops Orchestra

John Williams

[TownerFan 4,983]

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[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I agree with Lord Maurizio.

[Jeshopk 8]

The only part I disagreed with is that Williams entrusted her to write cues for him based on his sketches. So far all that is known is that she helps with the orchestration of his already complete sketches. We also know he asks her to do arrangements on albums, where she is credited for doing so. She doesn't choose instruments when she orchestrates for him, or help him find the perfect pitch, according to all official accounts.

Other than that, yeah, he really likes working with her because they share some of the same sensibilities and she is also influenced by Vaughn Williams, Britten, and the others. They are like "fellow fans" of the same composers, so he really admires her sensibilities, and when the orchestrator can't do the whole job alone, or he needs someone to do pops arrangements, he calls her.

[MSM 126]

I think Morley's arrangements are no way as good as Williams' and I even think the distance on the Cinema Serenade albums is even painful. I think Williams will not regard her good enough to do some of his writings.