JoeinAR 1,949 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Don't know if this has been done before, but if it has its been a long while.Todays challange to the listener's out there is Princess Leia's theme, and Ilia's Theme.There is a wonderful contrast between each yet both are beautiful beyond belief.so give them a listen and tell us what you think. that is if you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Breathmask 555 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I prefer Ilia's Theme. It's so beautiful in every way, yet more restrained than the big and sweeping Leia's Theme. I love how tender it really is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinAR 1,949 Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 I don't find Leia's theme big and sweeping, I find its builds toward large, but it starts out so small. I have no preference as each is among my most favorite all time works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Breathmask 555 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 It starts out small, yes, but it becomes much bigger than Ilia's Theme or any statement of Leia's Theme within the score itself (except perhaps Ben Kenobi's Death, but that's played a bit differently and not as closely associated with Leia). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chs058 0 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Ilia is nice, but nothing more.Leia's theme is awesome. In comparison richer and more virtuous instrumented with a larger finale and of course a Horn solo and a melody to remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKenLittle 6 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 This is like asking me to pick my favourite child... Both Leia's theme and Ilia's theme demonstrate two of the most talented composers ever working at the peak of their respective powers... Though similar in their purpose, they show the incredible diversity of the two individuals.After Jerry Goldsmith had such an enormous success with Planet of the Apes for a long time it was said of him that he couldn't write melodic music... Imagine a time when directors wanted composers to write melody :roll: ... Anyway, I think that Ilia's theme and many others, put that nonsense to rest once and for all. Leia's theme is John Williams doing what he does better than any one still composing for films... Take a fairly simple melody (theres that word again) and run it through all the permutations, and just when you think there is nothing left, he finds one more. Though, Leia's theme is one of his great moments, I feel the Love theme from Superman, a close cousin to Leia's theme, is an even better example of this practice.BKL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead_lizard 12 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 JoeinAr, where does the Spielberg quote about ROTS come from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Barnsbury 8 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Joe's mind.Ray Barnsbury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A24 4,325 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 What's 'Ilia's Theme'? :? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinAR 1,949 Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 Joe's mind.Ray Barnsburyyes Ray, but you know everyone wants it to be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A24 4,325 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 It's so beautiful in every way, yet more restrained than the big and sweeping Leia's Theme. I also never associated 'Princess Leia's Theme' with "big and sweeping". Sounds a bit rude to me, a rough describtion. And why is "restrained" better? ---------------Alex Cremers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Breathmask 555 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 I prefer it Ilia's Theme. It happens to feel restrained compared to the latter parts of Leia's Theme. The final moments of that latter track are pretty big, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A24 4,325 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 What's Ilia's Theme? Is it ... Potter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinAR 1,949 Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 What's Ilia's Theme? Is it ... Potter?are you being funny? or do you really not know.Star Trek the Motion Picture, the oveture to the film is called Ilia's theme. It is one of the greatest pieces of music in Jerry Goldsmiths catalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A24 4,325 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 What's Ilia's Theme? Is it ... Potter?are you being funny? or do you really not know.Star Trek the Motion Picture, the oveture to the film is called Ilia's theme. It is one of the greatest pieces of music in Jerry Goldsmiths catalog.Just listened to a clip over at Amazon's. Is this a joke? You compare "this" to the divine 'Princess Leia's Theme'?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogue_Leader 2 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Ilia's theme is very good. However, IMO Goldsmith had FAR better themes in his career. Ilia probably would not even make my Goldsmith top 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinAR 1,949 Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 What's Ilia's Theme? Is it ... Potter?are you being funny? or do you really not know.Star Trek the Motion Picture, the oveture to the film is called Ilia's theme. It is one of the greatest pieces of music in Jerry Goldsmiths catalog.Just listened to a clip over at Amazon's. Is this a joke? You compare "this" to the divine 'Princess Leia's Theme'?!? yes Alex I do, and as a film music fan, and hardcore JW fan, and a strong JG fan, I think both compare favorably. You heard just a snippet at Amazon, you really need to listen to the whole thing. The Star Trek the Motion Picture score is one of the greatest film scores ever. Tops to me of JG's work, and probably in the top 5 for most JG fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker 5 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Just listened to a clip over at Amazon's. Is this a joke? You compare "this" to the divine 'Princess Leia's Theme'?!? Alex, you must have been listening to "Ilya's Theme" from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. "Ilia's Theme" from Star Trek - The Motion Picture is one of the greatest themes ever to appear in a film. I don't think Goldsmith wrote a more beautiful theme and to simply dismiss this off of a 30 second clip at Amazon is disturbing. What's even more disturbing is you didn't know what "Ilia's Theme" was and you don't own the TMP album. Shame on you.Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrScratch 294 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Joe's mind.Ray Barnsburyyes Ray, but you know everyone wants it to be true.The thing is, that quote is totally believable. I bought it, until I saw the monkey. I can picture Spielberg saying something like that though. Didn't he say something very similar when JW completed Star Wars? About Star Wars being too good and having anything left for Close Encounters? And didn't Spielberg also praise TPM before it was released?Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Breathmask 555 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 I saw it was Joe's sig. That told me enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeinAR 1,949 Posted March 23, 2005 Author Share Posted March 23, 2005 It is based on Spielberg's quote from way back in 1977 as you so correctly thought Maestro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin 2 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Just listened to a clip over at Amazon's. Is this a joke? You compare "this" to the divine 'Princess Leia's Theme'?!? Alex, you must have been listening to "Ilya's Theme" from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. "Ilia's Theme" from Star Trek - The Motion Picture is one of the greatest themes ever to appear in a film. I don't think Goldsmith wrote a more beautiful theme and to simply dismiss this off of a 30 second clip at Amazon is disturbing. What's even more disturbing is you didn't know what "Ilia's Theme" was and you don't own the TMP album. Shame on you.Indeed. I love both cues so much that I simply can't say that one is better than the other. However, I'm more familier with Leia's Theme simply because I heard it first. (Love the crescendo. )Justin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batmanand 0 Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Ilya's theme is good, and perhaps excellent in the film.Leia's theme is transcendent, rising above mere "film". It will one day be on the classical concert hall circuit. It is a class above anything Goldsmith ever wrote (sorry Jerry fans). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codanai 0 Posted March 24, 2005 Share Posted March 24, 2005 Yeah, that's definitely a listening challenge. I've always adored both of those themes. But I'm definitely gonna have to go with Leia's Theme, for a few reasons:1. Leia's theme seems to have more depth, because it's more timeless to me. I remember first hearing Ilia's theme and being completely swept away, but the feeling was fleeting. It began to feel like, "yeah, Ilia's theme...sick of it now." But Leia's theme doesn't do that for me. Its effect is more long lasting.2. Leia's theme is just more interesting. It has so much character, with the instrumentation, repeating melody, and everything. For example, I love how that flute cadenza-like thing (not sure what you'd call it) comes in the middle before the main melody is played again with the violins. The flute really operates as a kind of narrator, or a muse even, that ties everything up from beginning to end. There's just such perfect dialogue between all the instruments that it sounds like the music couldn't be anything else but what it is. Williams' form for movie themes is typically so simple. I mean, you have theme A, and then a usually shorter theme B to complement it, and maybe something like a C or a variation on either A or B. Leia's theme I believe is a brief flute intro, theme A repeated and varied again and again, some interlude material, and the brief violin ending. I mean, it would be so easy to eventually think, "all right, I've heard this theme a thousand times already. end it." But Williams makes each repeat of the theme interesting and, even more, essential to the development of the piece as a whole. With Leia's theme, you just have to keep listening and keep listening, and many times you don't even realize that the theme is being repeated again because it's all changing and building so perfectly. Goldsmith attempts that with Ilia's theme, and pulls it off nicely, but not as masterly as Williams does.3. now this is entirely subjective, but Leia's theme is just more personal to me. I guess John Williams' style, in general, is just like that. It's always like a comforting friend. I can acknowledge Goldsmith as a great composer, but I can't feel that same closeness as I can with Williams' music. Woops, I've gone and wrote me a book.Yeah, Leia's theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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