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Just played: The Force Awakens (2015) - John Williams

This was the second time I listened to the score on album. This time lying on the couch with headphones on, I gave it my full attention.
What a revelation. Once you have become familiar with the new themes you can start to focus on the subtlety of it. Subtlety is there on every level: thematic development and musical storytelling, orchestration, execution. I remember Steven Spielberg's repetitive liner notes for various scores. "John Williams outdid himself." Or "A serious symphonic work." Only, the only repetitive thing here is the genius of the composer.
It amazes me how Williams manages for the sixth time to stay true to the musical continuum he created with STAR WARS while at the same time give the score a distinct identity.
It also amazes me how little need Williams has of his original themes to make this score sound like genuine Star Wars music. The only exception here is the "Force Theme" which is prominent and a major identity of the score. But take for example "Han and Leia": Another composer might have heralded the scene with a full blown rendition of "Han Solo and the Princess". Not so the maestro. A short quote only and he goes on to reflect upon how the relationship has transformed under the experience of loss and devastation.
As James in his outstanding review noted: There is so much going on. Indeed there isn't a dull minute in the duration of this album.
One thing that makes Williams' music for Star Wars in general special is the heartfelt compassion that he lends to the characters. He is taking this fantasy universe serious where it needs to be taken seriously. His music takes us to the heart of Star Wars, which does not consist of star ships or light sabres or telekinetic abilities. At the heart of Star Wars is the question what it means to lead a decent live. What it means to uphold love, loyalty and friendship in moments of temptation. The way John Williams contemplates this with the language of his music turns it into a moral force.

Volker

I think what you said about Williams' compassion is an interesting point where I disagree with some of James' statements in recent years, where he says that Williams mostly underscores the actions and Horner underscored the emotions of the scene, when he was differing their approach.

Williams is a fantastic composer on his own. He's got great orchestrations, everything. He's a complete orchestral artist who also has a knack for beautiful melodies. But, for me, the genius of John Williams is coming from the fact that he combines three traditions in his film writing and all of them are so relevant in the intricate approach he has for the medium.

He comes from the Golden Age school of leitmotif writing (which itself is Wagnerian in origin of course and Williams' own love for Wagner is out of discussion), the classical tradition (which allows him not only to refer to Korngold, but also Holst and Stravinsky in Star Wars and yes, I know the Jawa scenes were temped with Rite of Springs originally), but there is another element that is about where he started as a composer. And it also leads me to an interesting observation I made some time ago about him and changes in cinema in 1977.

While his approach in terms of themes is definitely Golden Age and both Lucas and Spielberg demanded that approach (the Star Wars, but also Indiana Jones films), his thinking, his intellectual approach, is, I think, Silver Age at heart. He may say what he wants about hitting synchronization points (which, as he said, is the hardest and most important element of writing a film score, if I understood him right), but the truth, to me, is that with his usage of themes he's not just underscoring events, but also the subtext of a scene. And that is the discovery of Silver Age. Most of the films he scored were Silver Age. I'm not just talking jazz scores, which I have to admit, I haven't heard. But it's about what's going on under the skin. And the combination of that thinking with leitmotivic approach leads to genius. Some people probably (I don't and I know others don't either) may think War Horse is a lesser score. It's not Spielberg's best film for sure, but think of the last shot. The close-up of the horse. What did Williams do? Used the war theme. In the last shot and the last moment of in-film music (not counting of course, end credits), Williams reminded us of what got the characters and the audience to the point they're in right now. The theme alone makes the ending bittersweet. They reunited, yes, but to get there, they had to go through hell.

Now, to my observation about 1977. Williams scored three bigger films that year. Black Sunday was a typical Silver Age political-to-espionage thriller. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in Spielberg's own words "Watergate meets aliens" started out as a conspiracy thriller, ended up with the sense of wonderment so characteristic of Spielberg's output in the 1980s. Star Wars is pure adventure. This is the slow turn from the grit of the 1970s to the New Adventure cinema of the 1980s.

And that aesthetic turn in Hollywood was scored by no-one else than John Williams.

NP : STAR WARS: THE FARCE AWAKENS - John Williams



Have I travelled back in time? I bought a new John Williams Star Wars score and a brand new Ennio Morricone western score today from an actual shop where I paid with actual cash.

While youw ere there, did you also get that one groovy album from that band with all the shouting? That punk thing?
Band is called the Sex Pistols, the album something with "balls", I think? Right tripping, man! Totally top of the pops!

Pffff. OK.
Never mind.

What also strikes me about TFA is, that Williams fully comes into his own. There is no cue that sounds like Stravinsky, R. Strauss, Holst of Orff. It's a Williams symphony in space.

Volker

I thought about that too. But the prequel scores don't have it either. So I didn't.

Sibelius. That's interesting. Also I didn't mean to say I didn't like those references I mentioned.

But this is completely untrue about both Williams and Goldsmith, both of whom starting scoring TV and films in the 1950s. You might argue that they weren't really off to the races until the early to mid 60s, but even then the statement is completely false. Williams didn't become the Williams we all know and love until the late 70s and early 80s. And Goldsmith reinvented himself every decade it seems. UNDER FIRE (the score Steven mentioned just before your post (and I assume the score you were referring to when you posted?) wasn't written until 1983. Goldsmith had already been scoring major Hollywood films for 20+ years at that point.

I'd argue that there are plenty of signs of "contemporary" Williams even in the 60s stuff (like the "Duel of the Fates" ostinato in THE SECRET WAYS from 1960). And definitely by the late 60s and 1970, with scores such as HEIDI, JANE EYRE and STORIA DI UNA DONNA. But yeah -- JAWS in 1975 cemented him as one of the biggest film composers of his generation, as well as a particular "classical" sound we now associate with him.

Well, I don't agree with Josh that composers just re-write themselves after the first decade. There's constant evolution. But I do maintain that a lot of what we associate with John Williams these days (or, in fact, from 1975 onwards) was also present throughout the 60s. Even the loungey jazz scores had certain tracks that showed signs of the things to come -- like the "Gimpel's Robbery" cue from FITZWILLY, which could have been pulled right out of INDIANA JONES or something.

NP: THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION - Thomas Newman

If you've seen the movie, this album comes very close to retelling the story... purely through music. Amazing stuff.

One of my all time top 5 films, the brilliant score is one of the major ingredients. This film deserved a bag full of Oscars and Newman should definitely have been one of those recipients.

I never said I agreed with the paraphrase. I think Williams and Goldsmith kept evolving until for whatever reason, they couldn't any longer. And even during their so-called stagnant phases, there's still a great deal to admire about their work. There's just not any surprises (for the most part).

(Would there have been surprises if Goldsmith had lived longer? Alas, we'll never know.)

First I've heard of it. IMDB obviously has great taste.