Music Composed and Conducted by JOHN WILLIAMS
(Click to enlarge)
JWFAN SOUNDTRACK REVIEW#1 : FIRST IMPRESSIONS
JWFAN SOUNDTRACK REVIEW#2: TRACK-BY-TRACK ANALYSIS
JWFAN SOUND CLIPS
TRACK 01
TRACK 02
TRACK 03
TRACK 04
TRACK 05
TRACK 06
TRACK 07
TRACK 08
TRACK 09
TRACK 10
TRACK 11
TRACK 12
TRACK 13
TRACK 14
TRACK 15
TRACK 16
MORE SOUND CLIPS
Tracks 5, 13 & 16 (WQXR’s ‘Movies on the Radio’)
LISTEN TO JOHN WILLIAMS’ MUSIC FROM THE FIRST TRAILER
(ripped by Alexander Willems)
LISTEN TO JOHN WILLIAMS’ MUSIC FROM THE SECOND TRAILER
(ripped by ‘FishfilmInc’)
TRACK LIST
- Dartmoor, 1912 (3:35)
- The Auction (3:43)
- Bringing Joey Home, and Bonding (4:48)
- Learning the Call (3:42)
- Seeding, and Horse vs. Car (3:32)
- Plowing (5:57)
- Ruined Crop, and Going to War (3:33)
- The Charge and Capture (3:21)
- The Desertion (2:34)
- Joey’s New Friends (3:28)
- Pulling the Cannon (4:58)
- [SPOILER] (2:47)
- No Man’s Land (4:32)
- [SPOILER] (3:52)
- [SPOILER], and Finale (5:05)
- The Homecoming (8:03)
Total Time: 67:32
FILM RELEASE
- December 25, 2011 (USA) – See IMDb for more dates
ALBUM RELEASE
- November 22, 2011 (USA) (TRACK LIST CONTAINS SPOILERS)
LABEL
- Sony Music
TRAILERS
LINER NOTES
“The dramatic countryside of Dartmoor has inspired John Williams to compose a score of such beauty and quiet majesty that one might think the earth was speaking through him, much as the heavens have done for nearly five decades. When I first heard John’s sketches of the four central themes for War Horse, I didn’t need my memories of the film to underscore the feelings I was having.
The music was a stand-alone experience and it affected me deeply, as have so many of John’s scores during our nearly 40-year collaboration. I feel that John has made a special gift to me of this music, which was inspired not only by my film but also by many of the picturesque settings of the poet William Wordsworth, whose vivid descriptions of the British landscape inspired much of what you are going to hear. I’m not sure what I can give John in return, other than a promise of more films to come … for as many more years as we both can imagine!”
– Steven Spielberg
SCORE DETAILS (OFFICIAL SOURCES)
Recording sessions for Steven Spielberg’s War Horse took place between late March and early April, 2011 in Los Angeles.
Tuba player Jim Self (who was the “voice of the mothership” inClose Encounters of the Third Kind and has worked in many other Williams scores) commented regarding the Maestro’s latest score: “For John Williams I recently finished recording for the film War Horse. It’s a war movie so the score has a lot of brass—but it was gentle music often“
It’s also been confirmed that one of the songs from the stage version will be included in the film: John Tams, composer of the songs for the stage version of War Horse, was approached by Steven Spielberg and John Williams to include one of his songs in Spielberg’s film adaptation. “It’s very rare that a show moves from the stage to celluloid and takes all the bits and bobs with it. So it’s quite nice that one of the songs from the stage show will be included in the movie”, said the composer.
In an August 2011 interview for SignOnSanDiego.com, Williams mentioned the following:
“I’m working on a couple films now (War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, both directed by Spielberg) and the scores are very cluttered with notes.”
SCORE DETAILS (UNOFFICIAL SOURCE)
Quotes from FilmComposer518 as posted in our forums.
“The ‘Battle Cry’ esque theme from the trailer that many think is just in the finale is actually LACED throughout the whole score quite a bit. In many many different variations. There was also a little Irish sounding bit that came in near the end of the trailer, and that is another MAJOR theme for the score, but is expanded a LOT more than that in most cases. That was just one bar from a probably 6-8 bar theme.”
“There is a LOT of Celtic, or Upper English music in the score…but it’s not over-done…it mixes in nicely with the gorgeous string writing Williams has done.”
“The action scenes hark back to old Williams ala Raiders, Far and Away, Last Crusade. I’m telling you…this score is brilliant…can’t give it enough praise.”
“That piano theme (from the trailer) is the VERY last music you hear in the End Credits. It is interspersed throughout the score a TINY bit, if my memory serves, but it’s not a big theme that is heard often.”
“You know how a lot of the emotional music from Jurassic Parkactually had very ‘pop-like’ chords (including the main theme and journey to the island) that just perfectly worked because Williams twisted them and molded them into his own frame? A lot of War Horse has that.”
“What I am saying is that the most emotional music is very chord based…but the progressions Williams uses are wonderful and surprising a lot of the time. Wonderfully done.”
“I can promise you that if Williams were allowed to unchain himself from modern conventions in film (no, even Williams can’t do that if he wants to continue to work) we would be hearing those same classic setpiece action overtures. But before anyone gets down on the current state of film music, let me clarify thatWar Horse (for the most part) does not follow that trend in writing :)”
“The action pieces in War Horse are pretty neat, and while they don’t use the same style as say, Forest Battle, or Indy’s First Adventure in concert scoring, they certainly come close…and are DIFFERENT than his latest generic action music that has been accompanying most of his films (cue the xylophone and upper woodwinds chirping out endlessly). The few action cues in War Horse have great unique personality.”
“War Horse does NOT have a ton of action material. But that is what is so cool about the ones it does have. Most of the score is so spellbinding and beautiful that when all of a sudden something millitaristic and ugly crashes through the background, it is incredibly striking. The action music in War Horse is less about fun adventure ala Indy, and more about nastiness of war. It’s harsh and brutal in most cases. There is definitely a rhythmic drive (done not with percussion, but more with exciting instrumental figures) but also strong melodic fragments. Again, I can’t give out tooooo much detail about individual cues, but I think that should answer your question a bit.”
“Obviously I haven’t SEEN War Horse, but I have heard the score, and I think Spielberg might have asked Williams to harken back to his older style with it. Either that, or Spielberg harkened back to HIS old style a little bit, because the action cues are very very focused in it.”
JWFAN DISCUSSION
LINKS