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Empire Of The Sun - La-La Land 2CD


Jay

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I'm looking forward to reading Mike Matessino's article. I'm always wishing we knew more details about how these releases come about, and how their final form gets decided. I'm interested to hear what kind of involvement Williams/Spielberg may have had, too.

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Williams didn't push the climax of AOTC up to track #2 - track #2 is the concert arrangement of the love theme. The climactic pieces of the score "Love Pledge and Arena" and "Finale" are the final 2 tracks.

It's the full development of the score's major theme though. Narratively and organically, it belongs in a later place.

Williams hasn't struck me as someone who sculpts his OSTs with the score fan in mind, but rather the general consumer.

And those people don't even listen to film scores anyway, so he's catering to no one!

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It will be interesting to hear are the alternates of The Return to the City and Cadillac of the Skies significantly different from the film versions. Anyway I am truly stoked for next Tuesday! :)

And of course am waiting for tomorrow's Matessino interview!

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I think Williams went with his usual approach and scored it Raiders/E.T. style, only to have to revise many cues to sound more "serious" because Spielberg wanted a shot at the Oscars

Williams scored EOTS with Indiana-Jones-music before he was told how to do it 'right'? You seem to estimate his intelligence at paramecium level.

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I think Williams went with his usual approach and scored it Raiders/E.T. style, only to have to revise many cues to sound more "serious" because Spielberg wanted a shot at the Oscars

Williams scored EOTS with Indiana-Jones-music before he was told how to do it 'right'? You seem to estimate his intelligence at paramecium level.

Pub you have to look at that statement from the fanfarocentric universe of KM.

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I wonder how did the less thematic approach to scoring the entire arc of the film come about. Did Spielberg and Williams deliberately want to steer away from the thematic ballet style of their previous collaborations as this was a completely new kind of film for them or didn't Williams just find a unifying theme for the whole story (that seems quite unlikely)? Hopefully the liner notes will shed light on the scoring philosophy of this film as JW has said so little on this music in the past.

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I dunno, does he ever perform it in concerts these days? He did Cadillac at the recent Boston concert, but that was probably just because the CD set reminded him of it.

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I dunno, does he ever perform it in concerts these days? He did Cadillac at the recent Boston concert, but that was probably just because the CD set reminded him of it.

He performed "Exsultate Justi" (with chorus) in Boston several times in the late 80s/early 90s, and he performed "Jim's New Life" a few times in more recent years.

As far as his feelings about this score go, I guess he's happy with it, as he apparently is with most (if not all) of his Spielberg collaborations.

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I wouldn't perform it either for a Star Wars/Indiana Jones crowd. EOTS isn't exactly hit or Night Of The Proms material.

"Cadillac of the Sky" is about as accessible as JW compositions come. If he can perform material from Memoirs of a Geisha, he could do EotS more often.

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I think Williams went with his usual approach and scored it Raiders/E.T. style, only to have to revise many cues to sound more "serious" because Spielberg wanted a shot at the Oscars

Williams scored EOTS with Indiana-Jones-music before he was told how to do it 'right'? You seem to estimate his intelligence at paramecium level.

Pub you have to look at that statement from the fanfarocentric universe of KM.

Can't wait to hear Japanese March and Parade of the War Camp Children and Scherzo for Atom Bomb and Orchestra.

Karol

Don't forget Prison Camp Boogie, a source piece for the discarded musical number at the internment camp in the spirit of Swing, Swing, Swing where Jim deliriously dreams of the entire camp joining in wildly choreographed dance.

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I wouldn't perform it either for a Star Wars/Indiana Jones crowd. EOTS isn't exactly hit or Night Of The Proms material.

"Cadillac of the Sky" is about as accessible as JW compositions come. If he can perform material from Memoirs of a Geisha, he could do EotS more often.

But it's not a hit. It's not Star Wars, Potter or Indiana Jones. MECO wouldn't know what to do with it. Does that mean Williams doesn't like it? I think he's just considerate to the audience.

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I wouldn't perform it either for a Star Wars/Indiana Jones crowd. EOTS isn't exactly hit or Night Of The Proms material.

"Cadillac of the Sky" is about as accessible as JW compositions come. If he can perform material from Memoirs of a Geisha, he could do EotS more often.

But it's not a hit. It's not Star Wars, Potter or Indiana Jones. MECO wouldn't know what to do with it. Does that mean Williams doesn't like it? I think he's just considerate to the audience.

Williams is pretty much obligated to include Indy, E.T., Jaws, SW and Harry Potter in his concerts due to them being his most enduring and well known scores and hits. I am sure he would like to perform something else for a change, not the same cavalcade of super hits but he must keep his fanbase in mind. They would be very disappointed if he didn't include his most beloved classics in his concert programmes. Funnily enough Williams often says he doesn't look back on his older scores but wants to keep exploring musically but his constant and succesful concert hall career and frequent appearances make sure he doesn't forget his big hits too easily.

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Williams is pretty much obligated to include Indy, E.T., Jaws, SW and Harry Potter in his concerts due to them being his most enduring and well known scores and hits. I am sure he would like to perform something else for a change, not the same cavalcade of super hits but he must keep his fanbase in mind. They would be very disappointed if he didn't include his most beloved classics in his concert programmes. Funnily enough Williams often says he doesn't look back on his older scores but wants to keep exploring musically but his constant and succesful concert hall career and frequent appearances make sure he doesn't forget his big hits too easily.

As the most thankful artists, Williams never forget to show gratitude and appreciation toward those works and collaborations that helped him to reach the impressive success he got (and continue to have). In this sense, it's a natural thing that he still expresses a special fondness toward E.T., Indiana Jones, Star Wars or Harry Potter. And he knows the audience is as much fond as well of his "big hits", so he will never let them down scrapping The Imperial March or the E.T. Flying theme in lieu of Monsignor or Rosewood, as beautiful pieces as they are in their own right. Of course he has his own preferences too and usually his concerts never omit one or two selections from a couple of lesser-known scores to which he has some kind of personal attachment, like The Accidental Tourist, Memoirs of a Geisha or Far & Away.

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Williams is pretty much obligated to include Indy, E.T., Jaws, SW and Harry Potter in his concerts due to them being his most enduring and well known scores and hits. I am sure he would like to perform something else for a change, not the same cavalcade of super hits but he must keep his fanbase in mind. They would be very disappointed if he didn't include his most beloved classics in his concert programmes. Funnily enough Williams often says he doesn't look back on his older scores but wants to keep exploring musically but his constant and succesful concert hall career and frequent appearances make sure he doesn't forget his big hits too easily.

As the most thankful artists, Williams never forget to show gratitude and appreciation toward those works and collaborations that helped him to reach the impressive success he got (and continue to have). In this sense, it's a natural thing that he still expresses a special fondness toward E.T., Indiana Jones, Star Wars or Harry Potter. And he knows the audience is as much fond as well of his "big hits", so he will never let them down scrapping The Imperial March or the E.T. Flying theme in lieu of Monsignor or Rosewood, as beautiful pieces as they are in their own right. Of course he has his own preferences too and usually his concerts never omit one or two selections from a couple of lesser-known scores to which he has some kind of personal attachment, like The Accidental Tourist, Memoirs of a Geisha or Far & Away.

Yes Williams has struck a great balance with fan favourites and introducing some of his personal favourites and perhaps less known music from his smaller scores in his concert programmes.

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Less than five hours left . . . still haven't decided what to wear!

Go for the turtleneck. Smart and fits the occasion!

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Fits every occasion . . . which is why a certain brilliant composer sticks to the basics every time. ;)

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I haven't listened to the score in ages, so I could be wrong, but there's nothing like that in the OST is there??

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Correction, there is a snippet of that melody in the OST equivalent at around 3:30, but the alternate develops it more.

Really excited about this^

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Wow! It sounds much more openly emotional than the OST version did plus does extend that particular melodic idea further. I like the bit fugue-like developments. Excitement grows!

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KM was correct, it seems.

Well it is not exactly Indiana Jones level of playfulness we are hearing but at least this alternate seems more energetic compared to the final version, which is more subdued and toned down perhaps so as not to be emotionally too strong. And it is nice indeed to hear that these alternates might actually contain more actual revisions in content than mere on the podium changes of instrumentation and what-not.

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it sounds much more what you'd have expected a JW score to sound like in that time period

I remember EtoS was the first OST that didn't quite sound like the usual JW score and at the time I got bored by the underscore

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There's some significant difference there. Makes me begin to wonder whether some of the rewrites were on the level of how much Goldsmith changed his versions of "The Enterprise" and "Leaving Drydock" in ST:TMP. Probably not; most likely it's changes in dynamic and rendering (like we heard here), but that's still a noticeable shift.

Regardless, it does make me that much more excited for the release now. :yes:

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Yup. And he had a lot more time to work on things, so when they asked him to thematicize the pieces (the whole score, really) he had sufficient time left to rework things really well.

I would imagine in this case—and doubtless we'll find out more in the notes of the new release—that Spielberg did indeed tell Williams that he wanted something a little more subtle, and asked him to tone it down a bit. Or possibly they both wanted to see what it was like both ways, and agreed the quieter version suited the material better.

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I don't remember if that 5 note motif that gets repeated is elsewhere in the score, but it seems he re-used it as the basic motif of the Presumed Innocent theme: ;)

(at 0.15'')

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHzTy4fHvNQ

I was about to say exactly the same thing! Amazing similarity.

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I don't like that clip at all. It has nothing to do with the film. I'm going to say away from this release as far as possible since the OST is perfect as it is.

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That's exactly what I'm hearing. A Star Wars version of Empire Of The Sun!

Well gosh darnit Alex, those are alternates, and perhaps for a good reason. The disc 1 still has the complete film score in all its eerily gloomy coming-of-age, growing up glory!

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For the last time, it's not about coming of age or growing up, it's about childhood. Two different things!

No really, I guess I am too (emotionally) attached to the original music (and film) to listen to a completely different approach. Of course, this is only one clip and it might not be representative for all the 'new' music.

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