{"id":8360,"date":"2015-12-09T23:32:14","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T23:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jwfan.com\/?p=8360"},"modified":"2015-12-09T23:43:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T23:43:18","slug":"john-williams-on-the-force-awakens-at-least-five-new-themes-and-nearly-3-hours-of-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwfan.com\/?p=8360","title":{"rendered":"John Williams on THE FORCE AWAKENS: At Least Five New Themes and Nearly 3 Hours of Recorded Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TFA_Variety\"<\/a>
\n\u201cWhen we did the first film in London, we all thought, that\u2019s a nice little film,\u201d Williams says. \u201cIt captured the world\u2019s imagination in a way that I certainly couldn\u2019t have anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the new edition, Williams has written a handful of themes for characters including Rey (Daisy Ridley), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Poe (Oscar Isaac), along with \u201ca major march piece\u201d for the Resistance and a choral fanfare for Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) that inspired by a Kipling poem translated into Sanskrit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And while \u201cthere are a few short references\u201d to themes from earlier films, nearly all of the two-hour-plus score is new<\/strong>, Williams says. The recording process was \u201cvery luxurious,\u201d he adds, with 12 sessions scattered over a five-month period between June and November.<\/p>\n

This is the first \u201cStar Wars\u201d score to be recorded in L.A. \u201cOriginally we were going to London, and do it all in the space of two weeks\u2019 time, the way we\u2019ve always done George\u2019s (Lucas) films. That would not have worked in this case, because J.J. (Abrams)\u2019s editing process is very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

The composer began work last December and basically continued all year, completing the recording in mid-November. His 90-piece orchestra recorded 175 minutes of music, he says, although nearly an hour of that was discarded, modified or rerecorded as Abrams re-edited the film. Snoke\u2019s theme was recorded by a 24-voice men\u2019s chorus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Williams says the decision to do another \u201cStar Wars\u201d film was basically simple: Abrams asked him, and he said yes. Abrams \u2014 who only heard Williams demonstrate two early themes last December, leaving dramatic and musical decisions up to the composer \u2014 \u201cwas very enthusiastic about everything,\u201d Williams says.<\/p>\n

‘Film Score Icons Williams, Morricone and Horner Loom Large in Oscar Race’<\/strong><\/a>, by Jon Burlingame (Variety)<\/p>\n