[ROTS] Soundtrack discussion

So I purchased the soundtrack today and just finished listening to it. WOW! It is amazing. I especially liked the end credits, it is so cool how the movie is so dark and depressing but the music for the end credits is pretty much all of the best themes from the OT to sort of "remind" us that things will get better.

Overall I liked best the new music. "Battle of the Heroes" and Grievous's theme rocked. I thought it was cool how it is "The Birth of the Twins and Padme's Destiny" (rather than Death). I accidentally saw the track listing in iTunes last week like the day before I saw the movie and freaked out, I didn't see Destiny but rather "The Birth of the Twins and Padme's D..." which I automatically assumed was 'death.' Nice of them not to actually put it on the track listing, but whatever, too late now.

Ultimately I was slightly disappointed in the amount of music that was lifted straight from the OT. It was sort of good because it was like a "Best Of the OT," they put the best parts of the OT music in this movie. However it would have been nice if Williams had changed it a little bit rather than using exactly the same cues.

But I liked it. What did you think of the soundtrack?

Mr. P

 

Ha ha! I was just searching for the soundtrack thread like 3 minutes ago. I just wanted to remark on how "Anakin's Betrayal" must be the saddest and most mournful piece of music ever created for Star Wars.

Actually, the whole CD is packed full of good stuff.

I haven't watched all of the DVD yet, but I wish they'd do a full blown version of music videos for the whole saga. To avoid spoilers it barely has any ROTS stuff in it. Let's see a full musical interpretation of the saga.

Oh...who can forget about "Palpatine's Teachings." The perfect music for the perfect scene.

 

Personally, I love the second song on there, I think it's called Anakin's Dream, a lot. The begining part is really beautiful.

Battle of the Heroes was perfect and Palpatine's teaching was, like stormcloud said, perfect for the scene.

 

It's not on the CD, but the use of Duel of the fates in the film is very, very powerful to me also.
We go from Battle of the heroes in the Anakin vs Obi fight, into the "build up" (don't know the right term)of Duel of the fates, and then when the scene switches to Yoda vs Sidious, the choir of Duel of the fates kick in.

It fits so damn well with Sidious just destroying the senate chamber, I really got serious chills the second time I saw the film (was to busy sitting with my mouth wide-open the first viewing).

 

First track is awesome. It has the main theme and then some really great music.
One place in the film where the music was used to great effect I thought was when Yoda and Palps are on the Chancellors platform, it is rising up and the camera zooms out so you can see the entire Senate Chamber and really epic music comes on. It's awesome.

 

I have to admit, when I saw the movie the first time, I was irked by the music. But what I realized is that I was paying too much attention to what was going on rather than the music.

When I played the soundtrack, I cried like I did in the movie. This is such a wonderful CD. I agree, the end credits seems much too edited but some of the transitions are wonderful. I would like to hear what didn't make it into the film (i.e. like with ROTJ, more music than movie). I read somewhere that he did over 2 hours and 30 minutes of music. I would be all over that.

Can I just say I loved it all? Easier that way. lol Storm, the DVD is good but I wanted to see more blending of the saga. And I wanted more PT music too.

It makes me rather quiet and emotional when I listen to it. Anyone else have the same feelings?

 

Oh, I've loved this soundtrack for a long time. I just went back and listened to the entire thing again all the way through (the first time after I've seen the movie). Let me just say these things:

Padme's ruminations is great. I loved the music for that scene and had completely forgotten it was on the soundtrack.

The main theme that plays on the first track (after the title music) is great. When I heard it while seeing the two Jedi starfighters streaming through the sky, I smiled.

Anakin's Dark Deeds. OMG, I LOVE this piece. It's one of the ROTS songs that made it onto my iPod.

Finally, Padme's Destiny. The end part of that track with the choir. I used to love it because it was the same theme that went with Qui-Gons funeral in TPM. But now all I can picture when I hear that is the rise of Darth Vader in the suit, and it makes me cry when I listen to it now. It's sooooo sad.

 

I wasn't a fan of "The Immolation Scene" until after I saw the movie, now it is one of my favorites. I can always hear Obi-Wan saying, "You were the chosen one..."

I really hope that sometime soon we get better releases for AOTC and ROTS, like the SEs. Heck, even through TPM in there, they should re-release all of them SE style, and not like the Ultimate Edition.

 

Am I the only one who was confused as to why the end credits music was almost all OT stuff? I know they were going with connections, but I thought it'd be more appropriate to have a medley of Across The Stars and Duel Of The Fates mixed in with the Ep3 stuff.

 

Me too. Although if you listen to the credits at the movie, it's not the same.

 

I love the opening track, how it cuts right from the opening scroll theme to the Battle Hymn of the Republic /Force theme, it's brilliant.

To be honest, in the final track, I love how William's throws in the Rebel theme. I think it's neat how the OT stuff shows up.

What is different about it in the actual film? I didn't stay for the credits.

 

MaraJadeBean, I tried listening to it the next day after seeing the movie and I couldn't-it made me too sad. Even now, a New hope and end credits makes me feel emotional. The whole CD is so beautiful and haunting, I love it.

 

The end credits in the movie is a mix of Battle of the Heroes and other score from the movie, like most end credits.

 

I did my best to not purchase the CD until after I saw the movie (twice). But I would say, for the first CD I've bought in several years...that it's fantastic. Especially Palpatine's Teachings and Padme's Ruminations, they both reminded me of my two favorite scenes in the movie.
Also, the DVD alone is worth the price of the soundtrack. I watched it all the way thru with Ian's commentary, which was well done. I just wish there would have been more ROTS footage in the videos where appropriate, but I guess they were trying to reduce spoilers.

 

The DVD is cool. My favorite one was "Dark Forces Conspire".

 

Anakins Betrayal and The Immolation Scene are superb tracks. For me, John Williams has truly returned to his glory years for this particular score.

 

Battle of the Heros is one that really works best after you've seen Anakin and Obi-Wan fighting The Duel. I liked it beforehand, but it really gains a lot of power when you can see them whirling away in your mind's eye.

Anakin's Betrayal is awesome stuff, so sad and a large part of the success of the Order 66 sequence. Great build on that one. I always hear this when I think of the death of the Jedi, particularly Ki-Adi on that bridge on Mygeeto.

Padme's Ruminations, well, I was stunned hearing it on my first viewing of the film as it was. I couldn't wait to hear it again, and I love it. Very non-SW kind of music, but hugely powerful and eerie.

Anakin vs Obi-Wan is good for the actual Battle of the Heroes lead-in when they start fighting. A nice frantic version of it, interrupted by the heavy version of the Imperial Theme for Yoda and Sidious (no DOTF on it though, shame).

I'll be honest, I find it tough to listen to The Immolation Scene sometimes...it's a great piece of music, but at a moment of huge emotion and tragedy. I can see Obi-Wan staring at this screaming thing that used to be his Padawan on the banks of Mustafar and wondering where he went wrong. The little musical stingers in the piece really send chills down my back.

The Birth of the Twins/Padme's destiny uses Qui-Gon's death music, which is fine with me because I liked it there. Now, it'll be linked to Padme and Anakin as well.

A New Hope/End Credits have that classic rendition of the Force theme, beautiful and stirring. Great way to finish.

 

I have only one problem with the music in the film. I felt that the final wipe to credits was a little quick. There didn't seem to be the usual upward swell and grand finale. It just kind of seemed to end.

 

Agreed, they should've stretched it out and played the complete force theme. Using some dialogue during the final scene would've been nice...I mean for crying out loud, Obi-Wan had never even met the two on-screen before! It's a bit sad that Lucas decided to do the scene during AotC, it feels incomplete in the context of Episode III...*sigh* sorry, got a bit off-topic.

I absolutely love Anakin vs. Obi-Wan! Even before seeing the movie I liked the forceful beginning but now it's even better - it reminds me of that pure exhilaration I felt when the duel started.

Battle of the Heroes surprised me...I had thought it would be some generic action theme, say for when the two are on Grievous' ship. Kinda like how Episode 1+2's big themes were used throughout the movie.

Works even better with the duel, though!

Immolation Scene....*shudder*. It's such a blatant title, yet it still couldn't ready me for what occured on screen...

 

I'm a bit embarrased to admit this, but I didnt know what 'immolation' meant. (Oh hush. School was a long time ago. )

I'm just glad I didnt look it up until after I saw the movie.


"A new hope/end credits". that kinda urked me. It was something I expected, but didnt want to KNOW.

 

I meant to reply to this yesterday, but the boards went down before I got the chance.

I love how music from all the other movies was pulled into this one. Duel of the Fates was used for a *real* duel of the fates during that dramatic shot of Yoda and Palpatine rising into the senate chamber, the music from the TPM pod race and the AotC escape from the arena was reused, ANH themes like Luke's theme and Leia's theme were all over the place, the ESB music from Vader's revelation to Luke was there, and finally the funeral pyre music from RotJ was used for the last shot of the trilogy. It was brilliant how all the films were tied together like that.

 

Sorry, but directly reusing cues recorded for previous movies is not "brilliant," it's cheap and annoying. At least this time the reused cues weren't horribly pieced together and for the most part went decently with the scenes they were used for, so the debacle of the AotC score was avoided.

 

Also, if you pay close attention, ROTS ends similar to ROTJ. Yep, just confirmed it listening to it myself. The end credits, there really is a stretch there in it that I love. I just love the variation on the OT themes. I wish it was in the actual end credits of the movie.

But if we don't have it in the movie, we always have it on the CD. Listen. Weep. Repeat.

EDIT: Jeff, I know there were many musical flaws in AOTC (like not having the true end credits which were heartbreakingly fabulous). With this soundtrack, I never feel the urge to skip a track. Also, I'm not so upset about the OT themes being in there. After watching ANH, it made sense.

 

I'm not complaining about the music Williams wrote for RotS, which I think is fantastic. I also love the music he wrote for AotC. The problem is music that was recorded for previous movies being tracked over scenes it was not intended for, which is distracting and almost never as good as having new music. It was a huge problem in AotC, especially during the arena battle. It also bothered me in RotS but it wasn't nearly as bad.

Edit: And I'm not referring to themes being reused. I thought the uses of the Force theme and Luke and Leia's themes in RotS were great.

 

Jeff, I'm not saying AOTC music was bad either but George really bungled what he used versus what he didn't use. I'm still angry he didn't use the end credits on CD.

I wish I knew what the real music Williams scored sounded like. It's probably a whole heck of a lot better for sure.

I just love the end credits on ROTS though. Some of the variations, I just love it, that one variation of the Force theme....brilliant, just brilliant. I'm glad the Imperial March wasn't in it because that keeps it fresh for Empire.