I like JW, but he is starting to confuse his works!

JW still comes up with some very original themes.

 

I was going to start a new thread about this very same topic, and glad that it already exists.

Like many of you, I was also shocked that the music in the Quidditch scene of HP: TCOS is ripped right out of AOTC... I can't understand why John Williams would have done this...

 

well, if you had bothered to read the previous back pages, you would see that the music is quite different...

 

Like many of you, I was also shocked that the music in the Quidditch scene of HP: TCOS is ripped right out of AOTC... I can't understand why John Williams would have done this...

The music is not exactly like AOTC. It is similar yes. Once again, please remember that John Williams did not score all of Chamber of Secrets. He composed about 40 minutes of new music including the new themes. William Ross was then brought in to arrange and conduct everything so John could work on Catch Me If You Can. Keep in mind that John did five scores in 12 months. That's a LOT. SO what if a few minutes of COS sound a lot like AOTC. I've got Fawkes' Theme, Lockhart's theme and all the other themes from the first film in an awesome score for the second film.

 

I'll gladly forgive JW for using 5 seconds of music twice, because there could be worse: Elliot Goldenthal's score for Final Fantasy is pretty interchangable with his score for Sphere. Noticed that while watching Sphere again and thought of this thread.
The melodies aren't the same, but it's like Elfman's Batman-syndrome which I accuse him of

 

With JW being busy for the next 18 months, I'm sure this will be a topic of discussion.

 

Riise.

 

Now here's a thread I've not seen in a long time... a long time.

 

I think my uncle's been here. He said it was dead.



/LM

 

Some people were complaining that the new clip from ROTS that was released on Hyperspace sounds a bit like Hedwig's theme from Harry Potter. So it would seem that the trend continues...

 

I don't hear that at all.

 

I'm a bit skeptical myself. I believe if you compare:

0:14-0:16 of the Hyperspace Preview track

to

1:15-1:17 of Hedwig's Theme Track 19 HP1

you'll hear the similarities people are noticing.


As far as I'm concerned, if anything, it's a very brief similarity and, as a whole, the two are very much different.

 

As long as it sounds good, I don't care what it sounds like. It'll be Star Wars!



John Williams has talent
/LM

 

Hmm... But I am sure that most of you turn on the radio or listen to groups that ALL sound the same. I hear it daily along with the explanations that its really great. Mostly I just hear thump thump thump thump, twain, bad lyrics that was the same as group z over there.
So.. what that obsevation... why not demand "different" in your everday world?

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the beginning of the 'Raptor Theme' in Jurassic Park is a straight lift of his earlier work on The Towering Inferno. The music in question is from towards the end of the film, when Steve McQueen's character is entering the building from the rooftop. Check it out, it's quite funny.

 

The Raptor theme is that 4 note motif, right?

 

Yeah, but I don't mean that. I'm talking about the low, forboding atmosphereics before the main motif.

 

At the end of the credits?

 

I hope it's ok posting this. If this is not appropriate, I am sorry and please remove the links.

Here's the scene from The Towering Inferno (Quicktime 1.17MB):

http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=160WT8MS917NS038MM6E322ST6

And here's a Mp3 clip of the beginning of the Raptor piece:

http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=19O9ZACGS331U1JN1OOFL8UPDR

 

*bump*

Can anyone else hear it? Or am I just insane.

 

Yeah, I hear it. It's probably just another one of those moments where a composer uses a certain series of notes in two different places. Silvestri does that a lot with some of his works. If you listen to him, you'll probably be able to hear some similarities between his scores, too (most prominently a rising four-note sequence in the order of A-B-B-C). Lots of composers recycle small, subtle cues like that.

 

I think the most prominent one that I noticed was between the Dry Your Tears, Africa and the opening theme to the Patriot. I did once sit down at a piano with a friend and started playing the theme from Hook, only to have him confuse it with Hedwig's theme. We then did a comparison of a lot of his themes, looking at the similarities.

 

I love Williams' work, but it's hard to defend Across the Stars because it is EXACTLY (note for note, or at least beat for beat) the same as the theme from Hook. It's still a chilling, beautiful piece of music, but it has been done earlier in his career.