Rogue One The Music of Rogue One

Especially when one considers the very brief time he had to compose it. MG has a unique ability to take a few notes of a well known theme and reinvent/re-imagine it into an entirely new yet somehow familiar one. "The Imperial Suite" is a great example of this.

 

It's truly stunning to me how good MG's score is considering how little time he had. I listen to it on shuffle with Ep 7 and 8 scores all the time and it holds up perfectly well. Truly a wonderful job by MG. He continues to be my favorite younger composer. Here's to decades more good stuff from him!

I mean I ripped the end titles audio off the blu ray and made my own "Hope/End Titles" track and I will say I do love it, but the transition from JW's iris out Star Wars music piece into Giacchino's Jyn's theme is kind of awkward... not nearly as effortless as it should have been.

 

Agreed, it isn't very smooth. Do you think it's because they used a recording from a previous film and tried to blend it into the Jyn Erso theme?

 

I don't think the music was bad. It was just passable. However, I did enjoy the variations of Williams' themes. Just different takes of familiar themes. I liked the music in trailers better, however. More subtle and foreboding.

 

Seth, I am not sure. It seems like that is a new recording of the end titles cue but I am no expert.

 

The music was good for not being Williams

 

Great analysis

 

An incredible score, especially given that he only had 4 weeks to create it. That blows my mind.

 

Wow. Didn't know that. The only Rogue One song I listen to on a regular basis is Stardust, but that one's beautiful... in my opinion fits in with John William's songs, although not as "Star Wars"-ish... you know what I mean...

 

You don't listen to Your Father Would Be Proud or Hope??

 

Quite possibly the best Disney star wars score, which is saying something since Williams has done 2 of the 4. Way better than Solo, and a somewhat better than TLJ. TFA is the only one that gives it a run for the money.

 

Here's an unreleased track I've uncovered:


It plays right before the Jedha ambush, and seems pretty much clean. It was part of a 'Jedha music suite' video, and at the time I didn't recognise it as unreleased. Now I've separated it out into it's own track.

 

I've seen RO so many times now, which includes my 20 or so viewings during its theatrical run, that whenever I listen to this track, I find it impossible to NOT hear the tie fighter screeching right at around 3:56 - 4:04. Anyone else feel the same?

 

I've reassessed my thoughts on this score. When Rogue One was first released, I did not have positive feelings about this score, expressed in the early pages of this very thread. The score has grown on me over the past two years, and given the short time Giacchino had in putting this together, it is rather impressive. I still think there's parts that sound somewhat generic, but there really is some good pieces in the score, and there's some really neat subtle cues that evoke Williams quite well. I'd totally be fine having Giacchino score future films.

 

The music for Jedha is some of the best in Star Wars, as is "Your Father Would Be Proud." It's mind-blowing that Giacchino put this together in just a few weeks. Completely insane.

 

Giacchino deserves all the praise for this soundtrack, honestly.

 

The Imperial Suite and its variations are quite as good as Williams' immortal classic Imperial March in my opinion.

 

I caught a bit of this score recently in my Star Wars music shuffle before TROS came out. I still really enjoy it a lot. I played Krennic's Aspirations for a friend who likes film music and he loved it! Also my nephew thought it was awesome. He especially liked the use of the Imperial March at the end.

I do still think using the "Binary Sunset" arrangement of the Force Theme at the end was a mistake. Should have been Princess Leia's theme, considering the ending shots. I also think maybe a nice intertwining of the Force theme with Leia's theme would have been amazing, and unique in the Star Wars musical canon.

 

I love this score. I watch R1 a lot actually, and from the second the music starts I'm teleported into this world. It feels like SW music, in that it's clearly inspired by JW's score and even similar to it, but it has its own vibe that gives R1 its own feel as its own story. Basically, it rhymes without copying, which is how I think LF should be doing this. Also, it's just really pretty.

 

I agree completely... for the right property. I think this approach works for something like what (we think) Kenobi will be like, but not sure that would work for something like The Mandalorian, where it's got a different, less "epic" vibe. Overall, I like the idea of the music having Star Wars "DNA" but also fitting the story being told.

 

This is absolutely beautiful.

 

^ I missed this when it was posted. Just great.

This is still really an amazing soundtrack, especially given the short timeframe it was created in and all of the automatic "it's not Williams" pushback there was.

 

I agree completely.

 

Yeah. And heresy though it may be, I generally prefer it to the ST Williams soundtracks. Barring a few really good themes, like Kylo’s from TFA.

 

Rey’s theme is my favourite Star Wars theme. However, the ST soundtracks suffer because of the poor quality of the films..... they just don’t resonate with me like the OT, R1 and Solo soundtracks do.