Discussion Music in Future Films

I don't know that Williams has ever confirmed it, but Imperial March is widely regarded as Williams' take on that Chopin number, right down to the similar title.

 

Try listening to Dvorak's 4th movement of the New World Symphony and then the original SW throne room score. One theme can segue right into the other.

 

Saint Saëns and this exoticism too. I posted it in another thread.

 

Squadrons has just bumped Gordy Haab up in my list, probably second behind Giacchino

 

That good, huh? I've been hearing good things about this game overall... Should I get it, I wonder?

 

mhmm

Spoiler: selections

 

Gonna listen right now after I finish Dmitri Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony...




^ Shameless plug-in is shameless...

 

Here's a new track by Michael Giacchino and Nouvelle Modernica Orchestra. It's like the music of Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Les Baxter, featuring Molly Shannon (actually Allison-Eve Hammersley, but I like to think it's Molly Shannon). This really makes me want an exotica soundtrack for a Star Wars film or series. Perhaps for The Calrissian Chronicles.

 

Calrissian Chronicles? Is that actually a thing?

 

We've heard rumors of a Lando series for Disney+, and The Calrissian Chronicles is simply my hope for the show's name.

 

It’s also a thing in-universe, as Lando notes while recording an entry in the Chronicles while in the Falcon.

 

James Newton Howard is absolutely my first choice. If not him I wouldn’t mind seeing what Hans Zimmer does with a Star Wars property.

 

The priority should be to meet the needs of the story taking place. If the story isn’t classically epic in the traditional Star Wars sense (as Solo wasn’t), then the score shouldn’t be overly operatic or classical. Solo, I think, should have had both a more fun and gritty score, akin to the Mandalorian. With even a slight space-punk edge, to fit the vibe. Instead it was Williams-lite with a touch of old Hollywood, and it just didn’t work that well. In terms of approach, future composers should follow the example of Goransson. Don’t chain yourself to what Star Wars was. Look at the actual film or show you’re scoring, and give it the sound that best suits it.

 

They really need to try some new songs. Still, I really like to original song and opener. I think that trying out different combinations and new instruments would really be fun to have a new kick to the same old Star Wars tunes we are so used to. I am not good with music but the skill and craft is just so vast that it is sad that the many areas are not being tested to bring new juice and energy and life to scenes and can act as a huge wake up to a fan seeing the movie for the first time, to listen to a song that was never played that way before. Depending on the actual race and ethnicity and religion of the human actor or could be the Alien race from the film, the instruments and flow and way the songs are played would change to act as foreshadowing and introduction of said character. There is a lot that can be done with the music and song choice in Star Wars films.

 

@Darth Polo I think the Mandalorian soundtrack meets your challenge and then some. Filmmakers have likely taken note.

 

I think the best reference for the post-Williams music for SW needs to be RO's score. A fantastic performance by Giacchino that combines Williams references with new themes. To me it achieves what SW music, what Williams music, has always achieved: just by hearing the music, you inmediately know what scene of the movie is that theme part of.

A big mistake would be following the influences of the latest Hans Zimmer works (still shocked how his take got approved for Blade Runner 2049), or even Ludwig Göransson, whose Mandalorian music might be good for a SW western, but is far from the memorable pieces by Williams.

 

No, a big mistake would be to apply Williams-esque music to all Star Wars stories, no matter the tone, storytelling mode and style of those stories. Giacchino's score was perfectly suited for Rogue One, which was an epic war film. While Göransson's music was perfectly suited for the funky space western that is the Mandalorian. And is incredibly memorable, to boot (the Mando theme has been buzzing in my head for over a year now). The key is, as Williams did, to apply the music that suits the story. Slavishly following a style of music, even if it doesn't suit the film it's being applied to, is a recipe for stagnation. George wouldn't approve of that, IMO.

The main reference points should be the Star Wars films being scored in that moment, IMO, not...other scores from other Star Wars films. Unless, of course, the latter are narratively and stylistically directly tied to the former.

 

This amount of agreement has gotta hurt!

Anyway, well said. As a point of some contrast, my response to the early TCW music experiments was simply that the music wasn’t very good, not that it wasn’t Star Warsy enough. Then Gorannson came along and made amazing music that wasn’t Williams-esque, and thus single-handedly blew open the musical landscape of Star Wars. I think he’s a genius. And the degree to which he shapes the aural future of Star Wars will prove it, IMO.

In short, yeah. You’re right.

 

Agreed! You’re right. I’m right. We’re right. What we said is the way.

 

Johnny Williams is 88 years old. I'm sure he still has some SW music left in him!

 

Please, Patty Jenkins, no Kenny Loggins in Rogue Squadron.