In Episode 16, we finish our look at Williams’ seventh entry into the Star Wars universe by looking at what’s returned and what hasn’t. We take apart the reoccurring Star Wars themes and how they’re used in The Force Awakens, and make a number of bold and possibly a little reckless predictions for The Last Jedi (then unreleased).

 

Episode notes:

 

3:01 – Yes, this was recorded before The Last Jedi was released, and we’re sorry

4:04 – What were our reactions to The Force Awakens’ music when it was released?

9:50 – Ice Landing and the Rebel Fanfare

12:48 – Han Solo and the Princess in The Force Awakens

20:06 – Scherzo for X-Wings and the undanceable dance

26:02 – The Force Theme Awakens

30:00 – The Homestead Burns Again

36:20 – The sonic signature of The Force Awakens

37:30 – Williams’ emotional mood shifts and the journey to Luke Skywalker

39:54 – The brief return of Darth Vader

41:35 – Nick promises to walk out of The Last Jedi in disgust (Narrator: he did not)

48:54 – Andrew embarrasses himself with some music-inspired Last Jedi predictions

52:15 – The Skywalker map and the tritone

56:12 – Snoke’s supreme choir – and Andrew embarrasses himself again

1:04:29 – The death scenes of The Force Awakens and John Williams’ string lament’s across episodes

1:19:50 – Finn’s Phantom Confession

1:21:09 – Maz Kanata’s Jabba Flow

1:24:03 – Dan hopes for some more zany Williams jazz (Narrator: he got it)

 

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In Episode 15, we return to the galaxy far, far away and take a look at how the musical landscape of Star Wars changed between the almost 40 years between A New Hope and The Force Awakens. In the first of a two part episode we look at Rey’s Theme, Kylo Ren’s motifs, and The March (or is that the fugue?) of the Resistance. Recorded last year in eager anticipation of The Last Jedi, we’re finally getting this episode to you just in time for its release on Blu-Rey (see what we did there?), so sit back and enjoy our return to perhaps John Williams’ greatest musical franchise.

Episode notes:

0:00 – A disclaimer (and possibly an apology!)

5:15 – Dan is writing a book about Star Wars

7:51 – The weight of expectation for The Force Awakens

10:00 – The legacy film

16:30 – The return of little-known composer John Williams

17:35 – Rey’s theme

22:40 – Rey’s riff

26:32 – Rey eats her lunch, on solo flute

30:41 – Rey’s abduction

33:11 – Rey’s impassioned bridge

36:15 – Comparison to other John Williams work: Potter and The Terminal

44:35 – Williams bringing Rey and The Force together in the end credits

46:40 – Rey’s theme – the dance remix

49:10 – Musically, Rey is a Jawa

50:33 – Kylo Ren’s theme

55:50 – The Kylo Ren B motif – the call of the dark side

1:00:00 – Ren and the Imperial March

1:01:45 – The March of the Resistance

1:04:51 – The March or the Fugue?

1:10:00 – Poe’s theme

1:16:39 – Finn’s rhythmic motif

1:19:00 – The mixed-meter Falcon theme

1:28:10 – John Williams as the bloodline of Star Wars

1:29:34 - …and more to come in Part Two!

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After a short break, Art of the Score enters the new year with a trip to the Upside Down to take a close listen to Stranger Things. With the help of synth expert, musician, and podcaster Seja Vogel, we pull apart this wonderfully analogue score, its influences, and how it all works over the course of Season One of the Netflix hit.

Episode notes:

2:35 – Welcome to special guest Seja Vogel. Find Seja’s podcast, ‘Hear Sej’ here (https://itunes.apple.com/bw/podcast/hearsej/id1168366353?mt=2), and her amazing Etsy store for felt synth models here (https://www.etsy.com/shop/pulsewidth).

5:20 – Into the nostalgic world of Stranger Things

8:41 – The ‘nostalgia film’ and Fredric Jameson

10:30 – Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon and their analogue synth band S U R V I V E

13:24 – ‘Dirge’, the track that formed the Stranger Things sound

15:05 – The influences and musical tools of S U R V I V E

19:00 – How the music works in Stranger Things – a scene comparison with Williams’ E.T.

25:14 – The main title – is it E minor or C major?

28:51 – Seja breaks down the synths involved

31:47 – Seja’s meticulous reconstruction of the Main Title

34:00 – Square waves and pulse waves, filter sweeps and resonance

44:33 – ‘Kids’ and keying between worlds

51:55 – Nancy and Barb

55:06 – Eleven’s theme and its development throughout season one

1:05:45 – Lay-Z-Boy couch theme

1:10:20 – The Upside Down

1:13:55 – The Demogorgon

1:18:11 – Searching the woods

1:20:42 – The government evildoers in portamento bass

1:26:37 – ‘This isn’t you’

1:32:01 – Linking sound with image – was Stranger Things written to footage?

1:35:45 – How each kiss is scored

1:40:04 – Pop music in Stranger Things: The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go?

1:44:02 – Stranger Things’ secret pop: We Can Be Heroes

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From Hedwig’s theme to Quidditch matches, the musical world of Hogwarts may be one of the most iconic musical contributions to the film world this millennia. John Williams worked orchestral magic and brought us a unique contribution of fantasy, off-beat fanfares, and even a bit of jazz harmony. But what makes this great score tick? Join us as we dissect the power, the charm, and the enchantment of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Episode notes:

07:00 – a brief history of the franchise

10:45 – Harry Potter, one of the largest franchises of the 21st century

11:22 – John Williams on how he came to be involved with Harry Potter

15:00 – Hedwig’s Theme

16:42 – the celeste and its use in other films and, famously, Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

18:15 – Andrew drops a bombshell

20:10 – Breaking down Hedwig’s Theme

26:20 – a recounting of the day the musicians first encountered the score

28:00 – Hedwig’s Theme and its variations

31:25 – is Hedwig’s Theme the last John Williams melody to enter pop culture?

33:00 – The Flying Theme or the Nimbus 2000 Theme

44:15 – Harry’s Theme or the Family Theme

50:27 – the appearance of the tri-tone

52:30 – Harry’s Wondrous World Theme

1:00:08 – the Hogwarts School Song

1:02:00 – we apologise for what is about to happen…

1:04:50 – Philosopher’s vs Sorcerer’s (Stone) and some of the localisations

1:08:10 – The Stone motif

1:16:00 – the Voldemort motifs

1:23:00 – the music of Diagon Alley

1:31:10 – some banquet music from Harry Potter and other films

1:36:50 – the Quidditch Fanfare and its similarity to other “arena” cues

1:40:30 – John Williams’ use of synthesizer for the Invisibility Cloak

1:43:10 – the diegetic (harp) music of Harry Potter

1:47:00 – the action music compositional style of early 2000s John Williams

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After a short hiatus, we’re Back – from the future – with a good look at Alan Silvestri’s score to the Robert Zemeckis time-travel classic. Back to the Future is, at its core, about a small group of characters, and yet it possesses a huge scale of feeling and mood, much of which can be attributed to Silvestri’s impressive orchestral score. Join us as we take in the jazz roots of this classic, the fanfares and motifs, and of course, the classic hit songs that power the film.

Episode notes:

0:45 – We’re back, from the future

4:40 – Following in the Spielbergian mould

13:10 – Romancing the Silvestri-Zemeckis relationship

16:10 – The main theme

20:00 – Asking questions through tritones

26:00 – Mysterious origins of the time machine

29:14 – Main theme variations

32:32 – Going through the gears

39:41 – The main theme, romantically

41:47 – Marty’s theme

44:39 – The time motif and the Back to the Future sound

49:05 – Doc’s turning wheels

53:00 – The octatonic scale

55:02 – The Biff motif

57:08 – Back to the Predator

59:33 – Art of the Score dissects the climactic suite

1:07:00 – Is it the best climax suite in film music?

1:09:54 – The songs! The Power of Loving Back to the Future

1:15:50 – Mister Sandman

1:26:10 – Night Train

1:32:13 – Earth Angel

1:37:19 – Andrew’s Johnny B Goode telephone authorship theory of doom

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There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson’s relentlessly dark exploration of Daniel Plainview, an American oil baron, now comfortably sits among the greatest films of the century so far. Yet Jonny Greenwood’s score - who is best known from his days on guitar for Radiohead - may well be even greater and more original still. In this episode of Art of the Score, we take a look at Greenwood’s incredibly unusual music, and with the help of There Will Be Blood expert and conductor Hugh Brunt, take apart what makes it tick, its fresh musical influences and style, and jointly, drink its milkshake.

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Today, Batman is undergoing yet another renaissance – fresh off the Dark Knight trilogy, he’s heading up a whole new Justice League. But in 1989, Batman was only starting to become the Dark Knight of popular culture – and Danny Elfman’s landmark score to the Tim Burton film helped him along the way. In this episode of Art of the Score, we take a look at the 1989 score, and pull apart its main themes, its musical influences and style, and ask the ultimate question: just where does he get those wonderful (musical) toys?

Show notes:

2:50 – An intro to Danny Elfman

4:20 – Batman (1989), Tim Burton, and franchising in Hollywood

10:42 – Is this the most iconic Batman theme ever?

12:45 – Breaking down Elfman’s Batman theme

16:10 – The influence of Herrmann on Elfman

21:00 – The Dark Knight rides again

23:56 – The versatility of the Batman theme

26:00 – The Batutsi

26:55 – 6/8 versus 3/4 timing for Batman

30:20 – How does the Elfman theme fit into the history of Bat-music? The 1949 serial, the TV series, Goldenthal, and Zimmer

35:05 – Is Zimmer’s theme just the bare elements of Elfman’s? Dan says yes: https://vimeo.com/193995233

36:40 – Or is it all just building on Wagner?

38:00 – How does Prince’s music work with the score? Listen to the Love Theme and find out

42:00 – Beautiful Dreamer, the Joker’s Parlour Song

46:00 – Dancing with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight

53:44 – Waltzing to the Death (and Dan’s frustration)

58:11 – The Henchmen’s piano

1:01:35 – Alfred Hitchcock directs Batman

1:05:52 – The henchmen’s boom box

1:08:45 – It’s a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight

1:11:50 – Advertising for the Joker

1:18:30 – Nick’s favourite cue in the score

1:22:30 – Dan has a bone to pick with Batman

1:26:50 – The finale to Batman – the Light Knight?

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In our third and final Star Wars episode, we take a look at some of the lesser known cues that round out this incredible score. We discuss the giant bantha in the room: the musical influences that inspired Williams and the temp music that helped to shape some of his artistic choices. Finally, we take a whirlwind tour of the action music, explore the groovy Cantina Band tunes and debate whether Star Wars is in fact the greatest film score of all time. Is it?

Show notes:

3:20 – the music for the Jawas

5:40 – finding the downbeat in “The Little People”

7:28 – is this the highest Tuba line ever?

11:03 – the music for the Sand People

14:39 – Williams’ family relations and a link to Toto

15:28 – use of the Timpani

18:08 – a comparison with Jerry Goldsmith’s Planet of the Apes

20:26 – discussing the Bantha in the room: the musical influences on Star Wars

26:05 – The Dune Sea of Tatooine vs Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring

30:17 – The Rebel Blockade Runner vs Holst’s The Planets

32:02 – Some Bernard Herrmann references in Star Wars

36:56 – The Throne Room vs Dvorak and Elgar

42:21 – The Throne Room’s reappearance in Return of the Jedi

44:55 – rude trumpets and the performance/recording of the score

47:03 – the musicians who made contributions to Star Wars

48:53 – the action music of Star Wars and Williams’ hip grooves

53:11 – Dan’s dissapointment in Star Wars’ lack of musical numbers

56:15 – The Battle of Yavin vs The Battle of Britain

1:02:35 – The Cantina Band, is it jazz or jizz?

1:06:20 –Sing Sing Sing as temp music

1:08:48 – the 2nd Cantina Band song

1:11:18 – the original Star Wars trailer music and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons

1:15:46 – the studio’s woeful attempt at marketing Star Wars

1:17:42 – is Star Wars the greatest film score of all time?

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In our second Star Wars episode, marking the fortieth anniversary of the film, we complete our exploration of the themes for this landmark film and score from 1977. We take on the franchise’s most defining melody: the Force Theme, and also throw in the Rebel Fanfare, Vader’s motif, and the Death Star, before ending on that eternal question: what links Star Wars and Metallica?

Episode notes:

2:15 – The Force Theme (or Ben Kenobi’s theme)

2:50 – Binary Sunset

7:25 – the Alternate Binary Sunset cue

12:30 – the Burning Homestead cue

14:50 – Rogue One: The Master Switch cue

17:10 – the first encounter with Ben Kenobi

18:55 – development with Kenobi, Tales of a Jedi Knight

22:45 – The Force Theme as anxious suspense

24:50 – Luke mourns Ben

26:30 – the martial Force Theme at the Battle of Yavin

28:30 – Use the Force, Luke

32:10 – The Force Theme in Superman?

34:40 – The Rebel fanfare motif

37:21 – The Blockade Runner and Imperial Attack, combining the Rebel and Imperial motifs

42:10 – Rebel fanfare as dramatic relief after the destruction of the Death Star

43:49 – Darth Vader’s motif

49:00 – development in Imperial Attack

55:00 – Ben’s recollections of Vader for solo clarinet

57:50 – Is Vader’s theme really Metallica in disguise?

1:01:11 – the Death Star motif

1:03:00 – Burning Homestead as a theme showcase

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