Any John Williams Fans here?

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Topic started by Shashi (sksriniv@hotmail.com) (@ eed02990.mayo.edu) on Fri May 7 17:10:11 EDT 1999.


This posting is for all the John Williams' fans. There is a transcript of his chat on Starwars homepage, dated may 6th 1999.

For a change, it is nice to read to a rather candid chat (unlike the esoteric, hard to decipher answers of IR) from a great composer. Its nice to have a perspective, once in a while!!

Interestingly, he mentions that he has used "Sanskrit Chorus/Recitation" in the BGM to increase the mystical intensity of the movie--Phantom Menace.

The site is http://starwars.talkcity.com/starwars/trans/5-6-99.htmpl

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Hi Shashi,

Very good interview indeed. !! I have been following for a just last few months, the music of JW and Hans Zimmer. Recently when I saw Prince of Egypt, I was thoroughly impressed by the music of HZ. Very classical and IR like.

And you are right about those convoluted answers we hear from IR every time. Of course, with ARR we don't hear much except "God is great". It is nice to be down-to-earth atleast once in a while. (like SPB ??)

But did you read the latest column "en paarvaiyil' that IR is writing on AV ?? I love it - He seems to open up more on things other than music.

BTW, JW also seems to start everything from a pen & paper and seems to improvise on it later. So what is the difference between his approach and our own IR ?? Does IR even improvises on Pen and paper ??
More inputs on the "theoretical approach" !!

Mukund

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Hi Mukund

I have not yet had a chance to read "en paarvaiyil" by Raja. Would do that soon. Thanks for the info.

I think that although JW says all compositions from him starts from a pen & paper, he actually means that the instrumentalists in the orchestra have no individual input on his creation.

If he admits to taking 3-4 months for the project, I guess, he sits with a synth/piano and a pen/paper to start; watches the movie clip numerous times; comes up with a score; constantly polishes it to its final state before making the final notes for the London Symphony Orchestra--assigns the appropriate notes to each instrumentalist and records finally.

Since, nobody questioned as to how many times he changes/polishes/overdoes/modifies his creation till final recording(till he is satisfied)--it is anybody's guess!!

But, isn't it interesting that JW takes a solid 3-4 months for just a BGM score! I guess, that is what he precisely means when he says it is hardwork 6 days/week. I really admire the sincerity with which these guys work.

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Hi Shashi,

Guess you are right. The sincerity is something that you have to really appreciate. Things are different here. simplicity - I mean "eLimai" has its own disadvantages too - and compromises for the sake of money economy leads to unprofessionalism back home.

BTW, do you remember the movies which have JW's music ??

Mukund

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Mukund,

Jurassic park, Lost world, star wars series, Jaws, towering inferno,amistad,Indiana jones,7 years in tibet , JFK, Home alone ,Hook, ET, Dracula, close encounters of the third kind, The cowboys, How to steal a million, Nixon, sabrina ,Always , schindler's list and saving private ryan.

AT present I can recollect only these. Will let u know when they occur.

and among these the best ones are JP,Jaws, Always, Amistad, Schindler's list.

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Sashi,
the forum hub is a more appropriate place for this kind of discussion.

We can start the thread under International music or continue in the MDs of hollywood thread.

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some of his best scores apart from what shankar mentioned: stepmom, sleepers, far and away, indiana jones series, born on 4th of july, several superman series...

one point where we can start off discussion is comparing his wonderful score for 7 years in tibet with philip glass' equally wonderful score for kundun. both deal with tibet, are highly challenging and have brought out their best.

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another interesting thing in the interview is that JW attributes the chorus part to lucas, he doesn't even say for sure if it will be in future star wars films.. i wonder if we have so much input from a director to MD,and whether the MDs appreciate it, especially the likes of IR and ARR:)

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ooppssss....How did i miss far and away.In my cassette (Best of John Williams) it's the second best piece (next to jurassic park end credits).

thnx bb for pointing that out. Is stepmom worth having in one's collection ???

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Basically, JW is the MD for all Stven Spielberg movies.

But his BGM for the Indiana Jones series is ordinary at best. Guess its not good enough inspiration.

I loved his BGM for Shindler's List - really touching theme music.

He is also a great player of the classical guitar. I have a collection of guitar pieces played b him - he's simply superb.

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stepmom seemed to be repetitive, IMO. it dint have the freshness of say, amistad.

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I found the BGM fo dracula really great. the music was in tune with the picturisation and the dramatic shifts between scenes.The best part was the BGM for the scene when there is a sudden rain in which the two girls run around the garden with two monstrous eyes looking from the sky.
BTW, was the music for GODFATHER films by JW? never got to see the credits

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neruppu, nope.. it was an italian , some rota..

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Thanks everyone for the inputs on JW. He has been integral part of Spielberg movies as Maurice Jarr was of David Lean movies( Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago).

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Thanks Murali for the list.

Mukund.

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Happened to watch Saving Private Ryan. Pretty disappointing stuff from JW.

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SRK, the soundtrack album of SPR is pretty good. i don't have it, but heard it once. it was quite fresh and fits the bill. the BGM in the movie is deliberately underplayed, i think, giving more importance to the sounds of war.

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Theres this guy called Jerry Goldsmith in film music. Listen to his works. Excels everybody works all the time.

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Hi Folks,

I am giving below some of the interesting sites of John Williams. In case if you have not seen already, please have a look.

I am also giving the site address of John Scott, who conducted IR's work with the RPO.
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http://webhome.idirect.com/~rlevy/
This is the site of John Scott

Following are some of the sites related John Williams.

http://pweb.netcom.com/~dlehman/JWscore.html

The Unofficial John Williams Home Page
http://www.classicalrecordings.com/johnwilliams/

The JohnWilliams Web Pages:
http://www.johnwilliams.org/

Filmtracks John Williams Tribute
http://www.filmtracks.com/composers/williams.shtml

The John Williams Messageboard (Forum plus links for all JW sites)
http://www.voy.com/2647/

The John Towner Williams Homepage
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/7728/
(This is site is really good)

Karthik

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Hi

The following page has many goodies.

http://www.mediaventures.com/ (http://www.mediaventures.com/
)

It has soundtracks from many movies and also
Q&A with Hans Zimmer.

RJAY

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The following site has almost all of John Williams' music in real audio format.A great site for any JW fan.

http://www.geocities.com/johnwilliams_tribute/JWmusic.html
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