John Williams

[nicholas at adelanta.co.uk]

Hope you don't mind me resurrecting past threads; it's been a chaotic
couple of weeks and I am just reading some of them for the first time.

Wendy said:-

>I have been a huge fan of John Williams for over 20 years. I have
>noticed how his scores now are sounding very familiar. eg play the
>main track of Harry Potter, then play the main track to "Home Alone".
>Methinks I hear a very familiar sounding "young boy" theme.
>

Interesting. Yes, listening to the CoS CD, I kept thinking that I was
listening to the 'Home Alone' soundtrack. (The kids love that movie and
watch it over and over, so I'm perhaps more familiar with it than I would
like). The similarity between the two put me right off the CoS soundtrack;
the only thing I listen to on it now is 'Fawkes's theme'.

Most modern filmscore composers have certain features to all of their
compositions which make them recognisable. It's a form of self-advertising.
Before the release of the PS/SS movie, and in the days when I, as a huge
fan of the books, had no intention of seeing the movie, I heard the PS/SS
theme on the radio, without having heard the announcement of what it was.
It caught my attention though. My first thought was 'John Williams wrote
this'. My second thought; 'Oh, I bet it's the theme to the new HP movie'.
That's how recognisable he is.

Taryn said:-

>I recall hearing that for Patrick Doyle's incredible first movie score for
>Henry V, he was actually present for shooting to grasp as much of the mood
>and theme as possible. (Not sure about his subsequent work on Branagh
>films)

I loved that score. I believe that Doyle was actually in the movie, not
just on set; he was the soldier who sang the awesome 'Non nobis, Domine' at
the end.

Regards,
Nicholas