Bland John Williams

[Theresa]

Well, I wasn't going to pipe in but this has definitely pulled me 
out of lurkdom.

I grew up playing a musical instrument and even took a stab at 
orchestrating a piece of piano music for a full band (from brass to 
woodwinds to percussion - toughest part for me) and though it was 
put on the back burner as a hobby I still love going to the symphony 
or musicals and going to the theater was a MUST when I went on a 
trip to London a few years back. Anyway, I once had the opportunity 
to see John Williams conduct the Boston Pops - he was the main 
reason I went because I absolutely loved his work on many movies I 
had seen. I was not disappointed. They were wonderful. I personally 
think he is a great composer - he has been writing soundtracks since 
the 60's and has over 300 movies/shows to his credit. I loved the 
Quidditch track in the first movie and Hedwig's themes is one of my 
favorites. 

However, as much as I love John Williams I will be the first to 
admit that on occasion some of his music sounds similar to other 
films. It is a subtle thing but I can hear a repetitive melody from 
some of his Star Wars/Indiana Jones action sequences in some of the 
action sequences in Harry Potter. It may just be a stanza or two but 
it is there. Especially from Star Wars to Indiana Jones. I suppose 
that is what all my band teachers always called the 
composer's "signature". Even the great ones Mozart, Beethoven, 
Chopin, Brahms have a little of it in their many pieces so I suppose 
it is ok that JW has it. My favorite soundtrack by him would be 
Schindler's List though which he did win an Oscar for. I think it 
just captured the mood of that film.

But I suppose that when they put Patrick Doyle at the helm for GOF I 
was so intrigued to see if he would be drastically different with 
the 4 film and he was different but there are little pieces which 
are similar here and there. In fact I liked the soundtrack of GOF so 
much that I happily immediately played the soundtrack when I won a 
free copy (it was barely out of the wrapper before it was playing). 
In fact, I actually switch between it and the SS soundtrack when 
working on an intense data analysis project at work.

Anyway, I don't mind if there is a new composer - it will be 
interesting to see what he can do. So far I have liked the music in 
the films - worth a shot to see if I still do.

Theresa