Comments on: On John Williams’ 85th Birthday, We Look At His 10 Most Iconic Soundtracks

By: Emma Nicholson

Emma Nicholson — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 20:18:42 +0000

In reply to Charles Clarke. I do agree that for Close Encounters he wrote some of his most eerie and engaging music, but for this list it came down to a question of longevity. Home Alone is a questionable addition, but it made it because of it's familiarity for so many people and its transcendence of generations. By comparison, it could be said that Close Encounters has turned into something of a cult classic. I could have kept going to 25 with this list and I enjoyed looking back at the classics very much!

By: Charles Clarke

Charles Clarke — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 20:08:11 +0000

For my money, the fugue from Close Encounters, a musical conversation between humans and an alien species, is the best thing Mr. Williams has written. And yet, it doesn’t even make the top ten. There’s no accounting for taste!

By: ed

ed — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 07:35:01 +0000

I think the STAR WARS score owe more to Hadyn, shot through with Wagnerian leitmotifs… and John Williams’ music for 1941 is his first take for the later RAIDERS music. The jaunty, madcap score for this earlier Spielberg just became more “pulpy” for those films, but it’s the musical mirror to it.

Interesting list. Personally, I’d rank his CLOSE ENCOUNTERS as a representative Williams, just touching the sentimentality of later Spielbergs, IMO. His score for STAR WARS made me get into soundtracks AND Orchestral music when I listened to it as a kid— nothing made me ‘decipher’ Classical Music as Williams’ motifs that fit perfectly as Symhonic Allegro – Adagio – Scherzo – Allegro/Andante of “Main Title” – “Princess Leia’s Theme” – “The Little People” – “Throne Room/ Main Title Reprise”: Classical WAS understandable!

True, his music isn’t as ‘chunky’, memorable in recognizable motifs to catch the ears, as his late ’70s/’80s heyday works— but he’s still scoring films today with that more ‘mature’ sound. As I’ve always analogised: some people prefer “Symphony No. 9 ” over the “Eroica”….

Happy Birthday, Mr. Williams!