John Williams - War of the Worlds
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CD Details
Artist: John WilliamsEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language); German (Unknown)
Format: Soundtrack
CD Release Date: 2005-06-28
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
- Prologue (Narration: Morgan Freeman)
- The Ferry Scene
- Reaching The Country
- The Intersection Scene
- Ray And Rachel
- Escape From The City
- Probing The Basement
- Refugee Status
- The Attack On The Car
- The Separation Of The Family
- The Confrontation With Ogilvy
- The Return To Boston
- Escape From The Basket
- The Reunion (Narration: Morgan Freeman)
- Epilogue
Music reviews of War of the Worlds
Music Review: Williams needs to revisit earlier successes!
Rating: 3 Stars
John Williams, like his contemporary, the late Jerry Goldsmith, is responsible for some of filmdom's more memorable scores ("Jaws," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Star Wars," "Superman-The Movie," the first three "Harry Potter" films, and so many others). Just the mention of the composer's name brings smiles to the movie fans worldwide and his album sales and critical acclaim attest to his popularity.
Williams's three-decade association with Steven Spielberg has produced some of the aforementioned as well as other scores that have been the best collaborations between director and composer since the days of Hitchcock and legendary Bernard Herrmann.
While John Williams has made beautiful and awe-inspiring music for Spielberg productions in the past, he's had a couple of subpar (for Williams) compositions; and, sadly, "War of the Worlds" falls into this category.
The measure of a movie score lies in its ability to stand alone apart from the film for which it was composed. This particular work needs the movie's images and action to support its lack of listenability. Like the earlier "Minority Report," the music to Spielberg's adaptation of the Wells' classic does not feature any distinct melodies, little drama, or even thrills that are necessary to tell a story about malevolent aliens attempting to wipe out mankind.
It's as if the composer took the term "incidental music" to heart and just provided little more than something in the background.
Maybe he was attempting to be subtle, but the story deserved something a bit more dynamic and frightening.
We, his fans, all know that he is more than capable to come up to the plate.
Perhaps, on his next pairing with Steven...
Description of War of the Worlds
John Williams continues his longtime collaboration with Steven Spielberg in this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel of the same name (previously filmed in 1953). Considering that the movie depicts a gigantic Martian invasion, you'd think Williams would have fully gone into his familiar bombastic mode, but he's refrained from doing so. While the composer makes full use of the outsize orchestra at his disposal, he prefers juxtaposing layers and building atmosphere rather than hitting you over the head with dramatic arias. "The Intersection Scene," for instance, begins slowly and minimally, then progressively builds into an ominous pounding; Williams then inserts spooky, otherworldly banshee-like effects that escalate into a frenzied pitch before abruptly disappearing as the track begins its descent back towards calm. The sound is genuinely scary and could lead to a spike in blood pressure among impressionable listeners without the help of visuals. "Probing the Basement" is another example of Williams masterfully building anxiety. War of the Worlds culminates with "Escape from the Basket," in which Williams methodically builds tension over close to ten minutes. And refreshingly, even when the action picks up, he mostly avoids the clich?d thundering timpani that often plague this type of score. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
More War of the Worlds
 Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds Box Set SACD |  The Very Best of Orson Welles (Including War of the Worlds) |  H.G. Wells and The War of the Worlds - A Documentary on DVD |
 H G Wells' the War of the Worlds on DVD |  The Complete War of The Worlds |  War of the Worlds : Fresh Perspectives on the H. G. Wells Classic |
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