On orchestrations and overtures

George Lucas said, "Music is the magic dust of movies."

If you're like me, you missed the TNT broadcast the other night of the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award honoring John Williams. Fortunately, I knew I wouldn't be able watch it live so I watched it today on the DVR.

As I watched, my recurrent thought was, "Who's going to take his place when he's gone?" But then I kept thinking, "Who came before him?"

At the end, when Williams gave his acceptance speech, he shared a story about Steven Spielberg and the first time Spielberg showed him Schindler's List. Williams recounted how much the movie, without music, had impacted him and how he had to go outside to gather his emotions. When he came back, he told Spielberg that this movie needed a better composer. Spielberg replied, "I know but they're all dead."

I realized at that moment how fortunate we all are to be living at this time. Sure, it would have been amazing to live in the age of the greats like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart. It's like composers grew on trees up until about 150 years ago but then the industrial revolution came along and the Renaissance died.

At least the music hasn't died. We might only have one great composer in our time but he's left his mark on our culture. It was overwhelming hearing them roll through the clips of so many familiar themes... E.T., Jaws, Superman, Close Encounters, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Star Wars. It's just incredible to think one man could create so many different sounds that are recognizable the instant we hear them.

Of course, the one that's probably the most recognizable in the world is timeless and it's my personal favorite, Williams's 1984 composition, Olympic Fanfare and Theme.