John Williams: Hack or Great American Composer?

[JDFP]

I've been youtubing the opening Olympic Ceremonies from about 1980 - Current over the last couple of days. Something that has really stood out to me is the John Williams compositions from the Olympics that he did. I love all his Olympic works ("Summon the Heroes" and "Call of the Champions") but my personal favorite would have to be his version of Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream" -- I think it's absolutely incredible. You can definitely tell when he's not in charge as well, the Moscow Olympics in 1980 had just an incredibly atrocious arrangement during the "Parade of Nations" that just made me wince from the pain of listening to it... Of course, Williams has also done some of the greatest (in my opinion) film compositions ever as well. He's like the American Wagner in so many ways -- absolutely bombast and passionate (in all good ways) within all his work. I personally love his work. However, I have also recognized that a great deal of his work also sounds quite similar to some musical arrangements. For example, the "Imperial March" sounds eerily reminiscent of Holst's "Mars Theme" from "The Planets". I've also seen other people discuss this elsewhere with many of his other pieces. The fact that I'm not even that big on classical music (Aye, I do love me some Wagner though, but Wagner was like the Metallica of Classical music anyway) makes me wonder what else out there could be "eerily similar" to John Williams work. Then again, maybe I'm seeing similiarity without properly understanding the form of music.. Anyway, just some food for thought... j.p.

[kortick]

it may not be what he writes but how he fits music to a particular film or event. the Jaws theme is simple but effective for the movie, and Star Wars theme is grand and expansive like the opening scene. He seems to know how to fit a music to a visual in a way that few others do

[bassman]

I agree with Kortick on this. He may not be the greatest writer(although I think he's pretty damn good) but he's a genious when it comes to find the right mood for the film. I can't even count the amount of times his scores have given me the goosebumps...

[EvilNed]

Not a big fan, really. He's good with themes, but he's crap with filler.

[Danny]

little from colum a, little from colum b, Heard his "improved" version of the works of the legendary nobou uematsu and a few were totally butchered.