WGA, pt.5: Space Opera Dramatique (Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - John Williams - Soundtrack)

Member Name: berlioz II

Product:	Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - John Williams - Soundtrack
Date:	25/11/06 (355 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The perfect continuation of a popular score with a lot more drama thrown in

Disadvantages: If you never bought into any aspect of the Star Wars saga, then you probably won't like it

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Hello once more, friends! I thank you once again for joining me in my continuing survey into the Golden Age scores of John Williams, now reaching its fifth installment and marking the half-way point of my project. With now having established himself on two fronts, one as the premiere composer of symphonic film scores, and secondly as the first choice of composer for Steven Spielberg (a collaboration that has continued unbroken since 1974’s Sugarland Express), John Williams was at the top of his fame. Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Superman had in a relatively short time made him the most recognisable voice in scoring films. After the stupendous score for Superman in 1978, the following year was decidedly more low-key. Neither 1979 score bears much credence as a particularly memorable effort, with an intermediate re-telling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Frank Langella, Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasence being followed by one of Spielberg’s least successful films – the screwball comedy 1941, featuring an infectuously fun main march, but little else. But these two can easily be forgotten with the composer’s sole offering for 1980.
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When George Lucas announced that the original Star Wars was actually only the fourth episode in a planned series of six (despite the first three having to wait almost two decades to be realised), the fans were given much to anticipate. With that kind of popularity, the fifth episode, The Empire Strikes Back, was an eagerly expected event that more than held up to the expectations. The story continues as the Empire is getting even stronger and all-enpowering with Darth Vader becoming even more dominative and menacing than before, while at the same time Luke continues his training to become a jedi knight by enlisting the help of the old jedi master Yoda and Han and Leia continue to develop the beginning of their romance. The film is much heavier on drama than sci-fi, something that really makes Empire far superior to A New Hope’s more comic-book oriented action and characterisation. There is nothing like a healthy dose of father and son revelations, gaining love and losing it, and deepening the development of the characters to make for some really engrossing watching, despite what you may think of the sci-fi genre. With the threat of the Empire constantly looming overhead, there is no mistaking that this middle entry of the saga is the darkest of the original trilogy

The Empire Strikes Back would have been a very daunting task for any composer to follow from the original Oscar-winning score, and John Williams must have had his hands full. Star Wars, more than any other, demanded more than just a retread and that was exactly what Williams wanted to avoid. So what the composer decided to do was to scale up the dramatic structure of the score, writing some new themes and basically centering the whole work on one of those new themes, while still keeping us anchored in the previous score’s established thematic material. In Star Wars it was Luke’s theme that was the driving force of the film’s music; in Empire it is the Imperial March, or Darth Vader’s theme that dominates the proceedings. The omnipresence of this theme pervades the entire structure of Empire, making slight appearances from the very beginning before establishing itself in force later on and by the end it will remain as the musical emblem of the entire film. The entire march has an evil and menacing atmosphere while at the same time it has such flamboyance, which gives it an almost comic edge. As such, the minor-keyed oppressive pompousness of the music perfectly suits the almost over the top character of Darth Vader and the Empire, much to the effect that Williams later re-used the exact same structure and feel of the theme for the Nazi theme in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to quite a fabulous effect.

The second new major theme is the one for the jedi master Yoda, being the complete opposite for the aggressive Imperial March. It is very calm and benign, the epitome for philosophical wisdom from centuries past, being less impassioned than the Force theme while carrying just as much gravitas to that theme’s basic philosophy. Telling of the popularity of the theme it also made a cameo appearance in E.T. a couple of year later and has gained a little cult following after that. Thirdly there is the love theme for Han Solo and Princess Leia, arguably the best of the romantic themes in the series. Whereas the sole Princess Leia Theme was innocent and restrained, and the later theme for Luke and Leia was a little clunky for Williams’ standards, Han and Leia’s theme works as a mature and full-blooded depiction of blossoming love of wonderfully sweeping romance. In particular, there is no denying the power of the theme when it is used in the scene where Han gets frozen in carbonite, reaching its emotional climax in this movie. Added to these major themes there is also the minor motif for the bountyhunter Boba Fett (a descending two-note bassoon phrase) and a cosmopolitan march for Cloud City and it’s administrator Lando Calrissian.

As with A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back works best when viewed as a whole instead of in bits and pieces. The Empire is a very highly crafted piece of work, the music here again being not simply functional, but telling the story with its use of thematic material, alternating moods and orchestrations without really needing the visuals to accompany the action. The score in itself differs mostly from Star Wars in its constant rhythmic insistence. The action sequences are mostly scored with heavy rhythmic backing (something A New Hope was no endowed with quite so heavily) and there are many marches featured throughout: Lando’s Cloud City march, Boba Fett’s more sinister rhythm and, out of all of these, the Imperial March being the grand culmination of this rhythmic approach. The action sequences are more numerous here than in Star Wars. The extended action pieces in “The Battle of Hoth”, “The Asteroid Field”, “Attacking a Star Destroyer”, “Departure of Boba Fett” and “Rescue from Cloud City/Hyperspace” are all action sequences to die for. The rumbling percussion, lightning fast brass and the constant rhythmic tension combined with the thematic material make all of these action lollipops wonders to behold. In particular “The Battle of Hoth“ is mesmerizing in its constant tension and excitement that is maintained to the very end. However, of all of these, the most popular action sequence must be the legendary “The Asteroid Field” that demands complex scherzo-like virtuosity from all the players, eventually giving way to a grand and soaring brass fanfare not to be heard anywhere else in the score, a wonderful release after all this jumping around.

One of the longest and best sequences of all, however, must be the “Carbon Freeze/Darth Vader’s Trap/Departure of Boba Fett” cue, an epic and vital sequence where Han is frozen and is taken away by Boba Fett. Here the love theme of Han and Leia reaches its highest manifestation ever with the Imperial March appearing in its grimmest and most evil form yet. In this cue Boba Fett’s theme also reaches its fullest manifestation and Yoda’s theme (as Luke tries to free his friends) appears in a very heroic fashion, the complete opposite of the more gentle and philosophical approach the theme had taken previously. Apart from the action cues we also have several quieter moments. The Yoda music can most readily be found from the cues “Luke’s Nocturnal Visitor” (here Yoda’s theme is given a very humorous edge as the jedi master makes his first appearance), “Jedi Master Revealed”, “The Training of a Jedi Knight” and “Yoda and the Force”. Especially the last cue mentioned has a fantastic aural quality as Yoda demonstrates that the size of an object is of no consequence when using the Force.

For the recording sessions, Williams again employed the London Symphony Orchestra with 129 players, 72 of who had also performed in A New Hope. Recording of the work was divided between 18 three-hour sessions at Anvil Studios at Denham and EMI Studios at Abbey Road. As before Williams was assisted by the recording engineer Eric Tomlinson, orchestrator Herbert Spencer, music editor Ken Wannberg and music supervisor Lionel Newman. Recording began right after Christmas 1979, with the film premiering on May 21, 1980. Prior to that the concert versions of the Imperial March and Yoda’s Theme were unveiled on April 29 on the occasion of Williams’ first concert as the new conductor-in-residence of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a position he held until 1993. The film was an instant success though quite surprisingly it didn’t quite match Star Wars in box-office gross. By the end of August the soundtrack had sold one million copies and earned another Oscar nomination for Williams. Though it lost to Michael Gore’s musical Fame (another moment of “what the hell” in Oscar history), there is no dispute that The Empire Strikes Back was one of the best scores of the year (if not the best) and far superior to its predecessor.

The album presentations of this score have much in common with that of the other two in the trilogy. The original album, released on May 16, 1980, five days before the film’s premiere, was a 75-minute double LP. However, with the appearance of CDs, the LP format became obsolete and the soundtrack was re-released in 1985 in CD form. Ironically The Empire Strikes Back was the first Star Wars score released in CD form, a year ahead of either Star Wars or Return of the Jedi had even been committed on disc, but on the whole missed a lot of remarkable music from the film. In 1993 the situation was corrected somewhat with the appearance of the Anthology boxed set, that contained the complete presentation of the original LP’s content as well as some other unreleased cues on a fourth CD that also contained other such pieces from the other two movies. But there still remained a mass of other music missing, including parts of cues like “The Ice Planet Hoth”, “Mynock Cave”, and the important “Carbon Freeze”. Also working against the Anthology was the harder manouverability of the unreleased material put on a separate disc and its mixed arrangement with the other two scores on the CD, causing some discontent among fans, though it did help to fill a void in many people’s collections.

With the appearance of Lucas’ restored and “improved” Special Edition versions of the original trilogy, RCA then took it upon themselves to finally release the entire score to The Empire Strikes Back, with the music presented as it was originally composed for the film, not necessarily how it appeared in the film. This Special Edition release now filled a deep void for many collections by expanding many cues as well as releasing some never before heard cues. One of the most important and fascinating unreleased cues was “The Imperial Probe/Aboard the Executor” track. The original probe sequence in the film went completely unscored while the “Aboard the Executor” scene was tracked over with the concert version of the Imperial March. But what many didn’t know was that Williams had in fact written music for the probe sequence and a vastly better version of the Imperial March for the following scene, which I actually prefer to the one in the film after trying out the scene by tracking the music over the existing scene’s music. Also now we had the complete version of “The Training of a Jedi Knight”, “Carbon Freeze” and also the original and much better “End Title” version that was mysteriously different in the film (I say mysterious because I really don’t remember what that difference was). Complete with in depth liner notes with many colour photos, this was a dream come true for many who had been unsatisfied with the original Anthology.

But as things go out in the Star Wars universe, just when you thought you were safe and finally had the definitive version of The Empire Strikes Back, Sony Classical (the label who released the prequel trilogy soundtracks) bought the rights to the original trilogy’s soundtracks and re-released the complete set all over again. With slightly improved sound, but lacking the better liner notes of the RCA edition, there is really no difference to be found between the two. The “fun” for you will lie in the fact whether you already have the RCA version and think you’ll need the whole thing all over again (at full price), or whether you don’t have that set and want to experience one of the best soundtracks ever written but can't find the RCA version anywhere. Or maybe just to get those holographic covers. Well, for me this new Sony set is completely useless, as the RCA Special Edition already has in my opinion very good sound quality, far superior liner notes, and all in all it is the same music I already have. So for all of you, I’d recommend the RCA black covered version first, with the Sony version if you can't find the 1997 album (which as of now is out of print). All the earlier albums on the other hand are more or less obsolete by this time and can well be forgotten by all.

In conclusion, I would say that I consider The Empire Strikes Back as the best of the Star Wars scores (though this is very much a personal preference). As such I’d say if you only need one Star Wars score, this would be my first recommendation, with the understanding of course that it is basically vital to have all three if you at all enjoy the music in these films. The Sony Classical version is as of now still widely available, and Amazon offers it at the quite reasonable price of £12.99.


TRACK LISTING & OTHER STUFF

Original 1980/1985 album

1. The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme) (3:00)
2. Yoda’s Theme (3:27)
3. The Asteroid Field (4:10)
4. Han Solo and the Princess (3:26)
5. Finale (6:25)
6. Star Wars (Main Title) (5:48)
7. The Training of a Jedi Knight (3:05)
8. Yoda and the Force (4:02)
9. The Duel (4:03)
10. The Battle in the Snow (3:48)


1997 2-CD Special Edition

CD 1
1. 20th Century Fox Fanfare (0:21)
2. Main Title/Ice Planet Hoth** (8:08)
3. The Wampa’s Lair/Vision of Obi-Wan*/Snowspeeders Take Flight (8:48)
4. The Imperial Probe*/Aboard the Executor* (4:24)
5. The Battle of Hoth (14:48)
6. The Asteroid Field (4:15)
7. Arrival on Dagobah** (4:52)
8. Luke’s Nocturnal Visitor (2:35)
9. Han Solo and the Princess (3:26)
10. Jedi Master Revealed/Mynock Cave** (5:44)
11. The Training of a Jedi Knight**/The Magic Tree (5:15)

CD 2
1. Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme) (3:02)
2. Yoda’s Theme (3:29)
3. Attacking a Star Destroyer (3:04)
4. Yoda and the Force (4:02)
5. Imperial Starfleet Employed*/City in the Clouds (6:03)
6. Lando’s Palace (3:53)
7. Betrayal at Bespin* (3:46)
8. Deal with the Dark Lord* (2:36)
9. Carbon Freeze**/Darth Vader’s Trap/Departure of Boba Fett (11:50)
10. The Clash of the Lightsabers (4:17)
11. Rescue from Cloud City/Hyperspace (9:08)
12. The Rebel Fleet/End Title (6:26)

* Previously unreleased
** Includes previously unreleased music

Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams
Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra
Orchestrated by Herbert W. Spencer
Recording Supervisor: Lionel Newman
Recording Engineer: Eric Tomlinson
Recorded at Anvil Studios, Denham, England and
EMI/Abbey Road Studios, London, England
Supervising Music Editor: Kenneth Wannberg
Produced by John Williams
1997 Album Produced by Nick Redman

Polydor, 1980/1985 (825 298-2)
RCA Victor, 1997 (09026 68773 2)
Sony Classical, 2004 (S2K 92951)


© berlioz, 2005, 2006

Summary: Aboard the Executor a Dark Lord presides