Re: OT: Musical languistics

--- James Worlton <jamesworlton@...> wrote:
> --- Adam Walker <carrajena@...> wrote:
> >
> > Williams is probably my second favorite 20th c.
> > composer.  Another example of good movie music was
> > that composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su for
> > The
> > Last Emperor.  It did a good job of translating
> > Chinese musical traditions into a Western
> symphonic
> > form that would be suitable for the movie and its
> > audience by bridging the gap between two disperate
> > traditions.
>
> Hate to break it to you, but Williams is a hack, and
> is not considered to be a composer in the tradition
> of
> Mozart, Beethoven, et al. Most of what he writes was
> written first (and better) by earlier composers.
> (Listen to Gustav Holst's _The Planets_ and tell me
> that Williams didn't base his entire Star Wars music
> on it.)
>
> =====
> James Worlton
I have listend to The Planets.  Great music just like
great litereature constantly draws on what has been
done before.  Shakespere drew on gazilions of sources.
 Even copied whole plots, but who even remembers the
works he "stole" from.  what he did with the raw
material is so much more.  I'm not going to say
whether Holst or Williams is "greater" but I will say
Holst mostly sits in his dusty little cd case while
Williams get played again and again.  Also Star Wars
is only a drop in William's bucket.

adam

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