War Horse (John Williams)

Final Musings: John Williams has outdone himself with a powerful musical journey that harkens back to the melodious glory of Far and Away. With gorgeous themes and amazing thematic integrity, the maestro impresses on both a technical and emotional level. Although the lack of a dominant theme (despite the score’s strong memorability) may be a deterring factor to some fans, the diversity of the score is just far too great to take that into consideration. The score may not be without flaws, but all thoughts of them are gone by the end of this magical experience. Yet another impressive feat by the great maestro.

Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 children’s novel, War Horse has reached extraordinary heights in terms of popularity in recent years. After the hit play adaption in 2007, Spielberg immediately took the opportunity to make a cinematic experience out of the narrative. The novel is written in the perspective of a horse by the name of Joey. The story follows the tale of the horse that undergoes the traumatic experiences of World War I to return to his owner.  In terms of narrative structure, the novel offers obstacles for a traditional presentation. But the stage production’s adaptation seems to have confirmed Spielberg’s success with his film.

Accompanying the legendary director on this venture is his long time collaborator, the maestro John Williams. It’s interesting to note how this is actually the 25^th collaboration between these two titans of the film industry. Time and time again, Williams has provided the world with scores of exceptional quality. Often abundant in themes, glowing with memorability and enticing in their musical styles, Williams has rarely failed to attest to his status as the best of the film score industry. Unfortunately, with Williams slowly progressing into his semi-retirement phase, fans have been receiving fewer projects from the legend. Especially in the last 6 years in which he only scored Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skulls. However, about a month ago, the man broke the drought with one of his best scores in years for The Adventures of Tintin. The work clearly showed how the maestro continues to provide scores of enormous intellectual depth and exciting action in a world where mundane derivative stylings seems to be the trend. This same spirit crosses over to his score for Spielberg’s latest drama, although with arguably different results. Read the rest of this entry »