Saving Private Ryan: John Williams’ Original Score to the Movie, in 11 Movements, and John Williams on Scoring Saving Private Ryan (Videos)

 

 

[Of related interest, at WEJB/NSU:

“D-Day, Sixth of June: The 72nd Anniversary of the World's Largest Amphibious Invasion (The Ultimate Web Presentation, with Articles, and Scores of Photographs and Maps).”]
 

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

May 30, 2011, 5:30 a.m.
 
Saving Private Ryan Soundtrack composed by John Williams, performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Somber music for a somber movie.

John Williams is God’s gift to the movies.

When Aaron Copland (1900-1990) composed music for a movie, he would not only write stunning music, but lots of it, so that a picture like The Red Pony might contain over a solid hour of music, very little of it repeat themes. He took twice as long writing a score as the typical composer, and he demanded and got a much higher fee—and he earned every bit of it. The opening theme alone to The Red Pony is so stunning that when my 10-year-old son and I saw the picture for the first time last summer, and the opening credits cited Copland, my son said, without prompting, “Thank you, Aaron.”

Although there is a fair amount of repetition in this score, it still blows me away how many great individual themes John Williams wrote for one picture, and how powerful they are, not just the requiem. We Stix men feel the same way about seeing John Williams’ name in the credits as we do about Aaron Copland.
 

With heartfelt thanks to Ellijah De Leon, who uploaded all of what follows.
 

01 Hymn to the Fallen
 


 

02 Revisiting Normandy
 


 

03 Omaha Beach
 


 

04 Finding Private Ryan
 


 

05 Approaching the Enemy
 


 

06 Defense Preparations
 


 

07 Wade's Death
 


 

08A High School Teacher
 


 

08B High School Teacher
 


 

09 The Last Battle
 


 

10 Hymn to the Fallen (Reprise)
 


 

John Williams on Scoring Saving Private Ryan

 



Uploaded on Aug 21, 2007 by Farma2006.