Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]

by John Williams

Overview

Today, this double-LP set seems a quaint anachronism from a generally silly decade, though much of the music -- including the opening fanfare, the music associated with Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Ben Kenobi, and the Death Star motif -- still resonates 30 years later, so iconic has it become. In 1977, however, the Star Wars soundtrack fairly revolutionized the field of contemporary movie music, as well as energizing it like a lightning strike. There had been a few notable original orchestral scores during the '60s and '70s -- Maurice Jarre's soundtrack for Doctor Zhivago sold in the millions, and John Williams' Oscar-winning score for Jaws was also a landmark of sorts, but in the main, the music for movies was getting simpler and the soundtrack albums cheaper and shoddier in design and more disposable by the year. Additionally, the old guard among Hollywood's top orchestral composers was virtually gone by 1976 -- Bernard Herrmann had passed away at the start of the year, Alfred Newman was long gone, as were Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Dimitri Tiomkin was in retirement; only Miklos Rozsa remained active on an intermittent basis, and when his new soundtrack work was issued on LP, it was usually by specialty labels catering to a small audience. Then came Star Wars and its soundtrack by John Williams, two whole LPs of it played by the London Symphony Orchestra, handsomely designed and looking expensive and important, which matched the sound of the music. In one fell swoop, Williams' defiantly retro, late-19th century-style score, written in a mode and idiom that directly recalled Korngold (not to mention Gustav Holst and Richard Wagner, among many other composers from the concert hall), restored the old-fashioned, '40s-style full orchestral score to full vitality. And suddenly, a new generation of fans for such music, some as young as high school age, were seeking out the old soundtracks by Korngold, Steiner, Newman, Herrmann, Rozsa, et al., either in new pressings or new recordings where available or, just as often, in original releases at flea markets, garage sales, and thrift shops. Some of the music hasn't aged as well as one would have hoped, but most of it remains a breath of fresh air, and the best parts of the score still hold up. ~ Bruce Eder

Product Details

Release Date:	12/01/2017
Label:	Walt Disney
UPC:	0050087368197
Rank:	6515

Album Credits

Performance Credits

John Williams   Primary Artist,Conductor
London Symphony Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Maurice Murphy   Trumpet
Irvine Arditti   Violin
Jack Brymer   Clarinet
John Cooper   Bass
John Fletcher   Tuba
Richard Studt   Violin
R. Clark   Violin
J. Brown   Horn
B. Thomas   Violin
Cyril Reuben   Violin
Stephen Wick   Tuba
Michael Mitchell   Viola
Frank Mathison   Trombone
Warwick Hill   Violin,Violin
David Hume   Viola
Alexander Taylor   Viola
William Sumpton   Viola,Viola
Patrick Vermont   Viola,Violin
Neil Watson   Violin,Violin
Peter Norriss   Viola
Francis Saunders   Cello,Cello
Robert Bourton   Bassoon,Bassoon
Samuel Artis   Violin,Violin
Clive Gillinson   Cello
Thomas Cook   Violin
Stanley Castle   Violin,Violin
Eric Crees   Trombone
Izen   Trumpet
Ken Law   Cello
James Quaife   Horn
Brian Mollinson   Bass
David Powrie   Cello
T. Storer   Cello
G. Newson   Bass
Francis Nolan   Flute
Sydney Colter   Violin
R. Taylor   Flute
Eric Cuthbertson   Viola
Dennis Gaines   Violin
A. Taylor   Viola
David Llewellyn   Violin
Roy Jowitt   Clarinet
Jack Steadman   Violin
William Lang   Trumpet
Anthony Camden   Oboe
Geoffrey Creese   Violin
Thomas Swift   Violin
M. Mitchell   Viola
Terry Morton   Violin
Douglas Powrie   Cello
Douglas Cummings   Cello
Pashanko Dimitroff   Bass
Kenneth Law   Cello
Brian Gaulton   Violin
M. Murphy   Trumpet
M. Round   Piano,Celeste
John Marson   Harp
Ray Adams   Cello
Ray Northcott   Percussion
Gerald Newson   Bass
Merrily Webber   Violin
S. Wick   Tuba
Denis Wick   Trombone
Robert Retallick   Violin
J. Rooke   Horn
Lowry Sanders   Flute
Robert Noble   Piano,Celeste
Robin Brightman   Violin
John Butterworth   Horn
Neville Taweel   Violin
N. Taweet   Violin
David Cripps   Horn
Maurice Meulien   Cello
Graham Warren   Horn
John Rooke   Horn
Keith Glossop   Cello
Cyril Reubens   Violin
Arthur Griffiths   Bass
Patrick Hooley   Viola
P. Norriss   Viola
R. Studt   Violin
D. Cummins   Cello
M. Frye   Percussion
P. Francis   Bassoon
Jack Long   Cello
Tim Goedicke   Keyboards
William Krasnik   Viola
G. Neal   Bass
S. Reading   Horn
W. Lang   Trumpet
Renata Scheffel-Stein   Harp
D. Williams   Violin
Ralph Izen   Trumpet
Norman Archibald   Trumpet
W. Brown   Violin
Kurt-Hans Goedicke   Timpani
R. Lord   Oboe
Anthony Chidell   Horn
N. Freeman   Violin
B. Clarke   Viola
D. Hume   Violin
D. Stewart   Violin

Technical Credits

John Williams   Composer
Alfred Newman   Composer
Ken Wannberg   Supervising Music Editor
Eric Tomlinson   Engineer
Lionel Newman   Recording Supervision
Nick Redman   Producer
George Lucas   Producer
Tom Cavanaugh   Project Coordinator
Michael Matessino   Editing,Assembly
Brian Risner   Transfers
Michelle Errante   Product Manager
Daniel Hersch   Digital Editing,Digital Mastering
Sean Evans   Design,Art Direction
Laura Kszan   Editorial Production
Meghan Foley   Design
Charles Lippincott   Liner Notes