Joel McNeely - Star Wars Shadows of the Empire

A Note From The Composer

Star Wars, George Lucas' ladmark space opera, has contributed many elements that are now a part of our cultural lexicon. The significant contributions of John Williams' brillant scores have affected nearly everyone w...ho has experienced these films. For a composer of film musik to enter this domain os to tread on halloweed ground. Therefore rather than tread lightly. I have wandered elsewhere. I have attempted to illuminate a story through music, composed various movements using stylistic material that brought tje scene to my mind. The piece is by design, eclectic. By nature this is a also a highly programmatic work, much the same as a film score. But it is not a film score. Unlike with film music, I have been allowed to let my imagination run free with the images, characters and events from this story. I have also had the luxury to loiter as long as I like with a character or scene. Every passage represents some person, place or event in this story. I created the shape of the piece by setting up the whole structure of the scene in my mind, visualizing he poeple and places and then scoring it, exactly as I would a film. Furthermore, in addition to writing the score, on this one occasion I finally got to fulfill every composer's fantasy and assume the role of director, cinematographer, actor and editor!
Ben Burtt's brillant transcript of the text to Dha Werda Verda helped to shape its form. The epic poem's violent and sometimes romantic images fit perfectly with the musical structure of this piece. I utilized the text in sections, ap...plying the portion most applicable to the scene being scored. However, my tranlations were quite vague, so sometimes the meaning might have gotton a bit skewed.
JOEL MCNEELY

Music composed and conducted by Joel McNeely - excerpt Star Wars Original Themes by John Williams - Choral Text by Ben Burtt - Music orchestrated by David Slonaker & John Bell & Joel McNeely - Music performed by The Royal Scottish National Orchestra & Chorus

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Music

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• Wars
• Shadows
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[TruMalu4Life]

nice pics of the star wars universe