I’m not a great fan of Lloyd Webber’s. He doesn’t need me to be a fan. Believe me. John Williams is without question talented. He writes very good scores and very good melodies and all that. But, no, of the others … You know, when I hear Titanic – James Horner – which was a huge hit, it’s the same 16 bars played 185 times. It’s not interesting.
-André Previn
I read it here.
John Williams is every bit as much of a plagiarist as the others! He has borrowed heavily from Holst and Prokofiev, among others. Perhaps he hasn’t made as much money as Lloyd Webber?
There was a spot in the recent SSV performance of Prokofiev’s “Romeo & Juliet” which sounded EXACTLY like John Williams had used it in Star Wars.
I was talking to an orchestrator once (he has done Sondheim, among others) and he actually defended Williams. He said film guys take a CD of, say, Prokofiev to a film composer and say, “Make it sound just like this!” So I do realize they are in a bit of a quandary. Still, there’s one spot in a Star Wars movie (one of the recent debacles) where the music is quite identical — and I mean identical — to a Philip Glass piece. It was pretty amazing that he wasn’t called on that one!