Episode 15: The Force Awakens - Part 1

Art of the Score

In Episode 15, we return to the galaxy far, far away and take a look at how the musical landscape of Star Wars changed between the almost 40 years between A New Hope and The Force Awakens. In the first of a two part episode we look at Rey’s Theme, Kylo Ren’s motifs, and The March (or is that the fugue?) of the Resistance. Recorded last year in eager anticipation of The Last Jedi, we’re finally getting this episode to you just in time for its release on Blu-Rey (see what we did there?), so sit back and enjoy our return to perhaps John Williams’ greatest musical franchise. Episode notes: 0:00 – A disclaimer (and possibly an apology!) 5:15 – Dan is writing a book about Star Wars 7:51 – The weight of expectation for The Force Awakens 10:00 – The legacy film 16:30 – The return of little-known composer John Williams 17:35 – Rey’s theme 22:40 – Rey’s riff 26:32 – Rey eats her lunch, on solo flute 30:41 – Rey’s abduction 33:11 – Rey’s impassioned bridge 36:15 – Comparison to other John Williams work: Potter and The Terminal 44:35 – Williams bringing Rey and The Force together in the end credits 46:40 – Rey’s theme – the dance remix 49:10 – Musically, Rey is a Jawa 50:33 – Kylo Ren’s theme 55:50 – The Kylo Ren B motif – the call of the dark side 1:00:00 – Ren and the Imperial March 1:01:45 – The March of the Resistance 1:04:51 – The March or the Fugue? 1:10:00 – Poe’s theme 1:16:39 – Finn’s rhythmic motif 1:19:00 – The mixed-meter Falcon theme 1:28:10 – John Williams as the bloodline of Star Wars 1:29:34 - …and more to come in Part Two! We love to hear from our listeners – get in touch via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and if you like The Art of the Score, please take a moment to subscribe, rate and comment.