On Thursday, September 10, the San Francisco Symphony hosted an evening of live music accompaniment of the 1983 movie Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi. Part of the organization’s Film With Live Orchestra series, this is the second of such concerts in the movie’s franchise since the first one in May, 2024, for Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. A second concert of the same program would take place two days later on September 12.
To many Star Wars fans, The Return Of The Jedi is the least favored entry within the three Trilogies partially for the awkwardness in changing the fundamental relationship between the protagonist Luke Skywalker and heroin Princess Leia, on top of the manner in which the family tie is revealed. There is also the alteration of the original script in making the three-foot, cuddly Ewoks serve as the fierce ally of the Rebellion in lieu of the seven-foot Wookies. All this are completely defensible.
For instance, the movie’s title indicates that the hero is to be triumphant over Vader and his Emperor. To make Skywalker confront his father, the dreaded Darth Vader, the filmmakers had to come up with a reason that would incite our hero to do the unthinkable. Making Leia his newly discovered twin sister and having their father planning to turn her to the dark side serves as the legitimate motive for Luke to fight Vader; and he fought his father not because he hated his deeds and politics, but the dark fate their father intended for his sister. This script also solves the potentially troublesome love triangle between Luke, Han Solo, and the Princess. As for the Ewoks, the Lucasfilm special effects powerhouse Industrial Light & Magic had not yet developed the technologies to put armies of Wookies in a forest war circa 1983. It was much easier to dress up dwarf actors to fight physically. And arguably the special effects of the entire film that continue to impress to this day is the Force Lightning that Emperor Palpatine shot out, especially the bolts that hit Vader’s helmet. These are some of the most un-animation-looking animation. Also curiously, though, even the latter, 1999 re-imaged edition did not properly age Anakin Skywalker to the age of death as he emerged from the netherworld and joined Yoda and Obiwan Kenobi in the post-war celebration. Lucasfilm may yet correct that in another edition.
Despite all that, ROTJ is the penultimate, concluding chapter in the SW Saga, and composer John Williams was at the heights-of-power age of 51 when he composed 117 minutes’ worth of musical accompaniment for the 135-minute film, versus 103 minutes in TESB of 1980, and 94 minutes in the 1977 Star Wars. George Lucas hired Williams per recommendation of Steven Spielberg on the success of his 1976 Jaws, the first summer blockbuster in cinema history, and the composer’s Shostakovich-ish grandeur sans the politically tramatized tinge allowed the music to take center stage, often played to equal measure in volume and energy of the actions on screen. The 1980 Irvin Kershner-directed The Empire Strikes Back managed to retain a good degree of the Lucas vision in music centricity, but Richard Marquand’s ROTJ was more traditional in his methods and often moderated the music into backgrounds in favor of more prominent special effects sounds. In a way, that makes this concert experience the more unforgettable.
And what a beautiful sound it was. To account for the viewability of images projected onto the vast silver screen, lighting over the orchestra was dimmed, leaving the musicians with the reading lamps atop the score stands, and much of the audience’s attention was drawn onto the movie. But as a lifelong SW/Williams fan and an audiophile, I listened to differing editions of the franchise’s soundtracks on their own and in high volume throughout the years and what a treat it was in that evening to be able to immerse myself into the full glory of the Williams composition.
For instance, Williams made repeating use of all legacy SW themes for the movie from the previous two Episodes, such as the Force Theme, “Princess Leia’s Theme”, “Han Solo and The Princess”, “Yoda’s Theme”, and of course, the “Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)”. The new themes of note created for ROJ are “Luke and Leia”, “Parade of the Ewoks”, and of course, “The Emperor’s Theme”! This is the movie where the Sith Emperor took center stage, and his theme is heard throughout the film. In fact, the forebodingness of the theme deepens as we delve deeper into the movie, climaxing in the aforementioned Force Lightning sequence. The full brasses’ consonances from the SFS have always been memorable in classical concerts, and it was here that we get to hear it live and unimpeded for once.
A fully amalgamated suite of themes from Episode IV – A New Hope satiated from the very start as Skywalker and crew’s rescue of Han from the mighty Sarlacc was underway. Again, we don’t get it hear it as clearly in cinemas per the movie director’s vision, but what a performance that was. Even the musicians onstage had to be impressed. And the music kicked into high gear moments after the halfway intermission as the Rebel Fleet was about to come out of lightspeed just as Han planted the explosives inside the shield generator bunker. A disaster for the Rebel Alliance was about to unfold as they fell into the Emperor’s trap, thus ensued “Into The Trap”, one of Williams’ most exhilaratingly urgent and cautionary compositions. In the 1983 original CD release, the piece was a standalone four-minute work, but the 2004 DSD-remastered two-disc compilation with the track titled, “The Battle of Endor I” positioned the composition at the beginning, then leading with no pause right into the next motif, all in the same track. In addition, three additional tracks, namely, “The Lightsaber/The Ewok Battle”, “The Battle of Endor II”, and “The Battle of Endor III” were arranged to follow seamlessly. We got to hear all four tracks live that evening! Never mind the projection overhead, the music was of such ferocity and energy as to qualify as a true classical concert experience and then some.
Williams would go on to compose such swashbuckling music for films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, Jurassic Park and most importantly all three films of the Prequel Trilogy. Wagner would be envious.
If you had to ask, of course I wished for more. For instance, “Lapti Nek”, the original canteen music performed inside the court of Jabba the Hutt was replaced by “Jedi Rock’ in the latter edition so as to create a sequence that emphasized the presence of the character Bobba Fett. But Williams composed “Lapti Nek” in 1983 and it was the disco era, and it was performed considerably faster on film than the one on soundtrack release, and truly more festive. But the sequence was not performed by the SFS and we were relegated to hearing the original film from speakers instead. I had hoped a singer would come on stage to perform one of them live; wouldn’t that be a real blast!
The conductor Anthony Parnther lent interesting, new perspectives on some of the music by emphasizing the tympani and cymbal in some passages, and fleshed out the horn in others. There were also a few instances where he was two seconds too slow after a scene, although he may only be partially responsible as he was led by a prompting screen. After the intermission, to enthusiastic applause, he conducted the Symphony to play a short but sweeping excerpt from TESB before the evening resumed. And he lifted his head not once to look at the movie the whole time. Talk about discipline and professionalism.
All said, anytime a live orchestra performs the 20th Century Fox fanfare that leads into the Star Wars Main Theme is an occasion not to be missed.
On Thursday, September 10, the San Francisco Symphony hosted an evening of live music accompaniment of the 1983 movie Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi. Part of the organization’s Film With Live Orchestra series, this is the second of such concerts in the movie’s franchise since the first one in May, 2024, for Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. A second concert of the same program would take place two days later on September 12.
To many Star Wars fans, The Return Of The Jedi is the least favored entry within the three Trilogies partially for the awkwardness in changing the fundamental relationship between the protagonist Luke Skywalker and heroin Princess Leia, on top of the manner in which the family tie is revealed. There is also the alteration of the original script in making the three-foot, cuddly Ewoks serve as the fierce ally of the Rebellion in lieu of the seven-foot Wookies. All this are completely defensible.
For instance, the movie’s title indicates that the hero is to be triumphant over Vader and his Emperor. To make Skywalker confront his father, the dreaded Darth Vader, the filmmakers had to come up with a reason that would incite our hero to do the unthinkable. Making Leia his newly discovered twin sister and having their father planning to turn her to the dark side serves as the legitimate motive for Luke to fight Vader; and he fought his father not because he hated his deeds and politics, but the dark fate their father intended for his sister. This script also solves the potentially troublesome love triangle between Luke, Han Solo, and the Princess. As for the Ewoks, the Lucasfilm special effects powerhouse Industrial Light & Magic had not yet developed the technologies to put armies of Wookies in a forest war circa 1983. It was much easier to dress up dwarf actors to fight physically. And arguably the special effects of the entire film that continue to impress to this day is the Force Lightning that Emperor Palpatine shot out, especially the bolts that hit Vader’s helmet. These are some of the most un-animation-looking animation. Also curiously, though, even the latter, 1999 re-imaged edition did not properly age Anakin Skywalker to the age of death as he emerged from the netherworld and joined Yoda and Obiwan Kenobi in the post-war celebration. Lucasfilm may yet correct that in another edition.
Despite all that, ROTJ is the penultimate, concluding chapter in the SW Saga, and composer John Williams was at the heights-of-power age of 51 when he composed 117 minutes’ worth of musical accompaniment for the 135-minute film, versus 103 minutes in TESB of 1980, and 94 minutes in the 1977 Star Wars. George Lucas hired Williams per recommendation of Steven Spielberg on the success of his 1976 Jaws, the first summer blockbuster in cinema history, and the composer’s Shostakovich-ish grandeur sans the politically tramatized tinge allowed the music to take center stage, often played to equal measure in volume and energy of the actions on screen. The 1980 Irvin Kershner-directed The Empire Strikes Back managed to retain a good degree of the Lucas vision in music centricity, but Richard Marquand’s ROTJ was more traditional in his methods and often moderated the music into backgrounds in favor of more prominent special effects sounds. In a way, that makes this concert experience the more unforgettable.
And what a beautiful sound it was. To account for the viewability of images projected onto the vast silver screen, lighting over the orchestra was dimmed, leaving the musicians with the reading lamps atop the score stands, and much of the audience’s attention was drawn onto the movie. But as a lifelong SW/Williams fan and an audiophile, I listened to differing editions of the franchise’s soundtracks on their own and in high volume throughout the years and what a treat it was in that evening to be able to immerse myself into the full glory of the Williams composition.
For instance, Williams made repeating use of all legacy SW themes for the movie from the previous two Episodes, such as the Force Theme, “Princess Leia’s Theme”, “Han Solo and The Princess”, “Yoda’s Theme”, and of course, the “Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)”. The new themes of note created for ROJ are “Luke and Leia”, “Parade of the Ewoks”, and of course, “The Emperor’s Theme”! This is the movie where the Sith Emperor took center stage, and his theme is heard throughout the film. In fact, the forebodingness of the theme deepens as we delve deeper into the movie, climaxing in the aforementioned Force Lightning sequence. The full brasses’ consonances from the SFS have always been memorable in classical concerts, and it was here that we get to hear it live and unimpeded for once.
A fully amalgamated suite of themes from Episode IV – A New Hope satiated from the very start as Skywalker and crew’s rescue of Han from the mighty Sarlacc was underway. Again, we don’t get it hear it as clearly in cinemas per the movie director’s vision, but what a performance that was. Even the musicians onstage had to be impressed. And the music kicked into high gear moments after the halfway intermission as the Rebel Fleet was about to come out of lightspeed just as Han planted the explosives inside the shield generator bunker. A disaster for the Rebel Alliance was about to unfold as they fell into the Emperor’s trap, thus ensued “Into The Trap”, one of Williams’ most exhilaratingly urgent and cautionary compositions. In the 1983 original CD release, the piece was a standalone four-minute work, but the 2004 DSD-remastered two-disc compilation with the track titled, “The Battle of Endor I” positioned the composition at the beginning, then leading with no pause right into the next motif, all in the same track. In addition, three additional tracks, namely, “The Lightsaber/The Ewok Battle”, “The Battle of Endor II”, and “The Battle of Endor III” were arranged to follow seamlessly. We got to hear all four tracks live that evening! Never mind the projection overhead, the music was of such ferocity and energy as to qualify as a true classical concert experience and then some.
Williams would go on to compose such swashbuckling music for films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, Jurassic Park and most importantly all three films of the Prequel Trilogy. Wagner would be envious.
If you had to ask, of course I wished for more. For instance, “Lapti Nek”, the original canteen music performed inside the court of Jabba the Hutt was replaced by “Jedi Rock’ in the latter edition so as to create a sequence that emphasized the presence of the character Bobba Fett. But Williams composed “Lapti Nek” in 1983 and it was the disco era, and it was performed considerably faster on film than the one on soundtrack release, and truly more festive. But the sequence was not performed by the SFS and we were relegated to hearing the original film from speakers instead. I had hoped a singer would come on stage to perform one of them live; wouldn’t that be a real blast!
The conductor Anthony Parnther lent interesting, new perspectives on some of the music by emphasizing the tympani and cymbal in some passages, and fleshed out the horn in others. There were also a few instances where he was two seconds too slow after a scene, although he may only be partially responsible as he was led by a prompting screen. After the intermission, to enthusiastic applause, he conducted the Symphony to play a short but sweeping excerpt from TESB before the evening resumed. And he lifted his head not once to look at the movie the whole time. Talk about discipline and professionalism.
All said, anytime a live orchestra performs the 20th Century Fox fanfare that leads into the Star Wars Main Theme is an occasion not to be missed.