‘Star Wars’ Scores Go Digital at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch : Music: John Williams leads a hand-picked ensemble of 95 Northern California musicians through a new recording of selections from the blockbuster film trilogy.

The force was definitely with John Williams and George Lucas this week.

Thirteen years after film maker Lucas first pitted Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo against Darth Vader, he invited his favorite movie composer to his sumptuous 3,000-acre Skywalker Ranch in the rolling hills of Marin County for a two-day “Star Wars” taping session.

Williams, about to enter his 11th year as conductor of the Boston Pops, briskly and congenially led a hand-picked ensemble of 95 Northern California musicians through the recording of 13 selections from the blockbuster film trilogy.

The resulting compact disc, the first digital recording of “Star Wars” tracks, is scheduled to be released by Sony Classical Productions this fall.

For Williams, 58, less press-shy than the reclusive Lucas, the project is particularly poignant. The original “Star Wars” sound track, recorded in 1977 at the defunct Denham Studios’ Anvil scoring stage near London, won the composer one of his four Oscars.

According to Williams, it was when Lucas learned that the British studio would be torn down that he got the idea to build his own world-class facility, over the objections of underlings who deemed it too ambitious and expensive.

Untold millions of dollars later, Williams and the Skywalker Symphony, as the collection of free-lance musicians is called, reaped the benefits Monday and Tuesday as the sounds of “Princess Leia’s Theme” and other melodies reverberated through the 30-foot-high room.

“It’s a treat to see George’s dream be realized,” Williams said during a lunch break, pointing out the state-of-the-art “mixing” console and the studio’s undulating mauve walls and ceiling, where panels can be shifted to change the acoustics.

Indeed, the gaggle of performers, engineers and production people imported for the session agreed that Lucas, a legendary big thinker, and the studio’s designer, Tomlinson Holman (also the developer of the THX “The Audience Is Listening” movie-theater sound system), had outdone themselves.

“This is no doubt one of the finest studios in the world,” said Mark Genfan, an engineer with Sony Classical Productions in New York. Even so, Sony brought in its own sophisticated recording equipment, including a machine that records 48 separate tracks on a half-inch tape.

At midday, producer Thomas Z. Shepard said with a disappointed sigh that the project would wrap up by late afternoon, absolutely on schedule and too speedily to suit him.

“I’d like to stay here a month,” said Shepard, who flew in from New York and was one of the lucky ones staying on the premises. “I’ve never yearned for inefficiency so much.”

Skywalker Ranch, headquarters of Lucasfilm Ltd., covers nearly 3,000 of Lucas’ 4,700 bucolic acres, of which 95% has been permanently dedicated to open space.

The main offices are in what appears to be a large white Victorian mansion, with big front porch, gingerbread trim, leaded glass doors and redwood paneling. Although the place looks fit for a king, no one lives full-time on the ranch. But during the day, the ranch is home to about 150 employees who work in post-production, licensing and other of Lucas’ busy divisions.

The 2-year-old recording studio--which has been used by such diverse performers as Bobby McFerrin, Huey Lewis & the News, the Grateful Dead and the American Baroque Ensemble--is housed down the road in the brick and wood Tech Building. It was built to look like a winery, complete with fledgling vineyard, and faces an artificial lake where ducks and egrets splash. Lucas installed the lake for fire protection; the ranch has its own firefighting squad and two shiny red firetrucks.

Lucas has scattered throughout the buildings an impressive collection of French movie posters, paintings by such artists as Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish and memorabilia from his movies, including a model of Yoda, the wise Jedi master who taught Luke Skywalker how to use “the force” to advantage.

The “Star Wars” taping was a reunion for the Skywalker Symphony, which was first assembled from various Bay Area groups for Linda Ronstadt’s Grammy Award-winning album “Cry Like a Rainstorm--Howl Like the Wind.”

Williams, who lives with his wife, Samantha, in Westwood when he is not touring with the Boston Pops, said he was impressed with the orchestra’s skill. “We’re rehearsing on the spot,” said the composer, dressed casually in black pullover, gray slacks and running shoes. “It’s going very well.”

In addition to “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” Williams and Lucas have worked together on the “Indiana Jones” trilogy directed by Steven Spielberg, another longtime Williams associate (“Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T.”).

Lucas was executive producer of last year’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” for which Williams’ music has been nominated for an Oscar. (The prolific Williams, who spends about three months on each score, is also up for an Academy Award Monday for “Born on the Fourth of July.”)

Times researcher Norma Kaufman contributed to this story.