Return of the Jedi Themes

*** JOHN WILLIAMS

“Star Wars: Episode I

The Phantom Menace” soundtrack

Sony Classical

Williams was faced with an unusual problem with the music for “Phantom Menace”: how to score a picture that predates the now-famous melodies associated with the original “Star Wars” trilogy. Some--the primary theme--could be used; others--Princess Leia’s theme--could not.

To his credit, he’s come up with a score that, as performed by the London Symphony, the London Voices and the New London Children’s Choir, effectively matches the original music. Although it lacks the original’s sheer melodic invention, it delivers some attractive themes, especially those associated with the characters Anakin and Queen Amidala, and makes striking use of the carry-over melodies.

Somewhere, someday, a graduate student is going to write a dissertation on the influences on Williams’ “Star Wars” scores--from Prokofiev and Ligeti to Bartok and Strauss. But he synthesizes it all in his own unique fashion, and there’s no denying its enormous power as orchestral film music. Nobody does it better. (“Star Wars” fans, however, are warned to avoid reading the album track titles, which refer to specific story points, before seeing the picture.)

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