Album Review: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

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On December 18, 2015, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures released Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh live-action film in the long-running series created by George Lucas and the first of three films that comprise the Sequel Trilogy.

This first Star Wars movie since 2005's Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, and Oscar Isaac, The Force Awakens is set 30 years after the events depicted in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The film was a huge success at the box office (earning $2.068 billion world-wide, which makes The Force Awakens the third biggest earner in movie history) and introduced a new set of heroes (the Resistance) and villains (the First Order) locked in the conflict between good and evil in a galaxy far, far away.

On the same day that The Force Awakens premiered in wide theatrical release, Walt Disney Records also dropped Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack in a one-CD digipack and digital download. Featuring music composed by John Williams and conducted by Williams, William Ross, and Gustavo Dudamel, the album presents several new themes composed for director J.J. Abrams' first foray into Star Wars lore, as well as some of the familiar ones used in Lucas's original movies. 

(C) 2015 Lucasfilm Ltd. and Walt Disney Records

The album has a running time of 1:17:08, which is considerably shorter than the film's two hours and 15 minutes total runtime. Like most Star Wars soundtracks (except for the RCA Victor/Sony Classical 2-CD albums for A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi), Star Wars: The Force Awakens is more of a "best of" collection of selected themes and action cues than it is a comprehensive presentation of Maestro Williams' complete score for Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens. 

Still, even a 23-track collection of The Force Awakens' greatest hits makes for a good listening experience, even for those of us John Williams fans who are "spoiled" by the deluxe treatment given to the Original Trilogy's scores in the past.

Because most of the tracks are presented out of sequence in relation to the film, I'm not going to review each of the 23 cues in great detail. I will, however, share my thoughts about the new major themes that Williams introduces in The Force Awakens, as well as some remarks about how they fit into Star Wars' musical canon and some interesting behind-the-scenes stuff that casual listeners may not know about this album.

Star Wars, of course, is a continuing story saga inspired by the action-adventure serials of the 1930s and '40s. Thus, The Force Awakens begins with Williams' iconic Star Wars Main Title theme. This segues at about the 2:30 mark into The Attack on the Jakku Village, a cue dominated by brass and percussion-heavy battle music that incorporates a new ominous theme for Kylo Ren, the First Order's version (in more ways than one) of Darth Vader. 

Williams introduces The Force Awakens' new protagonist, Rey, musically in The Scavenger, the first track which includes the leitmotif for the character played by Daisy Ridley. It's delicate-yet-resilient sensibility perfectly matches Rey's onscreen persona in the same way that Williams' Star Wars theme reflects the heroic, noble character of the Original Trilogy's central figure, Luke Skywalker.

Williams interpolates the motif into several other action cues (Rey Meets BB-8, That Girl With the Staff). He also, wearing his album producer's hat, presents it on the album in a concert edition as Rey's Theme (which you can hear on the YouTube audio-only clip at the top of the page). 


Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set after the Rebel Alliance's victory over the Empire, so most of its heroes belong to the Resistance, an armed force led by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) that is trying to save the galaxy from the First Order, an entity led by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and die-hard adherents to the former Empire's totalitarian regime.

Williams has composed a rousing motif, March of the Resistance, a brilliantly brassy and bold theme that underscores the derring-do of ace X-wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), the cocky young man sent by Leia to search for her missing brother, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). You can hear the March of the Resistance in the YouTube audio-only clip provided above.)

Other new themes that will recur in Star Wars: The Last Jedi are Snoke's Theme and the motif for Ach-To Island, the site of the legendary first Jedi Temple seen at the end of the movie.

Since the Sequel Ttilogy follows after the events of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, Williams weaves some of the Original Trilogy's familiar themes into the musical tapestry of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. These include snippets of Han Solo and the Princess and Princess Leia's Theme. And because Williams used them in the previous six Star Wars scores, the Rebel Fanfare, the Star Wars main theme, and The Force theme are sprinkled here and there throughout the film and presented boldly in Jedi Steps and  Finale. (Audio-only clip below)


Though the presentation of the score and the overall style and sound are essentially the same as in Willliams' previous soundtrack albums, Star Wars: The Force Awakens differs from its forebears in at least two major areas.

First, note that the album cover credit says Music by John Williams.

"What," I hear you saying, Dear Reader, "does that matter?"

In previous soundtrack albums, the credit has always read Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams. Now, it's just Music by John Williams.

Why? Because although Maestro Williams did all of the composing, he didn't do all of the conducting.

See, the Jedi Master of Star Wars music was 83 when he worked on the score of The Force Awakens, and, as it happens, he had health issues that interfered with his ability to go to the recording studio and do the conducting. As a result, William Ross (a noted film composer and conductor in his own right) led most of the recording sessions. Williams did conduct the rest, with the notable exceptions of the Main Title and the Finale.

Those two iconic tracks were recorded under the baton of Williams' good friend Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan conductor who is music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dudamel has long admired Maestro Williams' vast catalog of film scores and classical composition; for his part, Maestro Williams has had a long-standing connection with that ensemble since the days when it was led by Zubin Mehta.

Second, note that the credits no longer read Performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.   


Since 1977, John Williams has teamed up with the London Symphony Orchestra and its associated choir for many of his signature scores, including the first six Star Wars films. Naturally, in order to record with the LSO at Abbey Road Studios one must travel to London and stay there for several days until the recording sessions are complete. 

 Apparently, this was the original concept, but Williams' health issues prevented him from flying from Los Angeles to England (a long and tiring flight for the average adult, even more so for a man in his 80s). This necessitated the use of a local orchestra, as well as the services of Maestros Ross and Dudamel. 

 For fans of the Williams/LSO team, this was a bit of a disappointment, but the orchestra that performs the music for Star Wars: The Force Awakens consists of talented and dedicated musicians who perform just as well as any of the elite orchestras that Williams has worked with in the past. 

 All in all, even though I wish Walt Disney Records would release a more comprehensive 2-CD set with Williams' complete score, Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is an enjoyable recording. It is a masterful blend of old themes and new compositions that have, in the two years since its release, become part of Star Wars' musical canon. Truly, it's the stuff that dreams are made of.  


Track List
1. Main Title and The Attack on the Jakku Village
2. The Scavenger
3. I Can Fly Anything
4. Rey Meets BB-8
5. Follow Me
6. Rey’s Theme
7. The Falcon
8. That Girl with the Staff
9. The Rathtars!
10. Finn’s Confession
11. Maz’s Counsel
12. The Starkiller
13. Kylo Ren Arrives at the Battle
14. The Abduction
15. Han and Leia
16. March of the Resistance
17. Snoke
18. On the Inside
19. Torn Apart
20. The Ways of the Force
21. Scherzo for X-Wings
22. Farewell and  The Trip
23. The Jedi Steps and Finale

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