Music Album Review: 'The Empire Strikes Back: Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score'

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Artwork by William Stout. (C) 1980, 1992 Varese Sarabande Records and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)
On May 21, 1980, Varese Sarabande – a record label that specializes in movie/television soundtracks and classical music – dropped the long-play (LP) record and cassette versions of The Empire Strikes Back: Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score. This album presented selections of composer John Williams’ music for Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, which had premiered in theaters just two days before. Performed by The National Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Charles Gerhardt, the one-disc record was intended to supplement – not compete with – the “official” two-record soundtrack released one month earlier by RSO Records.

12 years later, on May 26, 1992, Varese Sarabande re-issued The Empire Strikes Back: Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score as a digitally-remastered compact disc (VSD 5353). Like its vinyl “parent,” the CD version had 13 tracks – one was Alfred Newman’s 20-second long 20th Century Fox Fanfare; the other 12 were selections of Williams’ music for Empire.



Track List

  1.  20th Century Fox Fanfare (Newman) (:20)
  2. Main Title, The Imperial Probe (5:46)
  3. Luke's First Crash (2:29)
  4. Hans Solo and the Princess (4:26)
  5. The Asteroid Field (4:12)
  6. The Training of a Jedi Knight (1:55)
  7. The Battle in the Snow (3:02)
  8. The Imperial March (3:20)
  9. The Magic Tree (3:37)
  10. Yoda's Theme (3:33)
  11. The Rebels Escape Again (3:01)
  12. Lando's Palace, The Duel (Through the Window) (5:02)
  13. Finale (4:35)


Here's one track from the album, courtesy of YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SV1EHsaSz0

The CD packaging’s front cover features an imaginative illustration by artist William Stout which shows a heroic Luke Skywalker, a tauntaun, and – improbably – a flight of twin-pod cloud cars like the ones seen patrolling the skies around Cloud City on Bespin. The back cover comes with a photo of a then 49-year-old Williams in his studio, a note from the composer, the track list, and the usual production credit list that includes such familiar names as producer George Korngold (son of composer Erich Korngold, one of Williams’ musical heroes and writer of many famous Golden Age of Hollywood scores, such as the music for 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood), Robert Townson, and Varese Sarabande producer/executive Tom Null.


My Take
I purchased this CD release sometime in the 1990s – so long ago that I don’t remember exactly when. At the time, the only CD with music that I owned was the inferior 1985 Polydor reissue of the Empire soundtrack based on the 10-track LP album released in Great Britain by disco label RSO.  As I’ve said elsewhere about that “supersaver” release, I listened to it because for a while it was the only recording of John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra on CD until 1993. So, when I found  The Empire Strikes Back: Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score as a compact disc release, I was ecstatic.
In essence, this 13-track album consists of the Concert Suite from The Empire Strikes Back (The Imperial March, Han Solo and the Princess, Yoda's Theme, and The Asteroid Field), supplemented by several other cues from the film score, including Alfred Newman's Fox Fanfare, plus Maestro Williams’ Main Title/The Imperial Probe, and Training of a Jedi Knight.
To avoid repetition of familiar material, composer John Williams, conductor Charles Gerhardt, and producer George Korngold present some of the compositions with different arrangements. The Imperial March, for instance, leads off with material used while Han Solo is being frozen in carbonite. The new intro adds menace and malice to the already dark and jeering theme for Darth Vader.
My favorite twist is the rendition of the love theme (Han Solo and the Princess). It is presented here with new orchestrations and no sudden cut to Vader's theme as in the film soundtrack. As it goes through the theme and variations cycle, little quotes of Princess Leia's Theme from the first film appear, first subtly by plucked harp strings, then more boldly by the violin and wind sections.
Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic do a magnificent job on this amazing film score. Williams fans should run, not walk, to get this recording.

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