Music Album Review: 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'

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More than 40 years ago, George Lucas introduced to the world his singular imagination, ingenuity, and creative genius. He also gave me an opportunity never before given to an operatic or film composer...the chance to work continually on a single project, and with each film, to add to a collection of musical themes which I hope will be seen as parts of a singular whole. 

 This experience has been one of the highlights of my professional life, bringing me so much joy in working with some of the world's greatest orchestras and musicians. I stand before the now completed nine Star Wars films with pride and gratitude for the gift of this extraordinary journey. - John Williams, in the liner notes for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

 On December 20, 2019, Walt Disney Records published Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a one-disc recording featuring the musical score for the ninth and final film of the Skywalker Saga.

 Produced by Academy Award-winning composer/conductor John Williams, the album consists of 19 tracks featuring Maestro Williams' Romantic-era styled score for director J.J. Abrams' Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, the third and final film in the Sequel Trilogy that includes Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Performed by a Los Angeles-based studio orchestra (it's not named in the album's liner notes) and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the score - like the film it was composed for - is a summation of the three-trilogy cycle that began nearly 43 years ago with George Lucas's original Star Wars film.
Like most of the Star Wars soundtracks (the only exceptions being the 1997 Special Edition soundtracks released in tandem with the 20th Anniversary version of the original Star Wars Trilogy and 2000's Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace - The Ultimate Edition), this offering from Walt Disney Records is a traditional "best hits from the score" soundtrack album that presents 19 selections of music with a total running time of 76 minutes.

Tracklist:

  1. Fanfare and Prologue - 4:34
  2. Journey to Exegol - 2:49
  3. The Rise of Skywalker - 4:18
  4. The Old Death Star - 3:16
  5. The Speeder Chase - 3:21
  6. Destiny of a Jedi - 5:12
  7. Anthem of Evil - 3:23
  8. Fleeing from Kijimi - 2:51
  9. We Go Together - 3:17
  10. Join Me - 3:42
  11. They Will Come - 2:50
  12. The Final Saber Duel - 3:57
  13. Battle of the Resistance - 2:51
  14. Approaching the Throne - 4:16
  15. The Force Is with You - 3:59
  16. Farewell - 5:14
  17. Reunion - 4:05
  18. A New Home - 1:47
  19. Finale - 10:51
My Take

Once again, John has come up with an utterly stunning soundtrack, creating brand new, gorgeous, frightening, mysterious, epic and intimate themes while also revisiting some of his greatest, classic melodies. To hear "The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)" again, reworked, or "Yoda's Theme," or the Emperor's Theme, is a true joy. But to listen to John's new themes ﹘ "We Go Together," or the Knights of Ren theme, or "Anthem of Evil" – is to have unnecessary, further proof that this wonderfully glorious gentleman is apparently, impossibly, endlessly capable of writing timeless, unexpected but somehow inevitable music. 

My gratitude toward John Williams cannot be overstated ﹘ not just for elevating every scene in this film, but for providing us all with soundtracks that elevate our lives. – J.J. Abrams, in the liner notes for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Back in March of 1978, I received the 2-LP album of the original soundtrack from Star Wars for my 15th birthday. Since that long-ago occasion almost 42 years ago, I've bought many Star Wars soundtrack albums, including every reissue of the Original Trilogy scores, both abridged and complete, on LP, eight-track tape, audiocassette, compact disc, and even digital formats

Of course, the passage of time, the South Florida heat, wear-and-tear, and the death of at least one format means that all of my Star Wars records come in compact discs; the digital copies I own were bonuses of being an Amazon Prime member (or an Amazon customer in general). Occasionally, when I buy a CD via Amazon, I get a free "Autorip" digital edition. I didn't get that benefit when I purchased the first two Prequel Trilogy albums back in 1999 and 2002, but I've acquired free digital copies of the Revenge of the Sith album, as well as the 2007 Music of Star Wars box set released by Sony Classical for the 30th Anniversary of George Lucas's original 1977 film, Michael Giacchino's 2016 score for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, John Powell  & John Williams' Solo: A Star Wars Story, and, of course, the soundtracks to the first two Prequel Trilogy films, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. 

 Considering my affinity for Maestro Williams' music, it should surprise no one that I acquired the soundtrack album for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as soon as I could. The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm's insistence on secrecy over the plot of Star Wars - Episode IX and its two precursors meant that the soundtrack album was not released prior to the films' premiere date, as was the tradition with most of the previous Star Wars soundtracks during the George Lucas.

This is because even though the tracks are not presented in the order in which they appear, the musical themes or just their track names provide spoilers. Some of the secrecy was unnecessary; fans who either went to the 2019 Celebration event last summer or have access to the Internet already knew that actor Ian McDiarmid's inclusion in the cast meant that Emperor Palpatine had somehow returned from the dead, and careful inspection of the trailers clearly showed Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) and Daisy Ridley (Rey) dueling on what looked like a piece of the second Death Star on a watery world near Endor.

But with titles such as The Old Death Star and Approaching the Throne, as well as Maestro Williams' reprise of Emperor Palpatine's ominous theme (played in an eerie minor key, of course), the Imperial March, and Yoda's Theme might give listeners too many hints of what the film had in store for the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga. As a result, album producer Williams and Mitchell Lieb, the head of Walt Disney Studios' music and soundtracks division, decided to release Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on December 20, 2019.

As is the case with most Star Wars soundtrack albums, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack does not present the entire score for the 141-minute film. At 76 minutes' worth of playing time, the album contains slightly over half of Maestro Williams' musical material for J.J. Abrams' second Star Wars film.

Since Star Wars - Episode IX is the finale of the Skywalker Saga, many of Williams' familiar themes from the Original and Sequel Trilogies return. Leading the way, of course, is the iconic Star Wars main theme that appears in all nine Episodes and is musically linked to Luke Skywalker. It is joined by the themes for the Force, Princess (now General) Leia, Yoda, Rey, Kylo Ren, the Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme), and the March of the Resistance.

Joining these classic themes in repertoire of music from the space-fantasy saga set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" are new original pieces, such as the darkly thrilling Journey to Exegol, which accompanies Kylo Ren's quest to find the phantom Emperor Palpatine early in the film. In contrast, Maestro Williams offers a quiet but resolute piece titled We Go Together, a lovely theme that is heard several times in the film but represents the relationship Rey has with the Resistance, the Force, and the Jedi Order. And the Dark Side of the Force gets a new, fittingly dark and unambiguously titled piece called Anthem of Evil. 

 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is not only the capstone of the Sequel Trilogy soundtracks, but it is Maestro Williams' final contribution to the Star Wars film series. Lucasfilm and its corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company, have made it clear that although there will be more films set in the universe created over 40 years ago by George Lucas, they will explore other stories besides the Skywalker family saga. Other composers, including John Powell and Michael Giacchino, have already added their voices to the Star Wars repertoire, and I'm sure that others will add new themes and scores as long as new stories set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" are made.

But it is Maestro Williams, the Jedi Master of Star Wars music, who led the way, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a fitting curtain-comes-down recording that every Star Wars fan must own.


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