Hi all!  I've been listening recently to the John William's scores
to the four Star Wars films.  Just as background, the first three were
"orchestrated" by Herbert Spencer, and I don't know who did The Phantom
Menace except that it was two people.  (Coincidentally, what exactly is
left for the orchestrator to do after the composer does his thing?) Anyway,
after a while, I've come to the conclusion that whoever it was that did the
orchestration for TPM did a lowsy job.  Unlike the bouancy and brillance
of the orchestration of the first three films, the orchestration for TPM
sags and slodges, giving too much empasis on the bass instruments of the
orchestra.  To put it another way, the color for the first three is bright
and fairy-tale-ish (with a very good emphasis on the different tone
colors.) However, TPM is more an oil painting, with dark and heavy strokes
(the orchestrator here didn't have as good an ear for timbre, IMHO).  What
are your all opinions on this?

Joseph Sowa
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