Nielsen’s Symphony No.5 and the Star Wars theme
As everybody might possibly know (look, I like keeping things as vague as possible) a good chunk of the themes that John Williams shoved into the Star Wars trilogy were inspired by a variety of his favorite compositions. The wikipedia page for Star Wars Music lists a bunch of these inspiration/theme combos, and the inspiration for the main theme is listed (on wikipedia and everywhere else I’ve googled) as Korngold’s soundtrack to the 1942 film “King’s Row“.
It might well be blatantly similar, but I can’t comment, as I haven’t seen it. Yet. It actually looks pretty intriguing, but lets keep on track here…
Every time I listen to Nielsen’s symphony No. 5, composed in 1922. I keep hearing the bloody star wars theme. For anyone who can’t remember what the theme sounds like, have a hit on this youtube:
And here’s a snippet from Nielsen 5, start of the 2nd movement:
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Pretty similar aren’t they? Except the Nielsen has that delicious dissonance and is way more awesome. Please don’t kill me, internet Star Wars fans.
What I’ve Been Listening To Lately: Nielsen
A couple of weeks ago this CD
Nielsen was active from the tail end of the romantic period right through into that awkward beginning of twentieth century stage. He died in 1931. His music (well, judging on the slightly limited repertoire that I’ve currently heard) definitely has a romantic sort of lushness to it, but it’s tempered with a bit of a brutal modern (and bleakly Scandinavian) edge. In places the orchestration reminds me of the more romanticy but dangerous bits of Prokofiev, and some of the harmonies reminds me of Bartok and Martinu. There are also several of what I think of as “American” sounding melodies. If I only had a decent (or, basically any) grasp of musical theory I might be able to more accurately convey what I mean. How sad.
The first CD is the one getting most of the airtime. It’s got his 4th (the “Inextinguishable”) and 5th symphonies. He’s got a thing for percussion, which I find instantly appealing: the 4th has a kind of timpani duel in the last movement, and in the 5th there is a wonderfully menacing, improvisational section for the snare drum (“as if at all costs to stop the progress of the orchestra”), playing at a different tempo from everybody else. That’s actually my favorite bit so far on this CD, the first movement of the 5th. It’s a great build-up, struggle and release. It reminds me a bit of the huge climax in the 2nd movement of Shosty’s symphony No. 11. Aggressive percussion and tortured strings, with the winds shrieking over the top.
Unfortunately I can’t find a recording of the 5th online, but there is a Youtube performance of the 4th symphony, 4th movement, with the timpani duel. It’s Osmo Vanska and the BBC symphony orchestra:
So anyway, in conclusion, Nielsen kicks arse.