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From: dp@astrovax.UUCP (Deborah L. Padgett)
Newsgroups: net.movies,net.music
Subject: Re: Risky Business
Message-ID: <348@astrovax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 18-May-84 17:20:32 EDT
Article-I.D.: astrovax.348
Posted: Fri May 18 17:20:32 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 19-May-84 00:48:12 EDT
References: <2649@cbscc.UUCP> <679@pyuxn.UUCP>
Organization: Princeton Univ. Astrophysics
Lines: 40

Rosen:
    John Williams is no thief!!! Making a statement such as that shows
your ignorance of his work. He is one of a very few film composers who
can increase the cohesiveness and appeal of a movie simply by writing its
score. You may have noticed that at least 7 of the top 10 movie-making
films were scored by him (ET, STAR WARS, EMPIRE, JAWS, CE3K, RAIDERS,
JEDI, and RAIDERS). His music is completely different from score to score
and is only predictable in its high quality. I suspect that the real
reason that you hate John Williams is that his style is similar to that
of Wagner and R. Strauss, 19th century composers that you maintain an
elitist distain of (yes, I read your immature statements concerning
net.classical). Your assertion about Williams is only your opinion,
and unless you can prove your statements, I will stick to my own view of
Williams, which , I believe, is based on a much greater familiarity
with both his works and those of similar classical composers than your
snide remarks. Williams' music is far more original than that of the 
jaded rock groups thatyou mention; of composers using "modern" instruments
only Vangelis seems to approach Williams' talent in integrating the
visual and musical aspects of a film. The idea that Williams "steals"
parts of Holst's "Mars" and Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" is utterly
laughable; a comparison with the instrumental opera scores of the Romantic
period or the tone poems of R. Strauss would be much more logical.
Unfortunately, that might imply that you have an open enough mind about
19th century music to have actually listened to it (Tsk, tsk).
If you would like to pick on a film composer who steals music, try
James Horner; he has used the same bar of music in his soundtracks to
BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, STAR TREK II, KRULL, and TESTEMENT.
My point to all this is: maybe you think that all 19th century music
is bad (Williams successfully writes Romantic-style music; ergo he is
an evil to be eliminated), but many other people do not agree with you.
This doesn't mean that one of us is stupid, just that we have different
tastes. Please do not resort to fabrications of the sort that you
presented as fact in your article; just honestly state your opinion
and offer concrete evidence for any "fact" that you introduce.
Some of us out here like film scores as a legitimate form of music;
don't be elitist and condemn us for being different.
					
					Sincerely,
					    Deborah L. Padgett
					    Princeton Astrophysics