Episode 86 - The Phantom Menace
Fans were going crazy in anticipation of the return to the Star Wars galaxy with the release of "The Phantom Menace" in theaters. How would John Williams' score reflect that we are getting a lot of new characters while also keeping us musically grounded in the familiar? Though Williams used the main theme in the opening crawl, he decided to create a lot of new thematic material, including a bold choral piece called "Duel of the Fates" that has gained a life outside the film. Its constant play on MTV in the weeks leading up to the film's debut certainly helped that. Host Jeff Commings is joined by fellow Star Wars fan Siddique Hussain for a discussion of the score, and Commings talks with Maxine Kwok, a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra whose first major gig with the LSO was performing on this score. Kwok, a major Star Wars fan, talks about her first meeting with John Williams, reading the new music and playing it within a matter of seconds and performing that ostinato that runs through "Duel of the Fates."