Filmtracks: Superman: The Movie (John Williams) (2024)

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Buy it... on both the 1998 Varèse Sarabande re-recording andthe 2019 La-La Land Records set for the highest-quality presentations ofone of John Williams' most memorable and classic scores.

Avoid it... on any of the releases of the original recording priorto 2019 if you are deterred by the archival, analog sound quality thatlong restricted the dynamic range of Williams' composition and oftenvaries from track to track.

BUY IT

Williams

Superman: The Movie: (John Williams) Few fictional charactershave been as prolific in mainstream entertainment as the Man of Steel.From the original comic stories in the 1930's to the Clayton Collyerradio show and Paramount's animated shorts in the 40's, the Kirk Alyntelevision shows of the 50's, the musical adaptation for theatre andGeorge Reeves series of the 60's, the feature films of the 70's and80's, the television spin-offs of the 90's and 00's, and finally, aresurrection to the big screen in 2000's and beyond, the legend ofSuperman has thrived for more than 80 years. Upon the first majormotion picture adaptation in the mid-70's, director Richard Donner andhis producers determined that the character would be treated withrespect while, after all his adventures, providing him with a massivescale on which to generate his wonder. Their success in that endeavoryielded four Oscar nominations (with one win) and a permanent "mostfavored Superman" status for actor Christopher Reeve. While the sequelsfor the 1978 film maintained much of the same cast, the legend waswatered down to campy levels. One member of the crew who refused tokneel before General Zod was John Williams, whose score for the originalSuperman was such a natural fit with both the legend of thecharacter and audiences' expectations that he had nothing left to proveby scoring the laughable sequels. In retrospect, Williams' music forSuperman was so perfectly placed in both the film and in thehistory of cinema that this score, perhaps more than Star Wars,confirmed the renaissance of the operatic orchestral fanfare to the bigscreen. It proved that his Oscar-nominated work for Close Encountersof the Third Kind and Star Wars the previous year was nofluke, leading the composer on the journey of five subsequent years thatwould change film music forever. His Wagnerian extravaganza was sobeloved by both fans of the legend and the mainstream that his sound forthe character endured prominently in three immediate sequels and becomethe benchmark for future adaptations. Jerry Goldsmith would give thetitle theme a cameo in his mid-80's score for Supergirl and JohnOttman eventually utilized all of Williams' major themes for thesuccessful continuation of Superman Returns nearly 30 yearslater.

The key to the longevity of Williams' music for theSuperman legend is its timelessness. The instant recognizabilityof the composer's multitude of shamelessly obvious themes is also acontributing factor. Whether it's the unequivocal heroism, the patrioticfeeling of soaring optimism that it instills in listeners, or even thebrassy, overwhelming orchestral power that hooked so many people intothe genre of film music at the time, Superman is a score of suchquality that it cannot be completely eclipsed by the Star Warsand Indiana Jones franchise works also by Williams. Whenremembering the impact of Superman on listeners at the time, mostpeople point to the themes rather than the style. And while the grandeurof the London Symphony Orchestra's performance of Williams' denselyorchestrated and intelligently designed ideas are as alluring as ever,the themes do indeed define the score. The opening march provides thetitle character with a noble persona of galactic proportions, itssimplistic octave-loving major key progressions serving the dose ofsuperhero elixir that has, to some degree, worn badly with audiencesthrough the years due to the brightness of its own light. So blatantlyheroic is the melody's construct that the title march is more difficultto enjoy decades years later than the other themes from the film. Theunderlying rhythmic introduction, becoming the driving force of theentire affair, has fared better. In many ways superior in itsagelessness is the love theme, highlighting the magnificent "FlyingSequence" in the film. Its lyrical sense of movement coincides with thefact that theme was originally designed with lyrics in mind ("Can YouRead My Mind") and several pop variants were recorded for the scenebefore the now-famous instrumental performance and associated concertarrangement was used instead. Given the beauty of the theme and theremarkable personal tragedies that tormented lead actors ChristopherReeve and Margot Kidder in the following decades, the Supermanlove theme's only detraction is its bittersweet legacy. Still, in bothits interlude position in the primary march for the film, as well as itsown generous song variants and concert arrangements, it is the best thatSuperman offers. Keeping its numerous original recordings byWilliams straight is another matter, left for discussion about thealbums below.

While the march and love theme are the best rememberedthemes from Superman, there are several notable subthemes thateach receive considerable development. The most intriguing of these isone that knocks the viewer over the head immediately after the openingfanfare is finished. The remarkable crescendo that builds from a solotrumpet into a monumentally tonal performance of the "Planet Krypton"theme is the single favorite minute of music for some listeners of thescore. After the planet is introduced in its glory, the film neverallows such a restatement. Unsatisfying incorporation of the theme intothe scene of the planet's destruction and subsequent references in "TheFortress of Solitude" cause the theme to be underutilized. To hiscredit, John Ottman relied upon clever references to the theme moreoften in his 2006 film score. One curious note is that the 1998re-recording alters the woodwind solo after the end of Krypton's famouscrescendo to match the "Force theme" from Star Wars. Slightsynthetic effects during the sentencing of General Zod in this cue makeup the bulk of the employment of electronics in the score, and theirimpact is barely noticeable. For "Destruction of Krypton," Williamsforeshadows the danger with a distantly dissonant adult choir, thoughStar Wars fans will delight in the timpani-pounding,cymbal-crashing full ensemble tonality of the Death Star's glory duringthe actual scenes of destruction. A theme for the Kent family isintroduced and maintained until Clark Kent's departure for Metropolis.Sometimes referred to as the "family theme" or the "Smallville" theme,this identification with the character's childhood features the sameheroic stature as the fanfare, but with less obvious statement until theclosing of "Leaving Home." The only somewhat weak theme in the score forSuperman is the one for Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty's villainousduo. Williams' "March of the Villains" treads dangerously close to thecomical territory that the production was trying to avoid, serving assomething of a preview of the composer's handling of the Ewoks inReturn of the Jedi, though it's obvious that Williams was merelyattempting to play off of Hackman's confidently snickering performance.Much of the concert arrangement of this irritatingly prancing theme wasnever actually used in the film.

The 2008 Film Score Monthly album contains arguably the most extensive information about the scores of a movie franchise ever to exist in an album, with a 160-page hardcover booklet that covers an extraordinary range of detail about the film, scores, and album presentation. The 1998, 2000, 2018 and 2019 albums also contain extensive information about the score.

Notes about the original performance on the Rhino Complete Set:

Notes about the Varèse Sarabande Re-recording:

"This new recording does not replace the original recording, which is conducted by John Williams himself. It certainly does not take the place of any potential special edition of Williams' recording. The best way I can describe this CD is as a "stand alone companion piece" to the soundtrack. I realize that these are conflicting terms. It was imperative to me that my recording must be able to stand on its own. Therefore the concept of recording only music that did not appear on the WB disc didn't work. I needed the main set pieces of the score. You know what they are. How could we have a Superman disc without Leaving Home or The Fortress of Solitude? This was the balance I had to maintain. How much could I add and how much could I afford to lose and have the disc still play as a well-rounded listening experience and a solid representation of the score? I have done the best job of this that I can." -- Robert Townson, Vice President, Varèse Sarabande Records