# Pieces Similar to a John Williams Movie Work



## bharbeke

One of my favorite pieces by John Williams is Parade of the Slave Children from _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_. It's got a memorable theme, good passing of the melody and harmony to different sections, and a statement-development-recap structure with an economical running time. I'd love to hear pieces with these same qualities in non-film works. Where would I start to look for something like this? Are overtures and other opera instrumentals the best categories to look in?

I'd also be interested in other works that sound like they could be the main title or suite for a modern film that were not written for films. This could include works like The Planets that inspired many film composers.


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## DrKilroy

Try other British composers like Vaughan Williams, Moeran, Walton - them seem to be the inspiration for many film music composers.

Best regards, Dr


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## arpeggio

*Prokofiev*

At times Williams' music sounds like Prokofiev. The sources for _Lt. Kije_ and _Alexander Nevsky_ were films.

I would also try Prokofiev's Ballet _Romeo and Juliette_.


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## bigshot

All you have to do is google "john williams steals music" and you'll find a hundred different suggestions.


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## KenOC

bigshot said:


> All you have to do is google "john williams steals music" and you'll find a hundred different suggestions.


Interesting that John Williams is always being accused of plagiarism, but when challenged in a thread like this, they seem to have some trouble coming up with obvious sources. :lol: Could it be that Mr. Williams has actually *improved* on the old masters?


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## techniquest

> At times Williams' music sounds like Prokofiev. The sources for Lt. Kije and Alexander Nevsky were films.
> 
> I would also try Prokofiev's Ballet Romeo and Juliette.


You are probably thinking of James Horner here rather than John Williams. There's no problem in finding the obvious source for this piece for example:


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## Cheyenne

Strauss' An Alpine Symphony, many things by Vaughan Williams (try Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 and Sinfonia Antartica), many Prokofiev symphonies indeed, as well as Shostakovich symphonies, Copland's Appalachian Spring, and works by Bax. Also, this:




 Especially the finale. I don't know more works by him though.


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## spradlig

When I first heard Shostakovich's first symphony, it reminded me of the music from _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_. No doubt Williams was familiar with the symphony when he wrote the score.


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## Weston

The all too few works I've heard by Franz Schrecker seem very Hollywood ready to me.





and sometimes Bohuslav Martinu





Almost any late 19th to 20th century composer can sound like film music to me. Even serial compositions can come across as an action adventure or as a mounting tension drama depending on the speed.


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## LordBlackudder




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## chrisco97

The beginning of the fourth movement of Dvorak's ninth sounds awfully familiar... :lol:
Also check out Holst's "The Planets"...IMO it sounds a lot like something that would be in Star Wars...


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## Air

Anyone else hear Star Wars (in particular, the Imperial March)?


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## TrevBus

chrisco97 said:


> The beginning of the fourth movement of Dvorak's ninth sounds awfully familiar... :lol:
> Also check out Holst's "The Planets"...IMO it sounds a lot like something that would be in Star Wars...


Well, 'The Planets', several of the movements, were used a great deal in the film, THE RIGHT STUFF.


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## Sid James

*Carl Orff's* _Carmina Burana_ has similarities with bits of John Williams' score for the 'prequel' Star Wars films (esp. The Phantom Menace). Another one is *Hindemith's* kind of modernistic take on counterpoint, which to my mind informs things like the Shark Cage Fugue from Jaws.

So maybe try Orff's _O Fortuna _and Hindemith's _Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber_.

Those are two classical composers not mentioned. But yeah,* Holst *is very apt for _Star Wars_ (the original three films) and also *Stravinsky*.

A lead might be *Castelnuovo-Tedesco*, who taught John Williams (he taught the composer by that name, although the guitarist of the same name performed his guitar works). I know C-T's guitar pieces better, but I found his Julius Caesar Overture so you can listen if this sounds what you're looking for or not.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

The last two and a half to three minutes of Mahler's 1st symphony, some parts of it sound remarkably like music from Star Wars.


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## Baeron

Howard Hanson had a style really near John Williams !
An Exemple (Symphony No.2 'Romantic')


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