I did a little analysis of the TLJ score album and counted how many minutes of old themes are on the album (so it’s not the entire score, but I assume the full score has a similar old/new ratio).
What I found was that there was less than 11 minutes of themes carried over from TFA, and just over 10 minutes of themes from the older movies. I didn’t count the title theme and the start of the end title music that are the same in all movies. That leaves over 1 hour of entirely new music, or about 74%. If the full score has a similar amount there might be about 1 hour and 45 minutes of new music.
I think that’s pretty impressive considering that the score should use old themes for characters and things from earlier movies. Personally I’m a big fan of the TLJ score and the balance between old and new music works for me. I’m very excited to hear the score for IX.
That’s actually really surprising to hear. I’ll have to watch TLJ again, because I could’ve sworn the old themes kept popping up every other time music was played. I’d also love to hear anybody’s thoughts on the main title score actually. The first note doesn’t feel as intense as the rest of the movies, but perhaps that’s more to do with a different orchestra playing than the first six? Or I’m a fool.
I think the old themes do pop up a lot, but you probably pay extra attention when that happens (because you recognize it) and don’t notice the new music in the same way.
About the first note I’ve heard this complaint for the TFA recording. It’s a bit different in every movie (except for the prequels which used the same recording), so I guess it’s a matter of taste which way you prefer it. Here’s a quote from Rian Johnson about that:
“We re-recorded it with John Williams. They re-record it every time they do it. The more interesting thing for me was the mix. Realizing it’s just like mixing a song. Realizing there’s many different ways you can mix that opening fanfare. And if you listen to all the different movies, every single one of them has a slightly different take on the mix of the fanfare. Some are brighter some are warmer. The Force Awakens one has a sharper attack to it. We went for a warmer-type feel.”