Raiders Of The Lost Ark (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

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What’s surprising about listening to John Williams’ 1981 score for <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark</i> outside the context of the movie is hearing just how <i>dark</i> it i. There are still moments of heroism (“The Raiders March”) and romance (“Marion’s Theme”), but for listeners adjusted to the black-and-white epics of <i>Star Wars</i>, Williams’ work on <i>Raiders</i> can feel evasive (“In the Jungle“), dissonant (“Flight From Peru”), and unsettling (“The Miracle of the Ark”). Of course, in a way, that was Williams’ job: While the world of <i>Star Wars</i> was unambiguous and out in the open, <i>Raiders</i> brought its audience into dense jungle, obscure conversation, and dark temples set with hidden traps—scenes whose drama derived from their uncertainty. (Williams himself said that part of his goal was to lure the audience into what at first might seem like a beautiful experience, only to turn it into something terrifying—a technique borrowed from opera, but one Williams almost single-handedly assimilated into the vocabulary of modern-day action movie.) .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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