The follow is taken from the notes accompaning the THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK soundtrack on the original double LP album, by Polygram (RS-2-4201). The track-durations are added to the liner notes. -==============================================================================- THE MAIN CHARACTERS PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA: Once senator and princess on an erstwhile world called Alderaan, Princess Leia is now a dedicated leader of the Rebel effort. Beauti- ful, but outspoken and courageous, Leia is undaunted in het struggle to over- throw Imperial tyranny. Both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker find her spunk and her loveliness increasingly appealing. LUKE SKYWALKER: Once a naive farmboy on the desert world of Tatooine, Luke was plunged into the Rebellion when a combination of circumstances brought him into contact with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia Organa. Earnest in his quest for the Force, Luke is an increasingly brave and skilled warrior. DARTH VADER: This towering, black-garbed giant is the right-hand man of the Galactic Emperor. Embodying evil, the Dark Lord of the Sith was once a Jedi Knight, but fell victim to the temptations of the dark side of the Force. Now he seeks Luke Skywalker, hoping to lure him to the side of evil, for Skywalker is strong with the Force and poses a threat to Vader and the Emperor. LANDO CALRISSIAN: The suave and dashing administrator of Cloud City, Lando Calrissian is a former associate of Han Solo. Han calls Lando a gambler, con- artist, and all-around scoundrel, but nonetheless seeks his assistance in evading Darth Vader. The opportunistic Calrissian surprises them all by doing all he can to help the FALCON crew escape. HAN SOLO: The handsome, daredevil pilot of the MILLENIUM FALCON. Not much for causes, Han nevertheless has become involved with the Rebellion, lending his courageous support when it is most needed. His biting sense of humor and acts of bravery make him of ambivalent appeal to Princess Leia and a sort of older brother to Luke Skywalker. YODA: The Jedi Master, Yoda dwells on the bog planet Dagobah. This tiny, wizened creature could be any age, but must be at least eight-hundred-years old as he taught Jedi Knights for that long. The former teacher of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda undertakes to train Luke in his efforts to become a Jedi Knight and learn to use the Force. SEE-THREEPIO: This human-shaped protocol droid is useful for his comprehension of many languages and dialects, but his complaining and his talkative nature occasionally make him an annoying companion. ARTOO-DETOO (R2-D2): Barrel-shaped droid that functions as a sophisticated computer-repair robot. R2 communicates through beeps, whistles, and toots of all types which his protocol-droid sidekick, C-3PO, interprets for their human companions. CHEWBACCA: Copilot of the MILLENIUM FALCON, Chewbacca is an eight-foot-tall, two-hundred-year-old Wookie. Looking like an upright baboon with a catlike face, Chewie is a fierce opponent when aroused to anger. But as a friend, he is among the most loyal and warm-hearted of creatures. =------------------------------------------------------------------------------= THE FILM In the wake of the success of STAR WARS, George Lucas' desire to create a nine- part saga set in that distant galaxy far, far away became viable and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is a manifestation of that dream. The new motion picture is a further episode in an epic adventure spanning forty years. The whole adventure is devided into three trilogies, with STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK as the first two parts of the middle trilogy. A rough draft of the screenplay for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, based on George Lucas' story, was written by Leigh Brackett, the prolific and talented screen- writer and science-fiction novelist who died in march 1978, shortly after completing it. Following her death, Lawrence Kasdan was brought in to do the final draft. He also wrote the screenplay for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. The young heroes of STAR WARS resumed their roles in the continuation. Mark Hamill, who had made CORVETTE SUMMER and THE BIG RED ONE in the interim, came back to play Luke Skywalker. Harrison Ford, with HANOVER STREET, FORCE TEN FROM NAVARONE, HEROES, and a cameo in APOCALYPSE NOW behind him, returned to play Han Solo, and the trio was completed by Carrie Fisher in the role she had created, Princess Leia Organa. Since STAR WARS, Carrie has starred with Laurence Olivier and Joanne Woodward in the telivision adaptation of COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA and in a TV movie, "Leave Yesterday Behind," and had also been studying at Sarah Lawrence College. Also returning are Anthony Daniels, who has made so unique a contribution to STAR WARS with his interpretation of the character C-3PO; David Prowse as Darth Vader; Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca; and Kenny Baker as R2-D2. Sir Alec Guinness makes an appearance as Obi-Wan (Ben) Kenobi. Two newcomers join the entourage: Billy Dee Williams (Diana Ross's leading man in MAHOGANY and LADY SINGS THE BLUES) playing an important new character, Lando Calrissian, the charismatic boss of a mining colony in space; and Frank Oz, famous for his Muppet Show characterizations on television, as Yoda, an entirely new creation making his debut in the saga. =------------------------------------------------------------------------------= THE LINER NOTES SIDE ONE No. 1 STAR WARS (MAIN THEME): As the credits roll, we begin with a presentation of the STAR WARS theme. This is followed by sinister suggestions of Darth Vader's theme as the Imperial probe robot heads for the frozen planet. Luke is scouting the ice planet when suddenly we hear strident percussion as an ice creature savages and captures him. There is military music as a rescue mission is mounted at Rebel Base. (5:49) No. 2 YODA'S THEME: The orchestra plays with sensitivity and great tenderness a theme which represents Yoda's honesty, simplicity, and wisdom. (3:24) No. 3 THE TRAINING OF A JEDI KNIGHT: Luke is in a particularly happy, purposeful, and confident mood during his training to be a Jedi and the sequence in which he carries Yoda on his back is accompanied by pizzicato strings and a playful version of Yoda's theme. (3:17) No. 4 THE HEROICS OF LUKE AND HAN: Piccolos, bassoons, gongs, and sinister strings accompany Luke's struggle to escape the ice creature's cave. A diabolical triplet rhythm is spun out by the orchestra as we segue to the scene in which the MILLENIUM FALCON soars from the mouth of the great space slug. Finally, we hear an exultant reading of the love theme which accompanies Han's wizardry at the controls of the ship. (6:18) SIDE 2 No. 1 THE INPERIAL MARCH (DARTH VADER'S THEME): The Imperial March also functions as Darth Vader's theme and is based on the war-like triplet figure that serves as its introduction. The melody is heavily scored in octaves for brass and even in the quiet middle section, the triplet moves relentlessly forward. The march ends with a flourish. (2:59) No. 2 DEPARTURE OF BOBA FETT: This music accompanies Boba Fett carrying off the effigy of Han. After this unhappy scene, Luke steals away into Lando's palace and is discovered. A chase develops. We hear pianos and percussion with deep reverberation as Luke enters the carbon-freeze area and is confronted by Darth Vader. (3:30) No. 3 HAN SOLO AND THE PRINCESS: The love theme associated with their developing relationship is in the tradition beloved by the romantic operatic composers of the nineteenth century. Such stylized melodies are deceptively simple but difficult for a composer to come by, and when placed in a space setting evoke a wonderful feeling of romance and adventure. The love theme is interrupted by Darth Vader who, accompanied by quiet but dissonant strings, communicates with the Galactic Emperor. (3:25) No. 4 HYPERSPACE: This is the music that accompanies the FALCON'S escape into hyperspace. The principal idea here is to provide a fast-pulsed tempo. There is a triumphant resolution to a major key as the ship breaks through to the speed of light. (4:02) No. 5 THE BATTLE IN THE SNOW: Features a bizarre orchestration to accompany the heavy and menacing movements of the Imperial walkers. A brutal, bellicose piece. (3:48) SIDE 3 No. 1 THE ASTEROID FIELD: A virtuoso piece for orchestra played at great speeed as the FALCON races through a threacherous asteroid field. Following this is a quiet reprise of the love theme. (4:10) No. 2 THE CITY IN THE CLOUDS: At the first sight of Lando's city in the clouds, we hear a sumptuous melody with a distant accompaniment of women's voices which gives the effect of a siren's chorus both exotic and otherworldly. (6:29) No. 3 REBELS AT BAY: The tempo quickens as Rebel scouts locate Luke in the frozen waste. This is followed by more military music as the Rebels prepare to repel the Imperial forces. Fragments of the STAR WARS and Force themes are heard over an accompaniment of quick stacatto strings. There is a swashbuckling finish as Luke destroys one of the Imperial walkers. (5:23) No. 4 YODA AND THE FORCE: Beginning with the Force theme, we segue to Yoda's theme. As he displays his control of the Force by raising Luke's crashed spaceship from a swampy lake, the orchestra makes a swelling crescendo as it rounds out Yoda's theme. However, the threat is kept alive as we cut back to an angry Darth Vader. (4:01) SIDE 4 No. 1 THE DUEL: Begins quietly as Luke and Darth Vader confront one another. The orchestra abruptly makes a grand statement of Darth Vader's theme, as the struggle begins. Luke gains courage as we hear Yoda's theme, which urges Luke on as he remembers Yoda's teachings and tries to apply them, his moment of extreme trial. Later, the love theme is heard as the princess looks on after the departing Han whose already frozen body is being stolen away by Boba Fett. (4:07) No. 2 THE MAGIC TREE: Is an atmospheric piece that accompanies Luke as he enters the tree of Dagobah. We hear atonal strings and a synthesizer which emits bizarre electronic sounds as the figure of Darth Vader emerges. (3:32) No. 3 LANDO'S PALACE: A stately march as our players parade through Lando's beautiful palace. We then cut to Luke and Yoda as we hear their themes and finish with the Force theme as Luke prepares to go to the rescue of his friends. (3:52) No. 4 FINALE: The finale begins with a fragment of the Force theme, but as Luke and the princess gaze at the nebulae, thinking of Han, and pondering their futures, the love theme is introduced, which is followed by a full orchestral presentation of all the themes as the final credits of the film roll by. (6:28) =------------------------------------------------------------------------------= JOHN WILLIAMS John Williams was born in New York in 1932. He studied at the University of California in Los Angeles and in New York at the Julliard School of Music with Rosina Lhevinne. He has composed scores and acted as musical director for approximately fifty films including: JANE EYRE, GOODBYE MR. CHIPS, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, THE TOWERING INFERNO, EARTHQUAKE, JAWS, STAR WARS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, SUPERMAN, DRACULA, and 1941. He has twice received the Television Academy's Emmy for "Best Musical Composition," and has been nominated thirteen times for an Academy Award. He received the Oscar for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF in 1972, for JAWS in 1976, for STAR WARS in 1978, and most recently two Grammy's for the original soundtrack for the motion picture "SUPERMAN." He has also composed much music for television, especially for "Alcoa Theatre," "Kraft theatre," and "Playhouse 90." His symphonic works have been performed by many major orchestras, including those of Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Houston, St. Louis, and Boston. His First Symphony was premiered in 1966 by the Houston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andre Previn, and presented again in London with the London Symphony Orchestra in July 1972. He has completed a violin concerto. He has also succeeded the late Arthur Fiedler as conductor of the Boston Pops. Alan Arnold: Let's talk about the orchestra. John Williams The music for STAR WARS provided me with my first opportunity to work with the London Symphony Orchestra. THE EMPIRE STRIKE BACK is the fifth soundtrack I have done in the past three years with this great orchestra. Performing film scores is not a new thing to them. They played the film scores of William Walton and Vaughan Williams and that goes back many years. They bring to a recording an ensemble precision and balance that comes from being a group of people who play together fifty-two weeks a year. AA: Is it physically larger than other orchestras? JW: Most symphony orchestras comprise 104 players and during the recording of this score the number varied depending on the type of music being played. Sometimes we would have 80 players, other days over 90, and for the most elaborate passages and the finale we had the full complement of 104. AA: Did you change the composition of the orchestra for this recording? JW: Many passages required special instrumentation. For example, the music for "Battle in the Snow" has unusual orchestration calling for five piccolos, five oboes, a battery of eight percussion, two grand pianos, two or three harps, in addition to the normal orchestra complement. This was necessary in order to achieve a bizarre mechanical, brutal sound for the sequence showing Imperial Walkers, which are frightening inventions advancing across a snowscape. AA: How long did it take to record the score for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK? JW: We did eighteen sessions of three hours each spread over a period of two weeks. That's quite a bit of time, but we had a lot of music. We did nearly two hours of music for the film and for the LP. In a normal symphony setting you wouldn't need eighteen sessions to record an LP with an hour-long piece on either side. But in recording for film you have problems of synchronisation that slow down the process, especially in a score for a film so complex as THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. AA: How much music did you have to compose? JW: I wrote 117 minutes of music for this picture. It opens with the STAR WARS March and it includes the Force theme. With that as a basis I wanted to try to develope material that would wed with the original and sound like part of an organic whole: something different, something new, but an extension of what already existed. So, in the creation of new themes and the handling of the original material, the task, both in concept and instrumentation, was one of extending something that I had written three years before. I had to look back while at the same time begin again and extend. AA: About film music in general, where did it all begin? JW: Some scores were written to accompany silent films. Saint-Saens wrote one. It is all really an outgrowth of incidental music for the theater. Later, potpourris of standard words were put together in music libraries in Hollywood or in London --strung-together bits of repertory music-- and were sent to the pit orchestras in the big city movie houses. When sound came in, the first film music was done by composers from the theater. Original commissioned music, like the great scores done for Eisenstein, wre notable exceptions. But I would say that music in film is a very new thing relatively. We've just begun to understand the audio-visual process, the very subtle and complex affair that is seeing/hearing. How much do we see when we hear? How do these relationships change? How can we manipulate them? =------------------------------------------------------------------------------= MUSICIANS FROM LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 1st Violins 2nd Violins ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ Michael Davis Colin Renwick Warwick Hill Thomas Swift Irvine Arditti Robert Retallick Neil Watson David Williams Lennox Mackenzie Cyril Reuben Sam Artis David Goodall Nigel Broadbent Norman Clarke William Brown Alan Merrick Stanley Castle Brian Gaulton Thomas Cook Edward Barry Robert Clark David Llewellyn Geoffrey Creese David Ellis Sidney Colter Brian Smith Terry Morton Nicholas Maxted- Dennis Gaines Paul Willey Jack Steadman Jones Donald Steward John Ford Violas ------------------------------------ Cellos Alexander Taylor David Hume ------------------------------------ Brian Clarke Patrick Vermont Douglas Cummings David Powrie Peter Norriss Richard Holttum Rod McGrath Francis Saunders Patrick Hooley William Krasnik Ray Adams Paul Kegg Michael Mitchell Eric Cuthbertson Maurice Meulien Jack Long William Sumpton Roger Welch Clive Gillinson Martin Robinson Kenneth Law Nigel Pinkett Double Basses ------------------------------------ Flutes Bruce Mollison Pashanko Dimitroff ------------------------------------ Paul Marrion John Hill Peter Lloyd Lowry Sanders Arthur Griffiths Simon Hetherington Richard Taylor Francis Nolan John Cooper Robin McGee Gerald Newson Oboes ------------------------------------ Clarinets Anthony Camden Geoffrey Browne ------------------------------------ Roger Lord Michael Jeans Jack Brymer John Stenhouse John Lawley Roy Jowitt Ted Planas Ronald Moore Trombones ------------------------------------ Bassoons Denis Wick Frank Mathison ------------------------------------ Eric Crees Arthur Wilson Martin Gatt Nicholas Hunka Roger Groves Roger Brenner Robert Bourton John Orford Peter Francis Tuba ------------------------------------ Horns John Fletcher Patrick Harrild ------------------------------------ James Anderson David Cripps Jeffrey Bryant Anthony Chidell John Rooke Harps James Brown Terry Johns ------------------------------------ James Quaife Denzil Floyd Renata Sheffel- Nuala Herbert Graham Warren Stein Thelma Owen Clifford Lantaff Trumpets ------------------------------------ Timpani Maurice Murphy Ralph Izen ------------------------------------ William Lang Ian MacIntosh Kurtahans Goedicke Malcolm Hall Stanley Woods Norman Archibald Gerry Ruddock Synthesizer James Watson ------------------------------------ Francis Monkman Brian Gascoigne Piano/Celeste/Electric Piano Ann Odell ------------------------------------ Robert Noble Leslie Pearson Librarian Michael Reeves ------------------------------------ Henry Greenwood Percussion ------------------------------------ Personnel Manager Michael Frye David Johnson ------------------------------------ Ray Northcott Keith Millar John Duffy Russell Jordan Stephen Henderson Jack Lees =------------------------------------------------------------------------------= Music composed and conducted by: JOHN WILLIAMS Performed by: THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Producer: JOHN WILLIAMS Recorded at Anvil Recording Studios, Denham, England Recording engineer: ERIC TOMLINSON Recording supervised by: LIONEL NEWMAN Recorded on December 27, 28, 29, 1979 & January 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, 1980 Remixed at Twentieth Century Fox Studios, Los Angeles, Ca. Remixing engineer: JOHN NEAL AT TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX STUDIOS, LOS ANGELES Liner Notes: ALAN ARNOLD Published by: FOX FANFARE MUSIC, INC. AND BANTHA MUSIC (BMI) Art Direction: GLENN ROSS/TIM OWENS Design: TIM BRYANT, MURRY WHITEMAN/GRIBBITT!