E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: "Finale” by John Williams (Score Reduction and Analysis)

[@Bawookles]

There's very few movies that have an emotional climax this poignant and tear-inducing and so much of that comes from John Williams' score here. Really one of his greatest moments, and Spielberg trusts that Williams will deliver.

[@patricksuiter]

Thanks so much for inviting me to collaborate! It was great fun to work with someone so knowledgeable. So glad to see that the copyright bot was defeated..

[@JakeSandersonMusic]

One of the greatest endings to music ever, as if it needed to be said. And you and Patrick did a fantastic job on the analysis.

[@ComposerConductor]

David, this is FANTASTIC as always! One thing that stands out to me is in the third act (8:42), and the heavy use of those minor 2nd, and Major 7th intervals. Ex. the D# (4th beat) dropping to a D-Natural, before leaping up to the C#, and repeating. That pattern has always stood out for me. At 11:13, I love how Williams again uses that Major 7th leap, but then uses the more familiar octave leaps as E.T. says goodbye to his buddy.

[@jenkinsfamily2229]

Very few pieces of music have made me cry outside of context: usually I cry because of what I associate the music with. The finale of ET makes me weep every time, and I've never seen the movie: the music is just that emotionally charged. Humankind is blessed to have John Williams and his music.

[@jasonbrandtcomposer]

You did a great job on this! Of all of the history of film music, the last 15 minutes of E.T. is my absolute favorite. Bravo David!

[@alexkarpenter2306]

Now... That's something you do after not uploading for 2 month... Reduction to one of the absolute best 15 minutes of music in cinema history! Portions of it were reducted by others, but finally we are getting a complete version. Thank you so much!

[@edwinschirp3536]

wow!! thank you very much for all the hard work you put into this greate homage video to the greatest composer alive, My hero JOHN WILLAMS. just for this 15 minutes segment of genuine art, Mr. Wlliams recieved the academy award, I'm sure of it. pretty well deserved, just analysing the meticulous work you did in this video, you can realize how hard to play and difficult to conduct John's music is, so my sincere gratitude to the members of the London symphony orchestra back then, I think some of them are still in this world. Beautifull well written music, and more, I have no words, I'd like to be a poet to do honor to Mr. Willams music, scense I'll never be one, I'll just say thank God for give to human kind such a genius creature and a wonderful human being as John Wlliam is. And Davd McCaulley .... my extended gratitud for all your dedication and love for this music. I can tell, you love this as much as I do. God Bless you too.

[@Archimusik]

Wow! Wow wow wow!! Thank you for all the work that went into this. John Williams is the undisputed master. His work on this film - and especially this set of cues - will be studied for decades to come. I can’t believe just watching and listening on my small phone screen causes me to tear up. 😢

[@moccagriselda]

Impossible not to, if you have a heart.

[@awintory]

This scene is honestly the pinnacle of cinema, across every dimension but of course the score being the final ingredient to shove it into the stuff of legend

[@sorartificial]

That is a lot of work. Thanks

[@Captain-Cosmo]

First rate analysis and commentary! I was in high school when this film came out. My dad owned a movie theatre where I practically lived, and John Williams had already been my favorite film composer for nearly a decade, going back to The Cowboys and The Poseidon Adventure. I devoured every note of sheet music I could find (the internet wasn't around in those days, kids!), and somehow managed to get a copy of Herb Spencer's complete handwritten score for these exact cues, which I then, in turn, arranged for my band. It was horribly ambitious for a 15 year old kid, but I learned a lot about both music and scoring with the project. Twenty later, I sat on stage and performed it myself with a professional symphony orchestra! ET may not be my favorite of films Williams has scored, but it is one of my very favorites of his scores, it being virtually a master class in film scoring in its entirety. I appreciated both the technical and aesthetic comments, and it all brought back a lot of memories about seeing this film in the theatres back in '81. (I actually got to see a slightly-unfinished and unrated version at an industry screening a couple of months before its release, but that's another story!) Thanks again for the great work!

[@Ryan.82-u8c]

You and Patrick knocked it out of the park with this one! There's just so much John Williams material to learn in 16 minutes! Easily up there as one of his best works, period.

[@InVader02]

I can’t even imagine the ending of this film without John Williams’ strong emotional impact. He is the reason why so many films he scores for are so memorable. Thank you for this musical analysis on one of the greatest endings in film history.

[@ikmarchini]

Wow, thanks so much for the short score. After 41 years in front of an orchestra it's the orchestration that gets me. It's Brahms-like with low, low bass and violins way way up, creating an epic feel. Each choir of winds, brass in groups, used to their best advantage. 3 trumpets in unison playing pianissimo - tremendous. BTW, I have it from my cousin, one of JW's favorite mallet players, that John does all his own orchestratons. Most composers farm out short score to assistants. JW knows his orchestration!

[@AlexSzell]

Amazing work on what’s perhaps the greatest film score of all time! Thank you!

[@jessemoog5310]

You talk about how Williams is more than just a Great Melody Writer and Orchestrator: He is a great Film composer. And i agree 100% but i would also add what makes him such a great composer in general regardless if for Film or otherwise, is his Counterpoint and Voice leading. In this Finale alone one could spent endless time analysing not just the Harmony, themes, Orchestration and so on but his use of Counterpoint. The Big Chord at 7:19 for example can be, as you did, analysed in all different ways, but what is really important and makes it work so great is the Voice Leading of what came before it, and how it leads into the Big D major Theme. The Bass moving up stepwise to the G and the emphasis on the Leading tone C# that leads to the D starting the melody in the next bar, just to name some rather obvious examples. Another thing Williams gets in my opinion quite underrated is his motivic Writing so not just the use of the Big themes and melodys but smaller motifs from wich he may for example build a specific cue, and wich he then develops throughout that cue. And then there is Form. Williams somehow manages to create natural feeling Structure and Form even when writing for a predetermined Picture. Like you observed in this analysis with the ABA examples and so on. Great Video and Analysis, and nice to see you collaborating with Patrick Suiter.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

"And then there is Form. Williams somehow manages to create natural feeling Structure and Form even when writing for a predetermined Picture. Like you observed in this analysis with the ABA examples and so on" Exactly, the whole thing could be a symphonic tone poem by Richard Strauss. It is clearly structured like one. And it has the same length as Don Juan or Till Eulenspiegel.

[@Blakus]

This is an incredible effort, thank you David and Patrick!

[@BenSmithFilm]

Wonderful to see the two of you collaborate here! Almost irrefutably the single best reel of film for music ever. Great insight.

[@dknotes]

Thank you for putting so much time into this!

[@ishagshafeeg]

Wow! Amazing David. Thank you.

[@handznet]

13:36 my fave part. My god 😮‍💨🤤Thanks a lot for this. Can’t wait to watch it whole with a full concentration

[@paulandamyw]

What a gift! Thank you!

[@lazersly]

YES! I think this is the greatest film/music fusion in movie history. 15 minutes of it. I love John Williams and this is some of this best.

[@m.l.pianist2370]

At 1:55, the score video skips two measures :S

[@PatrickLienCT]

Another reason the music works so well at the end of E.T. is due to an unusual move by Spielberg. During the scoring sessions, as Williams was conducting the orchestra he was having trouble hitting all the cues and beats while still sounding musical and organic, so Spielberg stopped the film playback and just asked Williams to conduct it musically, and then recut the film to match. This is pretty unusual, and just speaks to the amount of respect Spielberg has for John Williams.

[@yairchesler]

Entered the video, saw that is 16 minutes long and now I'm picking up my jaw from the floor 😮 You are awsome!

[@robertadamcik9179]

It's no wonder Williams won an Oscar for this. Well done, gentlemen!

[@trainkid2844]

Thank you so much. Such an amazing piece of music. Tears every time.

[@Bass2696]

Thanks for this great work !!! 😍😍

[@UnderstandingMusic]

Awesome job! I only found out recently how much the ending music for E.T. was inspired by Howard Hanson's Symphony No.2, 3rd Movement. Check out the comparison, especially the bike chase music at 4:54

[@cedrickmuzic]

15min of pleasure !! What a great job 👏👏

[@gabrelconner9146]

I have been waiting for this……thank you!! 🙏♥️

[@eusebiuslesage]

Amazing job! Congrats and thanks for sharing.

[@olakvernberg]

brilliant analysis!!

[@williamholke3325]

This entire sequence is John Williams' Magnum Opus

[@monoverantus]

Jesus Christ, I'm gonna have to schedule this. I can't watch it until I have pen and paper, a hot cup of tea and at least an hour to go through it all.

[@StravaleReviewsBeer]

ET's mum waiting for him at 10:48

[@stevepreskitt283]

Outstanding job!!

[@irisonic]

Thanks for sharing

[@jobrodriguez3016]

Amazing, great job. 🙌🏼

[@paulytheking7365]

At 2:16, I think those brass half-note chords are meant to be a slight reference to Dies Irae, although not exact.

[@tommysterling69]

Love your videos David they really help me as a young composer. Quick question, why do you not use key signatures in your analysis?

[@Jazzbeau]

I'm a wreck. Thanks for this.

[@pge-117]

omg

[@warrenwilson4818]

What a great idea, coming up with this 15 min. excerpt. Someone posted that he hadn't even seen the movie. Ha! Is that a great tribute or what?? Thu. Nov. 21, 2024. St. Joseph, MO, USA

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

The best singular piece in all of Williams output. It's too bad that he cut and reaarranged it for concert performance. The original was flawless and is already perfect for concert performance.

[@lomion79]

Find it impossible to read the analysis thanks to all the ugly crying I'm doing.

[@paulytheking7365]

12:38 somehow I never noticed "The Call" here

[@fabiozacco]

Please, can you analyze ‘Nature’s Masterpiece’ by Benjamin Wallfish? 🙏

[@robert_270]

At 12:44 am I tripping or are those trombones not trumpets in the bass clef part?

[@entelekhia]

Also, never any metronome markings. How does this man do his timings and sync??

[@luobei-qj1xg]

How can i get the pdf to learn?

[@mookiesdream1]

I don’t hear any audio for the opening theme presentations that you’re making. Other than that, thank you.

[@richarddoan9172]

Can you tell where you get the score or reduction?

[@ikmarchini]

Question _ what recording did you use for this? It's not the soundtrack.

[@doctorcane]

A more brilliant composer with the complexity of motifs and thematic elements better than John's would be impossible to find outside the traditional structures of Mahler, Bruckner, Stravinsky and Others of a similar magnitude. In the mid 1980's, I worked with Kenneth Keisler a conductor who had access to the original score of this. I held it in my hands for a weekend, amazed at its profound genius and the intertwining of themes and how he managed to transition from one mode to another and the chordal complexity and transitions and changes. I tell you this man is this generation's Beethoven and we're all better for it.