The Legacy of John Williams

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Table Of Contents

• Film Details
• Music Credits
• Essential Discography
• Awards and Nominations
• In Williams’ Words
• Quotes and Commentary
• Videos
• Bibliography and References

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Film Details

Year: 1974
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director/Producer: Mark Robson
Executive Producer: Jennings Lang
Writers: George Fox, Mario Puzo
Main Cast: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene, Genevieve Bujold, Richard Roundtree, Marjoe Gortner, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Nolan, Victoria Principal
Genre: Disaster – Action – Drama

For synopsis and full cast and crew credits, visit the IMDb page

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Music Credits

Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams

Music Supervisor: Hal Mooney
Album Recording Engineer: Mickey Crofford
Orchestra Contractor: Sandy DeCrescent
Concertmasters: Erno Neufeld (film score), Israel Baker (album)
Orchestrator: Al Woodbury
Film Score Recorded at Universal Studios Scoring Stage 10, Universal City, California
Recording Dates: July 30, 31 and August 1, 1974
Album Recorded on August 19 and 20, 1974 at RCA Studios, Hollywood, California

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Essential Discography

Original Soundtrack Album and Expanded Reissues

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Selected Re-recordings

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Awards and Nominations

Golden Globes
Nomination: Best Original Score

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In Williams’ Words

“From my very first meeting with Director Mark Robson and Executive Producer Jennings Lang it was agreed between the three of us that the music for Earthquake should relate to the ‘people’ in the film rather than to the catastrophe itself.
It seemed quite obvious that the sound effects and natural noises of a panic-stricken city during the earthquake sequences would provide the sense of reality needed so that music could be used more effectively to complement the balance of the film.
It was truly a challenging assignment for a composer in that the music covered a very broad scope of writing, ranging from the tenderness of a love scene through a chase or two to material relating to the impending disaster.
With all of this in mind I set out to create a theme for each of the several major characters as well as a theme for Robson’s majestic portrayal of the city. still intact. In this theme I used a long-line melody to match the sweep of the film under which I could inject rhythms to represent the feverish day-to-day activities of the great city, teaming with life.
The other themes of importance to the score were a piece of love music for the growing relationship between Stewart and Denise, a pair of themes for Rosa and Denise, some material for motorcyclist Miles and the action having to do with the rescue of Sam.
It was a thoroughly satistying assignment and I enjoyed every note of it. As this is written I’d like to thank the great Universal orchestra and French hornist Vince De Rosa, pianists Ralph Grierson and Claire Fisher, drummer Shelly Manne, percussionist Jerry Williams and concert-master Israel Baker for their fine performances-along with a well-deserved nod of gratitude to the engineer, Micky Crawford.” ¹

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Quotes and Commentary

During the early 1970s, Williams composed music for a number of “disaster films,” which were popular at the time, including The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno (1974) and Earthquake (1974). Williams provided these films with high-quality dramatic scores, even though the films were somewhat less than high-quality. […]
John Williams’ music for Earthquake incorporates period jazz sensibilities and orchestral textures, echoing his vast experience in both areas. ²
– Kevin Mulhall

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John Williams was the obvious choice to score Earthquake.
First, in 1974 he was considered one of Hollywood’s most promising composers, having won an Oscar and received eight other nominations in just seven years.
Second, he had already worked twice with director Mark Robson, earning his very first nomination for a Robson film (Valley of the Dolls). And third, coming off the success of his Oscar-nominated music for another disaster movie, The Poseidon Adventure, Williams had already demonstrated the necessary skills to musically convey both grand-scale catastrophe and high-pitched emotional distress.
Also, Universal was a second home to the then 42-year-old composer-conductor. It was at Universal’s television arm, Revue Productions, that he began his composing career in 1958; he spent seven years there, honing his craft on shows such as Checkmate, Alcoa Premiere and Kraft Suspense Theatre. Later he scored such big-screen fare as The Secret Ways, The Plainsman, The Rare Breed and Pete’n’ Tillie.
Not long before signing on to score Earthquake, he had finished recording the music for another Universal film called The Sugarland Express, for an up-and-coming young director named Steven Spielberg.
Williams discussed the genre in a 1976 BBC radio interview: “The disaster film is a genre that seems to have its own requirements musically. Audiences have, in the comfort of the cinema, a vicarious kind of experience, in which they actually feel the jeopardy of the principal characters in the film.
Musically speaking, I think these things require the kind of large-scale, highly dramatic orchestral writing that I enjoy doing.”
Two years later, he looked back at all three of his disaster-movie assignments in another radio interview: “In the cases of The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, a great deal of music was required for the action sequences. In Earthquake, with its Sensurround sound effects, I didn’t have that problem to face.”
In fact, there are only about 42 minutes of original music in the film, all played by a 61-piece orchestra and recorded over just three days at Universal Studios in late July. And Williams’ assertion was correct: No music accompanies the tremors, where the sound effects in Sensurround hold sway. Music enters for the more emotional moments: scenes of romance, tension, suspense and tragedy.
Williams’ “city” theme, heard under the main title, is dramatic and powerful: an ascending French horn line opens the piece, with low, constantly moving piano figures that might just represent the moving, shifting fault lines running beneath the metropolis.
The love theme, warm and relaxed but not overly passionate, reflects the tentative and unsettled relationship between Stewart and Denise. And a final “city as survivor” theme: sad at first, then resolute and dignified, suggesting optimism for the future, a new and better urban environment to come. ³
– Jon Burlingame

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Videos

Opening Credits from Earthquake (1974) | Universal Pictures / The Filmakers Group

“Cory In Jeopardy” scene from Earthquake (1974) | Universal Pictures / The Filmakers Group

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“City Theme” from Earthquake | Piano solo: Clare Fischer

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Brett Mitchell plays his original piano solo arrangement of “End Titles” from John Williams’ Earthquake

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Bibliography and References

. Bellan, David – Interview with John Williams, Star Sound, BBC Radio 2, October 25, 1976
. Burlingame, Jon – “Shaking Heston and Earth,” liner notes for Earthquake – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Expanded Edition, La-La Land Records, 2019
. Elley, Derek – “The Film Composer: John Williams – Pt. 1 and Pt. 2”. Films and Filming, July/August 1978

Legacy of John Williams Additional Resources

. Soundtrack Spotlight podcast with Mike Matessino on The Disaster Movie Soundtrack Collection

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Footnotes

1. Liner notes for Earthquake – Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1974 ↩︎
2. Mulhall, excerpt from Earthquake – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD Reissue liner notes, 1990 ↩︎
3. Burlingame, excerpt from Earthquake – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Expanded Edition, 2019 ↩︎

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