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: 1997
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Steven Spielberg
Producers: Gerald R. Molen, Colin Wilson
Executive Producer: Kathleen Kennedy
Writer: David Koepp (based on the novel “The Lost World” by Michael Crichton)
Main Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaithe, Arliss Howard, Vince Vaughn, Peter Stormare, Richard Attenborough, Vanessa Chester, Richard Schiff
Genre: Action – Adventure – Science-Fiction

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

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Music Credits

Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams

Music Editor: Kenneth Wannberg
Recording Engineer / Scoring Mixer: Shawn Murphy
Orchestra Contractor: Sandy DeCrescent
Orchestrators: John Neufeld, Conrad Pope
Assistant Engineer: Sue McLean
Assistant Music Editor: Kelly Mahan Jamarillo
Music Preparation: JoAnn Kane Music Service
Recording Studio: Sony Pictures Scoring Stage, Culver City, California
Recording Dates: March 18, 19, 20, 21, April 18, 20, 21 and 22, 1997

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Essential Discography

Orginal Soundtrack Album and Expanded Reissues

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Selected Re-recordings

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Awards and Nominations

Grammy Awards
Nomination: Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television

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In Williams’ Words

“In the spring of 1997, Steven Spielberg created The Lost World, which appeared as a sequel to his earlier and highly successful Jurassic Park.

“These fascinating stories, taken originally from novels by Michael Crichton, became wonderful material for films due to the brilliant technical innovations that made it possible to show huge prehistoric animals in full lifelike realism.

“Both films required extensive orchestral score, and for The Lost World, with its slightly darker and more mysterious mood, I tried to create a high adventure theme which would suggest a storybook atmosphere of “uncharted” islands located on “off the map” latitudes. To achieve this I used extensive percussive rhythms, mixed with irregular but dancelike metric patterns, all of which could be combined and presented with full orchestral force and energy.” ¹

“Steven’s idea was that this was all taking place on an island someplace in some Caribbean area, and the music might be driven by some drums, if you like, or some sort of ethnic or “jungle” texture that might drive the music and might give it a kind of unique flavor. So much of the action sequences I did, to begin with at least, was driven by this drum thing, which I enjoyed. And we had some wonderful percussionists come on the stage, and that contributed a nice flavor, I think, to the film.

“I haven’t made an experiment of comparing the two scores, but I think we’d find that The Lost World is probably more frightening, maybe more dissonant, with a little harder edge to it, and maybe scarier than Jurassic Park would be, of necessity because of the different styles, look and texture of each film.” ²

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Quotes and Commentary

“All of John’s work is equally blessed with genius, but when I compare the two Jurassic Park scores, I prefer The Lost World because it’s much more complicated musically than the first one, it’s got more themes. There’s a little Max Steiner influence, the King Kong-esque primitive jungle rhythms that he put into that. And when we do intone the Jurassic Park theme when they get to the visitor’s center, which has been overgrown, you have that little touch of nostalgia. In a way it almost makes you miss the first movie when you watch the second one!” ³
– Steven Spielberg

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Augmenting the sequel’s change in both locale and tone, Williams’s music for The Lost World daringly bears little resemblance to its predecessor and is, in fact, unlike any other score he’s composed. The original 1997 album opened (as does this expanded reissue) with a straightforward rendition of a brand new theme (called “The Lost World”) that immediately tells the listener this is not Jurassic Park (the movie or the island). Gone are the awestruck choir and mood of uplifting discovery. In their place is a percussive and insistent theme that suggests man’s arrogant attempt to tame a primitive landscape. It is cleverly constructed of major triads ascending and descending a minor scale, creating a sense of adventure in the face of constant peril. […]

With reliance on thematic elements kept to a minimum, the Lost World score is instead dominated by percussion. “Steven’s idea,” Williams recalled, “is that the music might be driven by some drums and ethnic texture. Much of the action I did was driven by this, which I enjoyed, and we had some wonderful percussionists come on the stage, and it contributed a nice flavor to the film.” That “nice flavor” is, in fact, the foundation of an epic adventure score in which a sense of imminent mortal danger is practically relentless. The influence of Max Steiner’s King Kong is evident, as is the approach Henry Mancini took for the action sequences in Hatari! […]

Other action and suspense sequences in The Lost World are scored with dissonance that at times becomes almost experimental or avant-garde, a complete departure from Jurassic Park.⁴
– Mike Matessino

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Videos

John Williams and Steven Spielberg On The Lost World
from Return to Jurassic Park: Something Survived (Bonus Feature)
Directed and Produced by Laurent Bouzereau
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, 2014

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Theme from The Lost World (Concert Suite)
Film Symphony Orchestra conducted by Constantino Martìnez-Orts

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Bibliography and References

. Adams, Doug – “The Age of Dino Scores,” Film Score Daily, May 30, 1997
. Dyer, Richard – “John Williams: New Horizons, Familiar Galaxies,” The Boston Globe, June 4, 1997
. Matessino, Mike – “Finding The Island’s Voice,” The Lost World: Jurassic Park – Remastered and Expanded Original Soundtrack liner notes, La-La Land Records, 2023
. Thomas, David – “Point Blank: John Williams,” Total Film, September 1997

Legacy of John Williams Additional References

. Soundtrack Spotlight: ‘The Lost World’ and ‘Amistad’

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Footnotes

1. Introductory note to Theme from The Lost World – John Williams Signature Edition for Orchestra, Hal Leonard Music Publishing ↩︎
2. The Lost World: Jurassic Park – DVD bonus feature, Universal Home Video, 1998 ↩︎
3. Bouzereau, Return to Jurassic Park: Something Survived (Bonus Feature), 2014 ↩︎
4. Matessino, excerpt from The Lost World – Remastered and Expanded Original Soundtrack, 2023 ↩︎

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