Fiddler On The Roof – John Williams

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Thank you.

Thank you, filmcollector.

Sorry to be pedantic, but the music was NOT composed by John Williams. Great soundtrack, though.

funny how he won an academy award for music then!

Nothing funny about it. They used to give out an Oscar for a Category called Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score; meaning that it was for musicals. If it was based — as Fiddler on the Roof was — on a musical that already existed (on Broadway, etc.), then the person who adapted the music for the movie won the Oscar. Williams merely took someone else’s songs and adapted them for the movie. But he did not write the songs, and the score consisted almost entirely of orchestral versions of those songs. He wrote a limited amount of underscore music that might reasonably be called Williams compositions (not sure how much, but it’s very little); however, the VAST majority of it was composed (for the original Broadway version on which the movie was based) by Jerry Bock.

Williams performed similar services for Valley of the Dolls, the remake of Goodbye Mr. Chips, and the 1973 version of Tom Sawyer.

Thanks for your share.

Thank you!

Many thanks! Link received.

Williams merely took someone else’s songs and adapted them for the movie. But he did not write the songs, and the score consisted almost entirely of orchestral versions of those songs. He wrote a limited amount of underscore music that might reasonably be called Williams compositions (not sure how much, but it’s very little); however, the VAST majority of it was composed (for the original Broadway version on which the movie was based) by Jerry Bock.
Williams also orchestrated the entire score, and his orchestrations are brilliant. Admittedly they jettisoned the folky village feel of the Broadway score, but that’s the way of filmed musicals — they do generally go for the sound of a full orchestra and use the pit-orchestra sound only as an overt stylistic choice.

filmcollector, I don’t agree that Topol sounded tired. He was certainly less frenetic in the role, and did less kvetching, than Mostel, who frankly I have trouble warming to, both in this and shows like A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, so I’m personally glad Topol was chosen for the film. (A matter of personal taste though, obviously.) Rather than tired, I thought Topol sounded world-weary, which was an aspect of the character, not the actor.

But there you go. This is one of my all-time favourite film versions of a stage musical, which is why I PMd you for the FLAC copy. 😉

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

may i have a link for download many thanks!

Link received a while back. Still wanted to say thanks for sharing this. Much appreciated!

Thank you very much for the link.

Thank you very much, Miracle of Miracles! 🙂

Thank you for sharing the link!

Have the original 2 LPs soundtrack.This edition with extra tracks only adds to the pleasure of listening to this beautiful film score.
John Williams did indeed a great job adapting the music.A well deserved Academy Award.