"The hardest thing in scoring is to know when to start and when to stop" with author Tim Greiving | The Movie Racket

Film music historian and journalist Tim Greiving, author of John Williams: A Composer's Life, joins Michael Phillips to explore one of the foundational dilemmas of movie music, courtesy of legendary composer Max Steiner: "The hardest thing in scoring is to know when to start and when to stop."

From King Kong and The Adventures of Robin Hood to Jaws and Star Wars, Michael and Tim trace the history of film scoring through competing philosophies: wall-to-wall music versus strategic restraint, foreground versus background, spectacle versus psychology. And yes, even The Odyssey enters the conversation

They discuss Williams's lasting influence, memorable director-composer partnerships, and whether the best movie music tells us what we're seeing or reveals what the characters themselves cannot say.

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