By the time Return of the Jedi opened in theatres in 1983, seven out of the top ten grossing films of all time featured a Williams score, and his conducting work with the Boston Pops had increased his mainstream visibility even further. Since impressing the world once again with The Empire Strikes Back, Williams had written the classics Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in successive years, the latter earning the composer his fourth Academy Award. He had presented himself a significant challenge by producing a score for the first Star Wars sequel that eclipsed the original classic; if the standard of excellence for Return of the Jedi were to have been raised any higher, then Williams would have had no choice but to conjure the greatest score ever written for Hollywood. Few scholars would contend that Williams accomplished this feat, but at the very least, the maestro maintained a level of outstanding quality for Return of the Jedi that many listeners still consider superior to any of the prequel scores that followed in the 1990's and 2000's. Recording once again with the London Symphony Orchestra and the same crew, Williams pumped out a score even longer than The Empire Strikes Back, with more material eventually released on album than the total length of the film. A lingering note of dissatisfaction about Return of the Jedi has always involved its restricted sound quality, which, despite improvements industry wide by the 1980's, has always suffered from a dull soundscape that defied those technological advances (this flaw is especially noticeable in the cue "Into the Trap"). Nevertheless, if you allow yourself to become enveloped in the score's four new themes, the interpolation of the previous themes, and the usual excellent standard of Williams' writing, then the merits of the score's ideas will easily counter such quibbles for most listeners.
Among the new thematic ideas are Jabba the Hutt's surprisingly jovial tuba piece (playing along the politically incorrect lines of belching tubas representing fatness), an equally cute and percussively creative theme for the Ewoks, an identity for Luke and Leia's changing familial understanding, and finally a demonic male-choral idea for the Emperor. At the time of the film's release, the Ewok and Luke & Leia themes were the ones that you'd hear most often in concerts. Also arranged for easy public consumption were the "Sail Barge Assault" and "Forest Battle" cues (as well the occasional Jabba the Hutt arrangement), but Williams' emphasis on the two aforementioned themes is clearly defined more specifically by their appearance in the end credits suite for Return of the Jedi. While structurally equal to Williams' earlier quality, neither addition was as attractive to the mainstream as previous Star Wars themes. The one for Luke and Leia is similar in pleasant atmosphere and instrumentation to the Princess and Han Solo themes from the previous films, weaving in pieces of those ideas in auxiliary performances but understandably never stoking the passion of either. The prancing Ewok theme is not surprisingly the least palatable idea in the score, becoming downright irritating for some listeners with its frenetic energy and perkiness. Attached to it are the native-like source drum cues associated with the little Wookie stand-ins, and these appropriately primitive contributions resemble little of Williams' other motifs for the trilogy. The interesting aspect of all these themes is that the other two lesser ideas eventually proved to have the far better shelf life, both the themes for the Emperor and Jabba the Hutt jumping immediately to the prequel trilogy (and the former theme quite extensively). Perhaps the best choice Williams made in regards to Return of the Jedi was the extensive development afforded to the major identities from the prior films. The "Imperial March" still commands a significant presence, expressed in massive statements involving the two Death Star arrival scenes and reinventing itself in a whimper during Darth Vader's demise. The infamous march for the Empire once again steals the show, most obviously in the ambitious full statement during the Emperor's special effects-driven landing upon the Death Star. But the varying levels of conflict within Vader's character allowed Williams the opportunity to experiment with softer, less bombastic representations of the theme that would remain confined to Return of the Jedi and in hints during the prequels. Its final powerful statement in this trilogy is a remarkable fragment during the height of "Into the Trap."
- filmtracks.com
