Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (soundtrack)

The Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith soundtrack was released by Sony Classical on May 3, 2005, more than two weeks before the release of the film. The music was composed and conducted by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices. A music video titled A Hero Falls was created for one of the film's theme, Battle of the Heroes, featuring footage from the film.

The soundtrack also came with a collectors' DVD, Star Wars: A Musical Journey, at no additional cost. The DVD featured sixteen music videos set to remastered selections of music from all six film scores, set chronologically through the saga.

This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005 (#83).

Like most John Williams releases, the album soundtrack does not present the entire score. Instead, it presents highlights from the score edited together in a concert suite-like program, presenting a musical story over the course of the album.

Album track list

 * 1) Star Wars And The Revenge Of The Sith – 7:31
 * 2) Anakin's Dream – 4:46
 * 3) Battle of the Heroes – 3:42
 * 4) Anakin's Betrayal – 4:03
 * 5) General Grievous – 4:07
 * 6) Palpatine's Teachings – 5:25
 * 7) Grievous And The Droids – 3:27
 * 8) Padmé's Ruminations - 3:16
 * 9) Anakin Vs. Obi-Wan – 3:57
 * 10) Anakin's Dark Deeds – 4:05
 * 11) Enter Lord Vader – 4:14
 * 12) The Immolation Scene – 2:41
 * 13) Grievous Speaks To Lord Sidious – 2:49
 * 14) The Birth Of The Twins And Padmé's Destiny – 3:37
 * 15) A New Hope And End Credits – 13:05

Total Time: 72:09

Star Wars: A Musical Journey
Star Wars: A Musical Journey is a bonus DVD included with the soundtrack. The DVD, which runs for just over an hour, contains a collection of music video clip's from the Star Wars films set to selected themes from Williams's scores. The music has been remastered in Dolby 5.1 surround sound It also contains a preview trailer for the video game adaptation of the movie. Each clip features an introduction by actor Ian McDiarmid. The program can be watched with or without this introduction.

Major themes

 * Star Wars Main Title
 * Princess Leia's Theme
 * The Emperor's Theme
 * Battle of the Heroes

Recording information
John Williams' score to this, the sixth and final film of the Star Wars saga was recorded over five days at Abbey Road Studio with the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices starting on February 3,2005, with one morning allocated specifically for vocal recording.

Also recorded o­n February 3, Revenge of the Sith DVD Version (Battle of the Heroes, presumably)

The released cue slate (and recording dates) are as follows:

Slate Title Recording Date
 * 1M1 Fox Fanfare (Empire Strikes Back Recording)
 * 1M2 Star Wars Main Theme (The Phantom Menace Recording)
 * 1M3 Boys Into Battle February 12, 2005
 * 1M4 They're Coming Around February 14, 2005
 * 1M4a "Get 'Em, R-2!" February 7, 2005
 * 1M5 The Elevator Scene February 17, 2005
 * 1M6 Count Dooku's Entrance February 14, 2005
 * 1M7 The Death Of Dooku February 2, 2005
 * 2M1 Grievous And The Droids February 9, 2005
 * 2M3 Another Happy Landing February 3, 2005
 * 2M4 Revisiting Padmé February 3, 2005
 * 2M5 Grievous Travels To Palpatine February 3, 2005
 * 2M6 Scenes And Dreams February 12, 2005
 * 2M7 Be Careful Of Your Friend February 13, 2005
 * 3M1 Council Meeting February 14, 2005
 * 3M2 Hold Me February 13, 2005
 * 3M2a Palpatine's TV Set February 7, 2005
 * 3M3 Palpatine's Big Pitch February 9, 2005
 * 3M5 Goodbye Old Friend February 3, 2005
 * 3M6 Going To Utapau February 13, 2005
 * 3M7 Riding The Lizard February 12, 2005
 * 3M8 Obi-Wan Fares [sic] Droids February 12, 2005
 * 4M1x Drawing Swords February 3, 2005
 * 4M1a Good Guys Arrive February 8, 2005
 * 4M3 Palpatine's Seduction February 2, 2005
 * 4M4 Rolling With Grievous February 13, 2005
 * 4M4a Fighting With Grievous February 8, 2005
 * 4M5 Dialogue With Mace February 17, 2005
 * 4M5a Padmé's Ruminations February 8, 2005
 * 4M6 I Am The Senate February 14, 2005
 * 5M1 Palpatine Instructs Anakin February 3, 2005
 * 5M3 Lament February 7, 2005
 * 5M3a Bail's Escape February 14, 2005
 * 5M4 "Swimming, Droids and Yoda Farewell" February 9, 2005
 * 5M5 News Of The Attack February 12, 2005
 * 5M6 Moving Things Along February 9, 2005
 * 5M7 Anakin's Dark Deeds February 3, 2005
 * 6M1 It Can't Be February 17, 2005
 * 6M2 A Moody Trip February 12, 2005
 * 6M3 Padmé's Visit February 2, 2005
 * 6M4 Heroes Collide February 2, 2005
 * 6M5 Duel Of Yoda And Sidious **Choir Only** Not Assigned
 * 6M6 Yoda Falls February 3, 2005
 * 6M7 The Boys Continue February 8, 2005
 * 6M8 Rev. Yoda To Exile February 12, 2005
 * 6M9 Revenge Of The Sith February 3, 2005
 * 7M1 The Immolation Scene February 8, 2005
 * 7M2 Anakin Crawling February 8, 2005
 * 7M3 The Birth Of The Twins February 7, 2005
 * 7M4 The Death Of Padmé February 7, 2005
 * 7M5 Plans For The Twins February 8, 2005
 * 7M6 Padmé's Funeral February 7, 2005
 * 7M7 A Home For The Twins February 7, 2005
 * 7M8 End Credits February 17, 2005

Reports from people involved leaked out onto the internet and descriptions of the recording sessions can be read at JWFan.net.

Differences between the album, film, and initial score
Although riddled with editing, the score presented in the film is different in many respects to what John Williams had intended.

Due to the process George Lucas puts his films through during editing, many scenes were streamlined and music was removed. Also true to form for the prequel trilogy, many scenes contained pre-planned tracked music. Such is the case of "The Tide Turns" from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace tracked in for the scene when Anakin flies the now crippled Invisible Hand for a crash landing on Coruscant.

"Duel of the Fates" also makes an appearance in the score. This time, however, the choir was re-recorded and layered over the choirless recording from The Phantom Menace.

Also worth noting is that in the recording process, John Williams will record cues multiple times and use those takes to make one edit of the track.

Anyone familiar with the film will note that the music in the opening of the film—after the scroll—starts with only low Taiko Drums, which continue up until the music is finally tracked in and continue, layered underneath the music. The album recording, however, does not have such prominent percussion and in some cases, has slightly different orchestrations in parts that can be compared—as not all of the Album take is available. The differences stem from changes made during the recording process and from alternate takes of the same cue. The actual landing on the ship contains a partial alternate ending as well not available anywhere except in the film itself.

Worth noting is that the CD also contains alternate versions of some of the battle cues and the unused segment "The Elevator Scene."

Another more memorable cue, "Padmé's Ruminations," is different than what is heard on the album both in mixing, and in the vocal performance.

Much of the film contains percussion alternates. "It Can't Be" for example, (album track "Anakin's Dark Deeds"), has a percussion track in the film missing on the album.

About 95% of the score can be heard in the album and various LucasArts video games but a complete release has yet to be made.