Listening to the Ep IV soundtrack again and trying to think about it;
* harp and triangle get used sparingly. They’re always cues that something magical is happening, that we’ve gone away from technology into fantasy.
* more aware of things as rephrased Luke’s leitmotif/main theme, how stormtroopers get a leitmotif
* lumpish ungrateful stuff gets bassoon and tuba. Jawas and oddly the trash compactor as though it’s alive.
@Leucrotta hmm... I think the bassoon/tuba refrain was for the monster in the trash compactor, rather than the compactor itself; I seem to remember that there was music as they were dealing with the monster, but once the compactor started up the music stopped. but I'm probably remembering it wrong--so much of that music just fits so seamlessly into the movie!
now that I think about it... when the compactor starts I *think* it switches to the more action-y stuff?
@troodon I’m pretty sure that the music really cuts in after the dianoga, but I’d need to rewatch it to be sure. Williams’ music could be an either or both - I’d bet he groups monster and tech as the same threat.
* “Burning Homestead” has a minor, shifted slow rephrase of the Jawa music. Likewise “Destruction of Alderaan” is the princess rephrased.
* there’s a whole piece for the princess which is very much a romance/love theme and never shows up intact in the movie, I think Williams wrote it as something to reference rather than for direct use.
*”Cantina Band I” is a Benny Goodman reference and the pacing is “Sing, Sing, Sing.” “Cantina Band II” is more Glenn Miller and less a specific track.