A huge part of music is all about managing your audience's expectations. The challenge for a film composer is to understand what the audience is looking for, and then go one to two steps ahead of that. Meaning, if the audience is expecting an ominous theme, then the music written should not just be ominous, but fearful. I can't really put it into words.
What always amazes me about JWilliams' music is that it radiates form and structure, despite the fact that he eschews the usual chordal forms. It is erratic, it is shocking, and at times it just plays into your soul and makes you wonder what kind of magic is out there.
(BTW, I am listening to one of JWilliams' soundtracks right now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tztuGMPLAmI)
A lot of film composers are good at writing music that "fits" the ambiance, or is emotionally beautiful. That's great. But JWilliams' music is an entire new world in itself. Some of the musical theory he uses is so intricate, and utterly brilliant.
Let's take a comparison soundtrack, for example. Everyone always compares JWilliams to Howard Shore, because HShore has some of the most epic music (in LOTR). But when you listen to HShore, you think, I could write that. The music has a lot of chordal symmetries, the instrumentation is excellent but not mindbreaking, and the structure of it all is quite comprehensible to the human ear. Do you guys see what I mean?
I'm not trying to undermine HShore's music. I'm just saying, while it is extremely beautiful, the structure is clear and there are patterns that begin to emerge (such as a timpani emphasizing the beats, or the lower strings providing a significant bass, or the upper strings holding the melody).
These patterns are great but they make the listener too comfortable. When you're listening to JWilliams, you just don't feel comfortable... you feel a hidden energy in you that you never knew existed.
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