Jaws (soundtrack)

Jaws: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The three releases of the soundtrack conducted by John Williams feature Roger Kastel's iconic painting[1][2]
Film score by
John Williams
ReleasedApril 21, 1992
RecordedMarch 1975
Studio20th Century Fox Studios Scoring Stage (Los Angeles, CA)
GenreSoundtrack, Classical
Length35:12
LabelMCA Records
John Williams chronology
''Jaws: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''
(1992) 		Family Plot
(1976)
Jaws chronology
Jaws
(1975) 		Jaws 2
(1978)

The Jaws soundtrack (officially Jaws: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the music composed and conducted by John Williams for Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws. The soundtrack is particularly notable for the 2-note ostinato which represents the shark, a theme so simple that Spielberg initially thought it was a joke by the composer.[3]

The film score was recorded in March 1975 at 20th Century Fox Studios and Universal, with expanded tracks recorded in April 1975 for the commercial release of the soundtrack album.[4] The soundtrack album was released on LP by MCA in 1975, and as a CD in 1992. In 2000, two new versions of the score were released to coincide with the film's 25th anniversary: one in a re-recording of the entire Jaws score by Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Joel McNeely, and another by Decca/Universal featuring the entire 51 minutes of the original score. The score was reissued again in 2015 through Intrada Records containing the full film score along with alternate takes, source music and a remaster of the 1975 album.

The soundtrack was critically well received, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Score,[5] the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score[6] and Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media,[7] In addition was ranked the sixth greatest score by the American Film Institute.[8][9] The score has been the subject of scholarly discussion in relation to its tradition in classical Hollywood scoring,[10] and its role in creating space in the film.[11][12]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference kastel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Howell 2015, p=19 "easily marketed by a single, iconic image splashes across newspaper ads, book covers, and film posters"
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference audissino125 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference intrada was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Audissino 2021, p. 133
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference globe was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "18th Annual Grammy Awards", Wikipedia, 2022-08-10, retrieved 2023-07-30
  8. ^ "The 48th Academy Awards (1976) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  9. ^ "AFI's 100 YEARS OF FILM SCORES". American Film Institute. 2005. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  10. ^ Howell 2015, p. 20
  11. ^ Audissino 2020
  12. ^ Audissino 2021