> Well I don't think he stole music, been greatly influenced by those
> composers would be the right words. Who could blame him? Composers of all
> time were influenced by previous composers, if not writing variations upon
> other's. Note the Beethoven and Mozart's classical style in Chopin
> romantics works. Like the other guy saying that the Qui-Gonn's funeral
> scene and "Duel of the Fates" were copied on Orff's Carmina
> Burana: of course, a choir on a funeral scene would have this tone, like
> Mozart's "Lacrymosa". And for "O Fortuna", a lot of
> people thought that it was used integrally in "Duel of the
> Fates", a mistake for people's lack of musical earing. Of course, I'm
> 17 and I don't have the knowledge of a major in music composition student,
> but I think that those "stealings" are simple influences.
I agree. There is distinct difference between copying something note for note and just sounding similar to it. For example: Bill Conti's theme for The Right Stuff is exactly the same as a theme from Tchiakovsky's violin concerto, but the Force theme from Star Wars merely has a similar feeling to the main motif from the fourth movement of Dvorak's ninth symphony.
And let me lay down a little revelation for you all: this is movie music. It was not written to be original, independent, or even to be enjoyable to listen to for that matter. It was written to fit a film. If Host's The Planets fits a movie perfectly, then by golly (sp), put it in there. We are simply lucky that composers such as John Williams and Howard Shoare and James Horner etc. are gifted enough to create some astounding, original music.