Joel McNeely leading the orchestra for Shadows of the Empire. Joel McNeely was the composer behind the musical soundtrack for the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire expansive multimedia project.
McNeely also created the musical scores for a couple of other Lucasfilm projects: the television show The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles from 1992 and the 1994 motion picture Radioland Murders.
McNeely was selected to be the composer for the Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire multimedia project's musical soundtrack, for which he chose a traditional, classical style. This particular soundtrack was intended to accompany the narrative of a book instead of a film. Robert Townson conferred with him to explore the storyline's overall atmosphere and scale, the primary themes, and to reach an understanding on the necessary compositions. He also furnished McNeely with concept artwork created by Ralph McQuarrie. During the spring of 1996, McNeely journeyed to Scotland to conduct the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the Shadows soundtrack recording. Portions of his musical compositions can be found within the Shadow of the Empire computer game soundtrack.
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