For a long time it was City in the Clouds; and hitting the Force Theme while Luke stares at the binary suns in A New Hope is probably the best marriage of sound and image in all of film; I like the music from the end of The Phantom Menace with the "Whoah-oh-oh" kids and Boss Nass going "PEEEEAAACE"; there's an argument to be made for the Boba Fett theme song. If it was last year I could cite some Andor cuts directly but my memory's faded.
The Star Waver song from Visions 1. Sugaan Essena. As AMCA pointed out, the incredibly sick bit of violin work as the Rebels travel to Lirasan.
But it's Rey's Theme, at the end of the day that's my favorite.
I love that it's a final treasure from John Williams to the world; the last truly great bit of theme work he did for Star Wars, written in empathy for how lonely he saw Rey on the screen. I'm a little sequel droid, and I love that it's new Star Wars. Even if its coming up on a decade now, it still feels like the new Star Wars to me. The Star Wars you haven't seen yet. The Star Wars to be revealed.
I love that it's the whole of the thing in one song. The lonely, inquisitive flute-- Rey herself, Luke on Tattooine, Anakin before that-- the hero, right there, before the call, questioning its place in the world, turning over rocks to discover what wonders can be unearthed.
The dorian chimes. The ancient harmonics, the minor chord adding mystery, the metal world of the past. Rusted hoplite armor; a Death Star buried in sand; turbolasers in the current.
The growing excitement! The build! The uncertainty of it, don't you hear it? The loneliness! You can hear the steps forward and the head turning back, and then--
The sweep! The majesty of it all! There are worlds in this song, there's flight and impossibility, there's soaring and reaching out and there, right there, the answer to all your questions-- who am I, what am I for, what will I do-- you reach, fingers straining, pulling with the Force, almost there, and--!
You're back where you were. You never left. Maybe the journey was just in your mind, a whole adventure dreamed and dreamed again; or maybe you found what you were looking for, right back at the beginning of the tale. It was you all along. And the cycle repeats again.
There's nothing like it in the rest of Star Wars. It's exquisite, a complete adventure for your ears in 3 minutes and 11 seconds. The whole of the hero's journey, the whole of Star Wars in a single song. The greatest and best song in Star Wars.
