> John Williams' popularity (though i do not doubt that he's an accomplished and intelligent musician) seems mostly due to movie work which is HARDLY original.

What musician is? What *artist* is? Artistic originality is only a measure of how prevalent one's inspiration is in the minds of one's audience. John Williams is unjustly ripped by finding his inspiration in prominent work. This does not mean he is anything less than the greatest symphonic film composer working today. (Ok, one of the greatest, lest someone be inclined to quibble with what is not the point.) The music is incredible just by itself, derivative or not, but on top of that is the neglected art of setting music to film, which is as hard to do well as it is to compose and arrange a musical piece in the first place. Williams does it about as well as anybody can.