In composing the music for Schindler's List, for which he won his fifth Academy Award, John Williams created what many see as his most affecting film score. The work is different from his other film scores in that, although complementing the action and emotion of the film, it is somehow separate, not following each scene's action in detail through many themes that each represent a different idea or person. There is one main theme, simply called "Theme from Schindler's List," written specifically for violinist Itzhak Perlman, accompanied by orchestra, which is a haunting, simple melody that, while deeply expressive, in no way exploits the emotion of the story. It expands to incorporate some rhythmic and harmonic idioms of Eastern European Jewish music. This theme reappears in different cues in the score, each cue, as it appears on the soundtrack release, seeming like a self-contained mini tone poem or variation of the theme. "Schindler's Workforce" not only adds more Jewish musical idioms, but also uses the clarinet and cimbalom in a piece that is built out of an essential, repeated figure, only shifting harmony to create some sense of animation to describe the monotony of the factory workers' day. The score is not as broad in harmonic exploration (although there are atonal moments) or large in expression as his other scores, which is in keeping with the nature of the story. What makes the score so successful is its emotional directness that addresses, but maintains a distance from, the narrative.

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