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Classic FM will broadcast the concert live! https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/john-williams-royal-albert-hall-live/

"Um, hey guys. Sorry I'm late. Had to do this thing for J.J. Baby and then traffic was a bitch on the way over here. But, uh, yeah, who is ready to get started?"

Hello, Some of you are already aware of this, but I want to spread the news to every JWFan here: After a few months working on it on and off, I'm now ready to launch this side project of mine which I hope will encounter interest among fellow John Williams admirers. It's time for me to give back the immense amount of gratitude I have toward this great composer. It's a blog called "The Legacy of John Williams": https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/ The purpose is to build a platform to collect and gather material from people around the world who were inspired by the music of John Williams--mostly musicians, composers, conductors, but also filmmakers, film professionals, historians, music critics and scholars. I want to give space also to admirers who have interesting stories and perspectives to tell and share. The goal is to celebrate the rich musical legacy John Williams is giving and leaving to our lives, for centuries to come. There is a larger and much more ambitious goal at the core of this project, but it’s too soon to speak about it. If this blog will get momentum and will become the platform I hope will be in the foreseeable future, everything will be addressed. As you can see, it's still work-in-progress, but from now on I plan to build and update it regularly, so be patient, I promise it will be worth your time. Taking a cue from the Maestro's writing process, I see this project as a living thing that can be improved and changed over the course of time. Today I published the first piece of content, an exclusive interview with pianist Gloria Cheng about the Montage recording/documentary: https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2018/09/27/conversation-with-pianist-gloria-cheng/ I've also set up Facebook and Twitter pages, so I hope you will like/follow: https://www.facebook.com/thelegacyofjohnwilliams https://twitter.com/TheLegacyofJW Of course feedback from anyone is greatly appreciated. Thank you for listening!

Don't get too excited about 13 new signatures - that's just Stefan under all of his screen names

I took these a week ago and forgot to post them.

I don't think there is a best or worst in this case. If asked which I thought was best I would literally be unable to decide

DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT THE GOONS ON YOUTUBE HAVE LIED? https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/heat-vision/star-wars-chief-kathleen-kennedys-lucasfilm-deal-extended-three-years-1147653

I think you mean this album:

This blog is not as important as "THE" website about the discography of John Williams, but we appreciate your effort!

Not much, apparently. I'd still buy a new, remastered/complete release. And definitely a better performed re-recording (the same goes for Rambo III.

He’d be perfect for the last scene as the guy who wakes up and says: “It was all a dream!”

Similar to the "Flying with Chewie" version but the trumpet calls are a bit different.

I hadn't seen this before. I'm riveted. In heaven. Leonard Bernstein leading a rehearsal of my favorite movement from my favorite symphony for his last ever concert at Tanglewood. Bernstein Rehearses Copland at Tanglewood, 1990: Part 1 Both Bernstein and Copland would be dead within 6 months of this video.

Unlike most Hollywood stars you mean? Harrison Ford is almost always Harrison Ford, Connery was Connery, Cary Grant played Cary Grant most of the time etc...

Indeed. Someone has to record this for us poor blokes who can't listen to the broadcast because we'll be at the RAH.

Don't worry, I already sent that to JJ Baby directly

On some classical web sites it’s among the recommended versions.

It will be a collection of "Johnny Williams" music from his comedy 1960's period.

I still hold out hope that the 3 Potters will be separate, in which case I'll only buy Azkaban on release and save the others for a bit later, seeing as how i've listened to the first two sessions for years. I can live a bit longer without an official reedit/remaster.

It's the year for the BOOKS not the year for the HOOKS. I've been saying for years there won't be any new expansion of Hook until the missing Ultimate War tapes are found/returned or a better generation master is uncovered in Sony's archive. Would love to see Matessino fix all the other issues with that first expansion (considering his relationship with Williams' camp) but there's no point if they still need to use the film stems. My money is still on Potter 🤞

I'll certainly try to listen! One of you brave lads who will be there must shout "Praise the Tablecloth" or "Star Trek is better than everything!" during an applause so I know I'm listening to the right thing and you're really there.

I can't listen to the broadcast because I'm busy at this time. Karol

They just didn't want bollenmanneke to know. The Royal Albert Hall and The London Symphony Orchestra have a longstanding vendetta against bollenmanneke.

Alright so I did find out that "Don't Hold Your Breath" is in fact two separate cues, AND I found a completely clean version of the first half of the second part, including a completely clean opening. I will be re-uploading them both shortly.

If someone ever re-records Rambo III I desperately hope they stick a new recording of the Rambo: First Blood Part II end credits on there! I need that in great sound! Yavar

Why not a Cantina saxophone guy from SW 77? They've got similar balding patterns!

You know, we know things, but we can't say anything... you know what it is... You have to be in the "circle".

I think we have whole threads devoted to the topic of getting good results out of sample libraries including Vienna. Some of us are quite accomplished and I would advise you to investigate those threads because the bottom line is sample libraries are instruments and you need to practice and work with them to get good results. You can buy the best library and get poor results if you don't know how to use them most effectively similarly you can have mediocre libraries and get excellent results if you have great mockup skills...and have sufficient hardware to use them properly. It's a broad topic and has been discussed frequently here.

From a purely selfish perspective as an international buyer, I really hope they don't wait until December to announce/ship Schindler's List. It's the worst time of year for international shipping due to the volume of mail for Christmas + public holidays, meaning heavy delays into the new year. That would suck. I guess it depends on whether SL is their last Williams release for the year or if they have something else lined up for Black Friday (I'm thinking MM has something... magical... up his sleeve).

Wow.

Since there was some confusion about remastering for this title, I asked Mike if he can wanted to clarify his statement and he said this:

I just signed.

Make that two! And shared!

Done!

Isn't his version of The Planets average at best? Great conductors don't because laureates at the Boston Pops.

The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms Lethal Weapon The Lord of the Rings (Rosenman) The BFG Odd thing, but I'm sort of warming up towards that Williams. While far from artistic triumph, watching the film really helped me appreciate it. And it works much better around this tine of the year as well. The Predator Karol

Yeah it's a nice track that one.

Strictly, as a "conductor", not conducting his own compositions, these two albums are I think, among his best ones:

Cocoon by James Horner. Ah, yes. peak Horner. Magnificent stuff, really. The depth of Horner's writing always surprises. Lovely oboe work.

Wonder if his trip to London at the same time IX is filming there is a coincidence?

Once Solo cues start being added to that music database we'll probably get a clearer idea of which cues JW composed, as he should be listed as composer. Although the fact his themes were adapted by Powell throughout the score might complicate that; JW could receive a co-composer credit on any cue featuring his themes (ala the cues for JW:FK that used his JP theme).

Yeah I specifically meant from the horn solo onwards. It's two different cues in that one clip, 0:00-1:40 then 1:40-3:35 for the potential Williams part.

Oh lord he zinged my ass on more than one occasion! Amigo, may I suggest you cool it, as well. Even if you were being treated so roughly--which I don't read--what good is being a jerk in return going to do? There's no value in such a line of behavior. You're making strange leaps of rhetoric that come off as overly antagonistic...you don't post here a lot anymore, but I remember you being a cool dude back in the day!

I'm pretty sure just a few seconds from the end of The Future, since it's crossfaded into the beginning of the finale cue (which is a repeat since it's on the other volume as well). Otherwise between the two volumes we're supposed to have the complete score -- of course there may be unused cues or alternates which would necessitate a second disc, but if not, it should all fit on a single one removing that finale repeat. Yavar

John Williams - Attack of the Clones I dig this score a lot. It's almost a blessing that GL didn't have his shit together enough to have a complete cut to present to Williams so he could have scored everything. As a result we have no filler music, just great stuff all the way through. I've also been listening to a mini-playlist of just the action cues lately and liking that a lot. John Williams - The Lost World (LLL) LOVE THIS Daniel Pemberton - Ocean's 8 I dig this score a lot!! It kind of came out of nowhere to really surprise me. The film was garbage but the music is full of fun! John Williams - Close Encounters of the Third Kind (C&C playlist version of LLL edition) The more I listen to this score... the more I'm sure it's one of the best scores ever composed. Thank god this restoration came out and presents what was recorded in such brilliant sound quality. Trevor Jones - Cliffhanger (LLL) You know, I swear I used to like this score. I probably would have included it as one of my favorites of the 90s. But now I just can't get into it. It's REALLY long, and REALLY drags. That opening main title cue is still gorgeous, and sure, some of the action music is nice. But bloody hell, it goes on, and on, and on...

---sorry auto correct. It's not that I have anything against him, it's just my experience in listening. His recording of Schonberg's Gurre-lieder is absolutely hideous, by far the worst (although there are several bad recordings by famous conductors) but it's pretty unpleasant. Also his recording of Le Sacre with the London Symphony has some issue. (His recording of Gruppen is excellent but thats with three conductors and really contemporary, I don't know if thats a good example) Actually, one of my good friends is a a huge fan of Karajan. So many conductors said he was the greatest, but a lot of his recordings are not so great as well, like both the Rite of Spring recordings are really weird, and his Debussy and Ravel are off. But of course there are a great many that are pure gold. Also which was not mentioned is that just because a conductor does some genres better than others (I consider different periods of music almost like different genres) does not make them a bad conductor. The difference between Debussy and Bach is enormous, and Mozart is very different to perform than Brahms (although there are many bad conductors that perform everything the same way, which is boring as hell). So to respond to publicist, to call someone a "pops" conductor is a huge compliment to be able to handle a bunch of random repertoire all in one evening with minimal rehearsal (since a lot of orchestras just use these concert to make a quick buck). Additionally, I remember a quote from Seiji Ozawa saying he could never conduct to a film like Williams does, it was too difficult for him. I think the same can be said about Arthur Feidler, who did endless concerts outside the Boston Pops, and they were mostly of the classical repertoire, and he was labeled "kind of pops"or something like that. Don't forget also all these people are trained at conservatories just as "the greats"but are not necessarily repeating or playing the same music over again (like the Mahler symphonies for example, I think conductors were considered incompetent for a while if they didn't record the whole Mahler cycle). I think Alexandre Desplat is probably the best example of this (although he doesn't really concertize outside his own music). He graduated as a flute major from the conservatoire Nationale de Lyon, which has extremely high standards, especially in composition. Now his music is very simple, but by choice and style. If you ask him to write a fugue in the style of Bach, I can guarantee he can do it because he would have had to in order to graduate, and additionally I believe he performed "Explosante-Fixe"by Pierre Boulez, which is for three flutes and is extremely difficult contemporary music. So just because they do not perform Mahler or Wagner, does not mean they could not. PS- In all honest reality, without any bias, musicians who claim to work on things for decades either exaggerate wildly or they are honestly not the brightest person around. I know it's pretty difficult for classical people to understand because it's very high-brow and elitist, but there are a great many classical artists who are dumb as rocks, and I can tell you from experience. Certainly not all of them, but I've noticed that sometimes they take forever to learn a score because they're just not too swift (or from their training also, which lacked any sort of training in analysis). Also they are people who fundamental perform and put on a show, and they love to exaggerate and dress things up. I love Andre Previn and he's pretty intelligent for sure and a very find musician, but sometimes he repeated stories in interviews and every time the story is very different from the other versions, but always dramatized sounding. Also, does " I studied it on the airplane before arriving for the first rehearsal" sound particularly attractive? More often than not that's what conductors do when they've performed the piece a lot or it's something that does require special attention ALSO for example John Williams has written some rock tunes, funk and a lot of jazz (and performed a lot of jazz too) as well as Haydn and some other piano concerti at Tanglewood. He can swing and groove just as well as play classical. HOWEVER most classical trained people cannot do anything besides make modest interpretations, but for most part play the music very literally. See here, Anne-Sophie tries to play some kind of Tango and it's all over the place.

Most people who don't think he's a good conductor are ignorant and would never know the difference in their life. For every good conductor, there's a great many more who are posers. A good conductor, in whatever way, get's the orchestra to play well, corrects mistakes, balances, and adds their interpretation to the music (which is always the hardest part as orchestras sometimes fight the conductor). John Williams is an excellent conductor, with a meticulous ear for just about everything, especially for knowing what to attack in a rehearsal when and how and even perhaps more important when to leave things alone (such as James Levine who would pick over the same details forever or tediously rehearse the last three mozart symphonies, stopping and starting constantly and never really playing through any of it 100%, which really just accomplishes nothing more than irritate the orchestra). A great many conductors live on this mythic reputation, which when asked for evidence to support such a reputation, there's usually nill to go on. Especially true in the case of his recordings of "The Rite of Spring"which Stravinsky absolutely hated and said it was the antithesis of what he envisioned (If you don't believe me, mainly because it's widely reported Stravinsky loved the recording, just look up his autobiography he goes off on a big rant about it. Ligeti, Boulez and Stockhausen were also displeased with his recordings of their pieces saying he ignored their wishes and did whatever he wanted). Bernstein was a legend but he could be all over the place, inconsistent. Claudio Abaddo has more hideous recordings ( meaning just terrible sounding and full of mistakes) than any other conductor, Andris Nelsons I think is also difficult to follow as it seems he conducts some pieces differently from each rehearsal to concert (from what I have observed, I could be wrong) although his interpretations can be pretty nice, Leonard Slatkin (also in my opinion) was never anything special and has in the last ten years gotten so lazy and uninspired that that kind of sound is 100% reflected in the orchestra (having heard him conduct several orchestras within the same few years in the US and Europe), Gergiev's performances always sound terrible because he's extremely spontaneous and doesn't even rehearse the orchestras most of the time he has other people do it. Daniel Barenboim mostly screams at the orchestra (usually calling them stupid), throws things, and in any case every time i've heard him conduct live and even on many recordings it sounds very half assed and sloppy and comes across as very lazy (although the times I've heard him perform as a pianist have been wonderful). Copland, Stravinsky, and Pendereki were (are) absolutely terrible conductors. I could keep going but that's really boring. Basically what makes a good conductor, at least one who is respected by all, is a person who's a good go between who acts like they are one of the ensemble, respects their wishes, but also can be commanding when needed. Deals with balancing, mistakes, and gives their interpretation when they can, or at the very least, what they believe the composers wishes were. Most importantly are excellent communicators. I think a lot of names are usually left out; Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Andre Previn, John Elliot Gardiner and John Williams certainly fall into a category of the finest conductors who embody all the above, but could conduct various types of music well ranging from the avante-garde to the contemporary. PS- judging a conductor who only conducts classics is silly because for example, the last three mozart symponies, the orchestra will usually play them the way they usually play them and will sometimes completely ignore the conductor, which I have seen time and again, however a great recording of the vienna phil, all teh credit goes to the conductor who may have little to do with the performance besides stand there and look nice.

Voldemort?!

If you hear a difference - great! I doubt anyone else will though. It’ll be easier to pick up the differences in the film versions where there’s actual, substantial difference. For example, I thought that @Incanus made a great contribution in saying that he preferred the album version over the film version.