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Disc 3: my thoughts. Opening with the children's suite is a great idea. Hearing the entire thing as a whole for the first time in ages was really refreshing. Though I don't like Fluffy's harp, those violins in Diagon Alley are such a delight, Quidditch is wonderful and Harry's Wondrous World at the end works so well, especially because it references previous movements. I do think that including HWW on disc 2 was a bit superfluous/overkill: I know that's how it is in the credits, but now it's a little repetitive and we have HWW in Chamber of Secrets again too. I would also have preferred the pub music to come first, because that flute solo is Hedwig's theme yet again. The vocal Hogwarts forever versions is great, Hedwig's theme for harp is a little weird but great fun, the coke ad is as magical as ever, but the teaser music is rather redundant. The trailer is interesting because it was seemingly recorded in a smaller studio or by a small/inexperienced orchestra and given the short running time of this disc, I think it would have been nice to have Owl's Flight at the end of a Dumbledore's Advice reprise. It would have given Hedwig's theme a well-deserved break and casual listeners might have had a better idea about where the cue belonged.

Went to see PoA live yesterday: as I said in the LTP thread, apart from a few minor glitches it was an incredible experience. Anyway, I probably was the only one feeling sad during the Discussing Black scene. We miss you, 30" shawm cue ❤️ (sorry for the vertical video — ugh — and the Italian dubbing) IMG_9144.mp4 By the way, I also snatched a certain tambourine/Cadogan cue IMG_9145_TRIM.mp4

Geez! It's Vangelis!

Damn! Isn't this thread supposed to be about the music? Some of you guys are obsessed with the tiniest flaws and mistakes and imperfections. Really! I swear, some of you guys didn't even buy this set to enjoy the music buy to find mistakes and flaws....

Ni!

I'm sure @The Illustrious Jerry will play it on his mighty organ for you.

Of course. That is why I responded initially, “John Williams.” I had to edit my response after I realized he was referring to the final track. Regardless of that, all of the Maestro’s music is presented, and I really enjoy this phenomenal set.

Mine is still sitting underneath the tree unlistened to. I'm enjoying my 4K player visually rather than aurally. Got Poltergeist in right now. The great Goldsmith score is a very emotional score.

Apparently, LLL wants me to appreciate them packaging the order well, because on the invoice, they circled my comment to "please please please package well" with a pen So I hereby announce that I appreciate LLL's packaging.

Like mine earlier today?

My piano concerto album is finally out on youtube/itunes. Recorded at Abbey Road - hope you enjoy.

Ah, thanks! So the actual HP1 OST version isn't on there, because a bit in the middle was restored. And the Children's Suite and CoS versions are the same ones then. That makes sense.

That’s interesting. Weird, though. It just seems odd to include music by a trailer house group that had nothing to do with the Maestro, apart from segueing into the end of Reunion of Friends. Anyway, I just ended up replacing it with the track “Finale” from the original soundtrack album. I just felt the track is not only a unique album track, but ending the entire set with that triumphant version of A Window to the Past is a perfect way to cap the entire set. Aside from doing that, this entire set is phenomenal; just perfect. Thanks again to Mike Matessino and all involved with this set, especially Maestro John Williams. Looking forward with much anticipation to what 2019 has to offer.

Hey, Jay. I had a question. Out of curiousity, why was “Trailer” included as the final track? I find it odd as the first part of it is not composed by the Maestro.

The sugar-coated Tom Hanks Walt Disney was more intolerable than that woman, who seemed reasonable enough. The smoking PSA scene was especially embarrassing.

Excellent! I will definitely purchase the set now! I bought the 20th anniversary edition of Saving Private Ryan a couple of months ago, and it’s the same way. The film version of “The Last Battle” is well worth the purchase alone! Thanks a lot!

I could arrange it for you if you’d like!

Very nice! The John Williams at 80 article was a great read! It’s motivating to see someone of his age still so dedicated to the creation of beautiful art and truly meaningful music! I was thinking about purchasing this set. How is it?

That's my pleasure! Visit my website now: http://www.goplanete.com/johnwilliams/music/disco/albums.htm. 😁

Nice 4th post.

Well, just a hunch, but could have something to do with the soundtrack Deadline being somewhere around October/November, while Shore was rewriting and recording up until literally hours before the premiere in December. Did you also get your knickers in a knot when the LOTR OSTs featured a plethora of alternates because of schedules? Be thankful we got so many alternates on CD, because going by the LOTR CR and Rarities situation, we would never get so many Hobbit alternates any other way.

Because his sleep cycle is ideal for the timing of the purge!

...

My cover for Far and Away: Far and Away by John Williams by hahah123 Covers, on Flickr Far And Away by John Williams (without border) by hahah123 Covers, on Flickr

He was summoning a storm of rock-infused glory from his studio, jamming with the Magnificent Six and Michael Cera!

I miss Moffat! 😫

There's some slight electronic signal in the background of Leaving Hogwarts at 0:36 but I crosschecked it with the OST version and it has the same weird sound in the background. Also there's a very faint digital hiccup in Fawkes Heals Harry, checked the alternate cue too and it's in the same place! Seems these were problems with the initial source files from which the set was produced and out of anyone's control. Luckily these are small virtually unnoticeable things so they don't bother me too much, but I can hear them!

INDIANA JONES AND MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL? Now, that's worth watching!

Why 'modern-classical' composer Thomas Adés was chosen for 'Colette', a 2018 biopic based upon the life of the French novelist Colette (improbable Keira Knightley) becomes not entirely clear. His contribution consists of mainly short miniatures, light chamber-sized music recalling the late Georges Delerue, with waltzes and danses of the period (Debussy, Saint-Saens, Satie) to add authentic flavour. Adés own contributions are in the same vein (though he adds the requisite string section) and occasionally rather effective, but the brevity doesn't help (most cues clock in about or even under a minute). It's far from a disgrace and the orchestration reveals a skillful hand - but probably will not change this year's Best-of lists now it has been released.

5 years today. He was a quintessentially Polish composer. His music really captures what this country is about. No one else could quite evoke its soul with as much ease and elegance. Karol

Only at JWfan! Raiders is more classy while TOD with its burlesque excessiveness is bordering on kitsch. That's true for Raiders as well.

Especially for those men who are made to sit through it.

PBS will be airing the Bernstein centennial tonight.

I just bought a ticket for the LSO and Rattle playing Bruckner's 6th in Vienna in February.

Obviously. I quoted the box set for ironic contrast.

“All music composed by John Williams.”

Trouble Takes Many Forms is my favourite track from the new set!

Akira Ifukube scored 11 Godzilla films, a 12th film featured a score entirely comprised of his music from previous films. 6 other films used his music at various points. Plus he scored 11 films that featured possible tie ins to the Godzilla universe.

Certainly, there is nothing to compare the 9 films too (and the influence on 2 other modern films + the 80's movies + the TV shows + Shadows of the Empire + the games + Disneyland/Disney World + the Radio Shows + audiobooks +....). But really, there have not been many opportunities for such work either. The closest in my mind is the Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner which I love but it's so hard to compare them because JW is such an opposite to Richard Wagner in terms of temperament, world view and personality. Plus of course Williams has composed far more total music than Wagner's 13 operas and handful of concert works. But if we want to compare musical treatment for the same master story arc, it would be The Ring and Star Wars (which crosses art forms). Time-wise it's about 16.5 hours (depending on the conductor) vs. 20+ hours (for SW - assuming 2 hours or so for Ep IX.) Next up is Howard Shore's work on the 6 Hobbit/LoTR films. The movies are longer, so the to the total music time gets close to the same. Yet, to me, they still feel like 2 related but different trilogies - more even than the SW prequel trilogy does to the original trilogy. What makes JW's feat on SW even more amazing is that we also have 4 Indiana Jones films (and maybe 5 + some of one Young Indy episode). Even a 4/5 film franchise with consistent musical language and development is odd in itself. John Barry did 11 James Bond films (not including touching up Dr. No and orchestrating the Bond theme for that outing). So, that's more movies than Star Wars will be (depending on how you count Solo and Rogue One). And Barry does have a few themes that work across many of the films (and even show up in the David Arnold scores). However, there is no consistency of development. Very few characters reappear in any meaningful way, so there is less chance for a musical language to span. Plus John Barry did not really compose that way. He let the songs form the new themes each time out which works for the Bond formula. (From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, Moonraker, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights.) Harry Potter (and Fantastic Beasts) deserves a mention because of the influence of the Hedwig Theme on the other scores, but really, the soundtracks do not hold a consistency across the 8+2 films. And the use of the themes shifts a bit too with Harry linked to Hedwig's music on the later films. What else is there with a lot of entries to even compare? I guess things like the Thin Man series, the Abbot & Costello films, Fast and The Furious, Police Academy. Perhaps things like 30's/40's serials - Buck Rogers, Tarzan, stuff like that - although I have no idea how much was done by the same composer. Finally, maybe in some way the Hammer Films make up some sort of epic scope, but few are in the same fictional universes. Gosh, I know this does not belong in this thread, but there you go!

It was a great year for him! Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, Attack of the Clones...even if you're not a fan of any one of those, it's hard to deny that they feature some top writing from him, with at least a few musical setpieces that sing to even the most jaded listeners.

JW finishing at 8 of 9 Star Wars films is basically my worst nightmare, especially considering his likely successor. Yuck.

Bad ideas are essential to make good ones.

Most humans can't hear frequencies over 20khz anyway, and if you're over 40 you're lucky to hear frequencies over 15khz. The fact that a few minutes out of 8 hours was missing frequencies over 16khz is really and truly irrelevant, especially when all affected passages are on the OST anyway. It would cost LLL thousands of dollars to create, repress, and mail out replacement discs for no audible difference whatsoever. That money is better spent ensuring more Williams soundtracks come our way. I am 100% positive Mike will examine the frequencies of all studio and engineer supplied elements received in the future, and use that information along with everything else determine the right element for every part of the job.

This makes complete sense. I know the score is filled with unconventional scoring decisions (that work brilliantly!) but pizzicato strings underscoring an intense werewolf chase through a forest does stick out as a little... "bold." 😎 Even choosing a string overlay to beef it up seems a restrained addition, so he must have really liked his original idea (he saw fit to include it on the OST after all).

I have a hard time collecting my thoughts. So far, I have nothing but praise for this box set. The sound quality is amazing, it feels like the orchestra is playing in my living room. Some random thoughts so far; – I am insanely familiar with the score for Philosopher's Stone. It is, along with Azkaban, probably the movie I've seen most times in my life. I can hum along to every cue. Yet somehow the score feels completely new! It's breathtaking stuff. – Surprisingly I prefer the original version of the "Diagon Alley" cue. It's so wonderfully strange. Was completely taken aback by the new opening too. – I absolutely adore the "Hogwarts Forever!" theme. It seems like many statements were removed from the film. – "Cast a Christmas Spell" is a highlight for me. Ever since the set was announced I've been wondering if the synthesize (?) would be included or not. Where is that from? Was it recorded for the song? The music box reprisal is also great. This track is pure Harry Potter to me. – "Filch's Fond Remembrance" is another lightlight. It really foreshadows Azkaban's medieval sound. The same is true for the last 35 seconds of "House Selection". Love the flute. – "Fluffy's Harp Lullaby". Wow. The source music really blends well together with the score in PS. – The Children's Suite! I'm gonna return to this suite many times. "Voldemort", "Family Portrait" and "Diagon Alley" are my favorites based on my first listen. – "Hedwig's Theme for Harp" blew me away. Where did that come from? Williams should utilize harp more often. – I still can't believe the "Teaser" recording is included. 😍 It's unreal. – I really like "Hogwarts Forever (Vocal Version)". I can't get over how inspired Williams must have been writing this score and all the source music, theme suits and songs. Somehow almost every cue feels like a highlight. I guess I have a tendency to prefer the smaller scaled stuff, don't know why ("Owl's Flight" is my favourite statement of the Nimbus 2000 theme). After listening to these first three discs I'm not only lamenting the fact that Williams didn't score film 4-8 - now I wish he had scored the books as well! I haven't even opened the liner notes yet. I've just been listening with my eyes closed. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was my very first film score album. My aunt noticed I kept humming the music from Harry Potter, and so she gave me the soundtrack for Christmas 2001. I was 7 years old and it changed my life and opened up my love for orchestral music. Listening to this expanded edition feels like a monumental moment in my life. A big thank you to @Jay, Mike Matessino, LaLaLand and everyone else involved in this amazing release.

Doppio, doppio, fatica e problemi Bolla di fuoco e calderone Doppio, doppio, fatica e problemi Sta per accadere qualcosa di spiacevole! Occhio di tritone e punta di rana Lana di pipistrello e lingua di cane La forchetta e la puntura del verme cieco La gamba e l'ala civetta di Lucertola Doppio, doppio, fatica e problemi Bolla di fuoco e calderone Doppio, doppio, fatica e problemi Sta per accadere qualcosa di spiacevole! Nel calderone, fai bollire e infornare Filetto di un serpente fenny Scala del drago, dente del lupo Streghe mamme, fauci e golfo Doppio, doppio, fatica e problemi Bolla di fuoco e calderone Doppio, doppio, fatica e problemi Bolla di fuoco e calderone Doppio, doppio, fatica e problemi Bolla di fuoco e calderone Sta per accadere qualcosa di spiacevole!

Annnd here's another one