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No. Not that we know at least. Except on the harp, but she usually wasn't included in official group photos of the orchestra. Anyway, I've finally found some time to start going through my photos. Here are some shots from Tanglewood. Excuse the blurry Williams shots, the Shed was a bit dark for my travel zoom lens. Tanglewood looks rather like Hogwarts... The Koussevitzky bust commissioned by Williams. John Williams in his natural habitat. A dendrophile's dream. People queuing for lawn seats. The Koussevitzky shed a few hours... ...and one hour before the concert.

The Asteroid Field is great but the Coruscant chase is totally ace. I definitely prefer it to most of his earlier action sequences. There's an overwhelming sense that the music is just pouring out of him and it is groovy as fuck.

Welcome.

Empire of the Sun (1987) Brilliant WWII drama displaying such powerful themes and clever devices, ushering in the first waves of Spielberg's "mature" films, from a directorial standpoint. The loss of innocence motif is hit so very finely, aided by a young Christian Bale, whose performance is admirably good for his age at the time. There are oodles of little Spielbergisms that I simply can't get enough of, many of which revel in deep symbolism and striking imagery. I was particualrily fond of a scene when Jamie returns to his home after being separated from his parents in the crowd. When he goes into his parents bedroom and finds the powder all over the floor, hand and foot prints tell a story of their own. Jamie opens the window and the wind blows away the memory manifest in the prints in the powder, as if to suggest some sort of escape from nightmarish circumstances, a breath of air to one who is suffocating, so to speak. Williams' score is something of a dark horse- it is probably one of the most underrated in his filmography. Simply put, a darn fine film on so many, many levels! **** out of ****

It’s the same for me. These kinds of histories and study aids, so to speak, are a big part of why I enjoy collecting soundtracks on CD. (Ditto for classical albums.)

Mauceri is absolutely one of the most cultured man I ever spoke with and he's incredibly knowledgeable about many things. He also has a wonderful attitude explaining and sharing his knowledge, no wonder he taught at Yale for many years. He just did another long wonderful interview with Alec Baldwin about classical music (but they also talk a little bit about film music, with a lovely anecdote about Miklos Rozsa), it's really a must-watch/listen whenever you have 90 minutes of spare time: I hoped someone would bring that up and I'm glad you did. Actually I was about to say something about that during the interview, but then I understood why Mauceri said that, put in the context of his overall thought about the music of the first Star Wars. He was making a point about how much JW drew from the temp-track blueprint he had to deal with and how much aware he was about referencing the classical and film music past as per Lucas's request. The music acted as part of the huge homage/tribute to the 1940 Flash Gordon serial and the kind of music Lucas was seeking for his own space epic. Referencing Korngold, Waxman, Stravinsky and Holst was very much a conscious decision. Of course, as Mauceri noted, Williams was able to distance himself from that starting point and be more and more himself as he went by in the following episodes.

From what I've gathered in the (recent) past he stays on a rather expensive place some minutes away from Lenox. I know I have that info somewhere, just need to look for it. Williams and his wife have in fact a couple other places, outside LA, but to the best of my knowledge, none in the Berkshires. @Marian Schedenig Those pictures are just terrific!

For people in eastern Canada or US. I’m looking forward to performing it.

What do Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Book Thief have in common? Yes, you guessed correctly! All three feature at the beginning of each movie an establishing shot, where a steam locomotive is driving through the countryside (or simply nature) and JW's music is heard prominently. There might be other examples, but these came immediately to mind for me. These are such a beautiful openings! Sets the mood perfectly.... And PS, although this isn't the opening shot.

ALOT more time, work, and focus goes in to editing the film than scoring the film. Please watch this. So JJ is micro-tweaking and JW is a passenger to some degree. First first version of the score is going to be solid but when a film loses a few seconds in a scene, the score editor can cut the score but a great composer would prefer to change the score to fit the new scene and I think that is what happens with JJ and JW. Since digital editing has pushed the ease of editing to the last second, you have less reliance on story boarding because just overshoot and edit it down. This is much more common today than it was when you had to physically edit film by cutting tape like in the 1970's and 80's.

This one

Mel Gibson is great, both as actor and director.

Perhaps it would be easier to get him to join a group interview, for example with Shawn Murphy.

I suppose so, but take for example ALIEN, and the great Intrada liner notes by Mike Matessino. There's a case where Jerry Goldsmith composed the entire score to a cut of the film we'll never see. Reading Mike's notes and his descriptions of all the little things that were in the cut that Jerry timed certain portions of his compositions to was fascinating, and helped explain why many cues are the way they are, because if you try to line them up to the finished film they might not work any more. So these kinds of notes aren't really about helping me re-live a film I've already seen, it's just about giving a context to the music. It doesn't matter if you've seen the film or not, or if clips exist on youtube or not. It's still a process with a lot of merit IMO. Let me ask you this. LLL gets a license to a classic film score, hires a great writer to fill a 24 page booklet up with information about the film and score. What do YOU WANT that author to write about, if the cue-by-cue pages shown on the warm butter site for this score example are not it?

Well for me, it's not about yourself visualizing the imagery, it's about the composer's process, knowing what events he is writing the music for helps understand why he wrote what he wrote, ya know? And yea, for scores that have themes that can be trickier to notice every instance of, it's always cool when liner notes highlight them for you. Timestamps seem to have gone away from being in booklets anywhere though, over the years...

"You have the scores on CD, but you vent all ze way back to eBay to get the 'Music of the Lord of the Rings Films' book. Vy?" *slaps you with glove* I'm not familiar with the Lord of the Rings scores, but I know they're very thematically dense and woven into the material, and that there's a lot of score for each film, so I could see more why this approach would appeal to people. Again, I don't mean this in a rude way, but the mock one I wrote up above; beyond certain jargon like C major chords and tritones, aren't those things you can sus out pretty easily? You fool, don't you understand!? I seek to _liberate_ people, to have them find and unlock their own potential for analysis! No longer will they have to depend on film score clergy the likes of Bondicus and Mikus Mattusvno XIII for salvation!

Exactly, I have no musical education whatsoever, so appreciate when good writers explain what a composer's doing in a way a layman like me can understand

Yes, it's especially helpful if you're musically illiterate like me, but have a faint understanding and these brief notes help identify what's going on. 'The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films' is a book @Nick Parker would burn!

You don't? I love that stuff!

Also Sauron ruled and spoiled Mordor at the end of the Second Age, Barad-Dúr's foundations were built then, the battle where he lost his Ring and most of his power (3000 years before LotR) was fought on a battlefield on the border (which became the Dead Marshes) and the slopes of Mount Doom. His moving back there from Dol Guldur was a return, he just kept a low profile to gather strength for a while.

I merged you together

So Azog's ancestors would have been born in Mordor?

Yes - WANTED and both ALICE IN WONDERLAND scores are really good. Other than those though.... yikes... It came across as insulting, to me, based on your word choice, fyi. What's bizarre about going cue-by-cue through a score and describing what scenes the music was written for, and what themes and instruments the composer used to score the scene?

Fixed!

Pretty sure I saw Temple of Doom first as a kid. In high school, when The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers came out, I knew nothing of the Lord of the Rings or anything Middle Earth. 2 friends of mine dragged me to a matinee to see it, cause I had nothing else to do, wasn't expecting much. After the opening scene with Gandalf fighting the Balrog, I was hooked. I think the Battle of Helms Deep is still one the most amazing theater experiences I will ever have. After that I ran home to watch FOTR, read all the books, have read the Silmarillion and listen to the scores monthly. I don't talk to those friends anymore, but I surpassed them by a long shot in my Middle Earth fandom.

It's pretty cool huh? Totally in there on purpose - no way you chance upon the droid theme (as backing) during a droid rebellion moment...

Agreed that his concert works tend to be better. I find myself doing the same as you - gravitating to the "big" tracks and main titles from his bigger movies. I get more into his quieter and weirder stuff, things like The Circle, these days. But I think Spider-man would probably be bumped out by so many of those big weird early ones - my top 10 wouldn't include any "later era" Elfman either, beyond Big Fish.

As am I!

First Contact > every other Star Trek movie

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, by Howard Shore What an accomplishment this score is. Every time I return to it, I find something new to admire. ***** out of *****

Danny Elfman: *looks at Mission:Impossible CD* *looks at last five years of film scores* *sighs, pours straight rum, tips glass to Mission:Impossible, slams entire thing, then gets to work on Fifty Shades spin-off trilogy*

I love love LOVE love Batman, Returns, Scissorhands, and NBXM....but I've probably listened to M:I more than any of those. I might as well call them all tied for first place, but there's something M:I does that the other ones don't that I can't put my finger on. I suppose it's just a little more inventive, original, out there...it was composed on some sort of ridiculously short timescale (can't wait to see what Jeff Bond's notes say about this) and sometimes great art is made that way - with no time to second guess yourself, you just keep the pencil moving, and I suppose your subconscious takes over more and you come up with something you never would under "normal" conditions. Or something like that. I'd be curious to hear what Elfman thinks about the score, these days!

Danny Elfman - Mission: Impossible (Complete) Waking up to the surprise announcement from LLL I was compelled to listen to the leak one last time. Still love it, and now I can't wait to hear the new official presentation! Daniel Pemberton - Ocean's 8 Been jonesing to listen to this after it was brought up in the Daniel Pemberton thread. Still love it! Ira Newborn - Ferris Bueller's Day Off Classic! Christopher Larkin - Hollow Knight (OST) Good stuff top to bottom! Lena Raine - Celeste: Farewell (OST) Interesting, at first (distracted) listen felt more like a remix of the original score than any kind of new direction. Highlight tracks were definitely Reconciliation and Farewell. Will be giving this lots more (more focused) listens for sure

I am enjoying this more than I should.

Yeah, I know. I sleep on the lawn because I cannot live in my house knowing a better builder could have followed the blueprint just a bit better.

Well, if you throw around your 'masterpieces', give us the 'dispensables'

I hear it. I'm not really sure if that's intentional or incidental, but I certainly never made that connection before. Well hidden and an excellent find from @PoggoAOTS! If I recall correctly, that little bit underscores something to do with the Imperial viper droids. Not really sure how the droid motif applies to them unless it's connotations are being interpreted broadly here by Powell as a riff for droids in general. I always thought it was more of a C-3PO and R2 thing. I could be wrong about the part in the film though, because I remember there being some interesting music in the film version that's not on the OST that plays as the crew trip the sensor and the droids are activated. I cannot remember precisely where this bit fits in.

I was recently thinking again about this fantastic movie (yes!) and score (of course) after revisiting "Marauders Arrive" to find the amazing hidden droid motif quote referenced by @PoggoAOTS— —and it occurred to me that it's strange that Powell, so nerdy in so many ways with incorporations of previous Star Wars material, didn't touch the "Lando's Palace" theme at all. Is it that it's more of a Cloud City theme than a personal theme for him? I guess that's borne out by its disappearance in ROTJ, but I certainly found it amusing when his playable character in Battlefront entered to a fanfare treatment of that theme: What I'm saying is, we can all use more of that theme in our lives and our movies, and I'm a little surprised Powell didn't even nod at it. At the same time, it took a year and a half for the droid motif to crop up. Has anyone found anything on this front?

Finally the truth! Steve is a hornist alt-account!

The Book Thief is my fave, the most emotionally affecting, several really nice melodic ideas that make the OST feel like a complete narrative. Haven’t seen the movie. The BFG is loaded with bits and pieces of all the JW whimsy I enjoy but doesn’t hang together quite as well for me. The end credit suite is very nice but I still prefer his others this decade except Last Jedi. Still the score has one of my favorite recent themes of his: And The Post is cool, I just hardly ever think to go back to it.

The Book Thief is a masterpiece. It's like a Faberge work in musical form. Precise, simple, yet complexly crafted.

Star Wars. I saw episode IV first. How many iterations of this thread idea can there be?

She was an essential character for the story that Johnson wanted to tell for Finn's development into an actual believer in the Resistance cause, whether you actually like how that story was told or not. It makes sense for her to have a less important role in the sequel now that her original narrative function is fulfilled. The only question really left dangling is if her and Finn continue to develop a romantic relationship, but Abrams could very easily just write it so that that story had occurred in the time gap between TLJ and TROS. At the beginning of TROS, I bet that Finn & Rose will either be fully in a relationship together or in a place where it just didn't work out. Maybe she wasn't happy that he spent way more time with Poe than her

This new recording of Rautavaara's Vigilia is good "on the far edge of a hurricane" morning music. Both the work and the composer are new to me and it's very nice choral writing indeed.

What an extraordinary album this is! I was eagerly anticipating it and I haven't been dissapointed in the least. I understand and adhere to the criticism regarding some of the playing. Mutter is an extraodinary violinist, but many of her stylistic choices usually make for performances that are far from being my favorite. That being said, the greatest thing for me about this whole project is that these arrangements actually exist at all. It's an unexpected gift to have JW himself revisit some of his compositions at this point in his career. His work is marvelous and in the future they might be played and recorded by any number of musicians. So for me, this performance may not be ideal in every respect. It sounds amazing and you can tell Mutter did put a lot of dedication to the project (we should actually thank her tenacity that Williams took the time and effort to produce it). And while I may not like some chocies to me that doesn't take away from the fact that these arrangements exist and we get to enjoy them. I can't wait for the Deluxe edition, particularly to hear what he did with Princess Leia’s Theme. I am bummed, however by the exclusion of Witches of Eastwick, sincce that is one of my favorite JW pieces (especially the piano/violin arr.). Here's hoping for a second album!

John Debney confirmed for season 3 http://filmmusicreporter.com/2019/09/03/john-debney-to-score-brenda-chapmans-come-away/

I really appreciate all these new arrangements and how much Williams put thought, energy and creativity into them to bring out the violin's voice in each of these works.. These new variations allow you to hear these well-known pieces in something of a different light and perspective and in fresh ways you have never heard them before which can be an ear-opener as well as a showpiece for a first rate violinist. To me it sounds like Williams was also having such fun with the music, there is a lot of musical playfulness at display, especially in the pieces like the Duel from Tintin or The Donnybrook Fair from Far and Away or even Hedwig's Theme.