Reputation from MSM - JOHN WILLIAMS Fan Network

MSM reacted to Smeltington in An Evening with John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma: One Night Only at Carnegie Hall (February 22, 2024) April 8

The thread bump reminded me, I wrote up my recollections of the concert and have been meaning to post them.

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I arrived about an hour early, and walked around the first, second, and third floors and looked at all the handwritten music by famous composers, and autographed photos of famous performers. I eventually made my way to my seat, on the fourth floor balcony. I was almost all the way on the far right, close to the stage. People filed into their seats, many arriving last minute. The orchestra members were all warming up, and you could catch occasional strains of Williams tunes.

Finally the first chair violin came out, to applause. Then Deneuve. He said something like "Yes... (pause) John Williams is here!" He introduced Just Down West Street and they performed it. He then introduced the cello concerto, with much discussion of Seiji Ozawa (who died recently) and saying that Ozawa encouraged Williams to write the concerto in the first place. He introduced Yo Yo Ma, who took the stage to big applause. I enjoyed hearing a lot of hallmarks of Williams' early-2000s writing in the concerto. At the end, Ma held his bow a long time, holding off the applause, and finally everybody went nuts. Then the stage door opened and I could see Williams standing square in the middle of it! He came out, hugged Yo Yo, waved at everyone, there was big clapping and ovating. He left again, Ma sat back down and did Schindler's.

After an intermission, the lights dimmed and it was time for the second half. Williams took the stage, to big applause of course. After every piece he conducted, there was quite a bit of applause, and ovations at least half the time. He moved around slowly, but was otherwise very enthusiastic, in introducing the pieces, waving to the audience, gesturing to orchestra members to stand for applause, and in conducting. He often used gestures to get the feeling he wanted, and to encourage specific sections of the orchestra during key moments.

Olympic Fanfare and Theme
> A great opener!

Excerpts from The Book Thief
> I like this score and was excited to hear this piece. Nice oboe solo! Williams introduced the piece with a long description of the plot, saying the music they were about to play was mostly for scenes of the children in the story reading books together.

Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra
> He introduced this and the two following Indiana Jones pieces all together, saying Harrison Ford was in his 70s, which made him a teenager in Williams' eyes. He joked that the insurance companies were nervous about Ford's stunts. He told his anecdote about the Scherzo, firstly that a scherzo meant a little joke, but that it was challenging to perform. He said it took a brilliant orchestra to record it, but when he saw the final movie, all he could hear was the motorcycles. So now he was going to have his revenge, playing it without the movie. Which is a great thing about this and the other Williams concert I saw at Carnegie Hall previously (with Anne-Sophie Mutter) - no video screen the entire time! He introduced the other two pieces as well, not really explaining Marion's Theme, and calling the Raiders March "the Indiana Jones march", close enough right? He told an anecdote about that one, saying Ford told him he hears the theme everywhere he goes, and he even heard it when he was getting a root canal, and hates the music! Williams got a chuckle out of that. The Scherzo, I've heard live quite a bit in recent years. But it was still cool to hear it again, and it's a very nice showcase for the orchestra.

Marion's Theme
> While this piece is lovely, it just kind of drifts by, with the concert arrangement spreading the theme a little thin. And it became redundant with the long excerpt of the theme appearing again in the Raiders March.

The Raiders March
> This one somehow never really gets old, even after 1000000 listens. I focused more on the brass this time, and noticed they were really respecting the dynamics of the piece.

Princess Leia's Theme
> He introduced this piece with his anecdote I've heard several times, that George Lucas didn't tell him there'd be a second movie, and he figured Luke and Leia would end up living "happily ever after" and had good action scenes and comedy scenes together, so he wrote them a love theme. Then George made more movies and it turned out they were brother and sister, so he had to write a new love theme to correct the situation. He emphasized that he didn't know, so he was innocent! I was excited to hear the piece, which I think is one of his best concert arrangements of a film theme. And HOLY... SHIT did the Philadelphia Orchestra perform the hell out of that piece. This was the biggest highlight of the night for me. A series of absolutely stunning, BEAUTIFUL solos. Williams pointed out the soloists during the applause at the end, though I think only the flute player stood up.

Adventures on Earth
> Beautiful of course. I may have heard this one a couple too many times in concert, but there were still many excellent moments that I enjoyed... both the obvious "hooks" and some of the more meandering parts that I don't have memorized.

Helena's Theme
> The first encore. Big introduction about Helena, Phoebe, Lauren Bacall, and the idea that it was a femme fatale theme, although I kind of question that. But it was nice to hear, especially after getting more familiar with the Dial of Destiny soundtrack.

Star Wars (main title/end credits combo)
> This one was more welcome than usual, since I've been having a moment with the Star Wars 1977 score lately. Hearing this piece performed live, you would really never know he edited together the main title/Imperial Attack stuff right into the end credits... it flowed perfectly in this performance. Great to hear the material feeling fresh after my revisiting of the score.

The Imperial March
> Got the biggest cheer of the night at the start when people recognized it. As usual when hearing this in concert, I got the biggest kick out of the flute solo. Who knew flutes could convey pure evil.

After each encore, he walked to the stage door and a guy gave him a sip of bottled water, then he came back out for the next piece. But after Imperial March he did his usual sleepytime gesture, to the usual laughter, and walked off for good. Really a nice, enthusiastic, and highly professional performance from himself, the orchestra, and the soloists. A well-behaved and appreciative audience too. I'd say there's something special about the atmosphere of a Williams concert at Carnegie Hall compared to some other places. I daresay New York City and Carnegie Hall foster a climate of appreciation for the arts that leaves no need for gimmicks and keeps the focus simply on quality programming and refined musicianship. Serious Williams fans, see him at Carnegie if you can!

MSM reacted to Marian Schedenig in An Evening with John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma: One Night Only at Carnegie Hall (February 22, 2024) April 8

I see you almost got a butt seat again.

MSM reacted to Thor in An Evening with John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma: One Night Only at Carnegie Hall (February 22, 2024) April 8

Hey, MSM, seems like you got eye contact in that last shot! I got one too, in Boston 2014, but alas didn't manage to take a picture of it.