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John Williams YouTube tributes thread


Quintus

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On 9/25/2016 at 5:56 AM, toothless said:

I don't know if it's ever been posted here or if there is a thread dedicated to masterclass, but anyway I came across this the other day. Nice video I thought I would share with you.

 

https://vimeo.com/143233309

 

 

If you're interested in reading what we thought of it:

 

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/20629-williams-and-spielberg-to-be-honored-on-turner-classic-movies-afi-master-class

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

Thank you ! I did search the forum but with "Masterclass" in one word :P

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A piano/violin duet performance of "Hedwig's Theme" recorded on wax cylinder.

 

Wow, I really love this.  For some reason, this track just feels right sounding like it's from the early 20th century.

 

 

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Just discovered a couple of nice tracks on Spotify from violinist Angele Debeau and her group, La Pieta.  It's especially gratifying to hear a version of Far and Away that departs a bit from the Perlman suite.

 

This one's just tangentially Williams, but it's decent:

The non-Williams stuff on these albums is also well worth a listen.  Great version of "The Ludlows" from Legends of the Fall!

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These are more tributes to Carrie Fisher than Williams, but still, there have been some wonderful/cool interpretations of Leia's Theme in the past day or two:

 

A bell tower:

 

Classical guitar (really peaceful, and nice cameo of another theme at the end):

 

Cello (especially sad sounding):

 

Acapella:

 

 

I'm sure there'll be more in the coming days.

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Some more good/neat ones that have been posted over the past day:

 

Electric guitar with cool intro and elements of other themes:

 

Violin and piano:

 

Arranged for 34 (electric) guitars:

 

Mariachi version (yes, really):

 

Alto Sax:

 

Singin' in the Rain Mashup:

 

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I see that Sonia's / Player Piano's Star Wars Medley was included on page 2 of the thread... So I wanted to point out she also did the Superman theme as well. She does some neat stuff on her youtube channel like her on the spot challenges where she hears a piece then has to fully transpose the music in her head and play it on piano... on the spot. Not just the melody she does the counterpoints everything... pretty talented.

 

 

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I don't think any of these have been posted in this thread yet, unless I missed them:

 

 

 

Player Piano did special cut of just the Princess Leia Theme as a tribute to Carrie Fisher.  

 

 

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I've always felt the JURASSIC PARK theme (especially the first more reverential, psalm-like part) would fit a church organ arrangement perfectly. Alas, there have been no such album recording, as far as I'm aware (unlike STAR WARS) -- I'd just love to see a HUGE cathedral organ used for this, and a very competent player.

 

Meanwhile, we'll have to suffice with some amateur renditions on Youtube (not too shabby, though):

 

 

 

 

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I was at St David's Hall, Cardiff last night where the BBC National Orchestra of Wales performed music from sc-fi films.  John Williams was well represented including this.  Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  They did a wonderful job

 

 

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Holy cripes!  Just discovered this and didn't see this guy's name anywhere on the forum when I searched, so feast your ears!  Apparently it's been hanging out on YouTube for over a year.

 

 

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Of all the John Williams tribute videos, I never thought I'd see THIS, his first-ever recorded piece:

 

 

It's a pretty good performance too!

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7 hours ago, Thor said:

Of all the John Williams tribute videos, I never thought I'd see THIS, his first-ever recorded piece:

 

It's a pretty good performance too!

 

Cheers Thor! tiphat.gif It's such a lovely piece that I couldn't resist transcribing/learning it.

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This vid was included in the Harvard honorary degree thread, but deserves mention here too - 

 

Here is the Harvard "Din and Tonics" acappella group with a super cute and creative JW medley!

 

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Btw the A at 2:56 can be "explained" by treating that chord as based off of the G harmonic minor scale (where the seventh degree, F#, is spelled as Gb). The video maker treats the chord as fundamentally Eb minor with a G in the bass, but I think seeing it as a case of G harmonic minor is more representative of what we hear (in general Williams treats harmony in terms of scales and modes rather than chords, not to mention that he appears to have a chronic hard-on for the harmonic minor sound).


The notes in the G harmonic minor scale are: 

 

G A Bb C D Eb F# 

 

Forgetting about the A for a second, we have the following notes in the chord (in bold):

 

G A Bb C D Eb F# 

 

So if we want to add more notes to emphasise the harmonic minor sound, we have three notes to choose from.

 

D: is the fifth so has a heightened tendency to go towards the root, but it's problematic because it is part of the preceding G minor chord also, so it reduces the impact of the distinct motion of D -> Eb that you get from a G minor -> Eb minor motion (try it on the piano)

 

C: not bad, but not as dissonant as......

 

A: this is the most dissonant of the three tones, and has a strong bite, so it fits well with the "evil" character of the piece. Williams has no choice but to place it in the chord where he did: place it an octave lower and the bass turns into a catastrophe, place it an octave higher and it becomes the top note, abandoning the leading-tone effect of the Gb (F#).

 

Now, rather than the A, insert any other note, which is not part of the G harmonic minor scale, into the chord, and you will see why I assumed that particular scale in the first place. ;) 

 

(Now that's enough music theory for the month...)

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