Harry Potter - Live to Projection Concerts

[Jay 37,281]

Wow @mrbellamy thanks for that terrific write-up!  I never would have guessed so much source music would be played live, that's is SO COOL to learn about!

I wish these HP concerts would come to New England so I could see them!

 

The complete score to HP3 should fit on two discs, hard to know for sure though without knowing how many of the alternates we have sheet music for were actually recorded, ya know?  Also depends on the producer and if he's willing to include Inserts in their own track vs repeating the entire cue again this time with the Insert added, etc.

[crumbs 14,300]

12 minutes ago, Jay said:

Also depends on the producer and if he's willing to include Inserts in their own track vs repeating the entire cue again this time with the Insert added, etc.

 

I'm sure we all know which producer gets to work on JW expansions from here.  Has anyone other than MM even touched one since DD did Hook?

 

I'd say A.I. is a good template for Matessino's current mindset on presenting alternates/inserts. Williams seemingly doesn't like short tracks or inserts in isolation, but if the alternative requires 3 discs...

 

I could see LLL pitching a Potter release to WB as The John Williams Harry Potter Collection which allows 2 CDs for each score and a 7th disc for source music, alternates & inserts (expanded with the cues they belong to rather than isolated). Would that work for all 3 scores?

[Jay 37,281]

Yes, a 7CD set would easily be able to include everything recorded for all 3 scores, of course.

 

Since the DD version of Hook (March 2012), there have been several Williams expansions that were not done by MM:

• Quartet's The Long Goodbye (September 2012)
• Kritzerland's The Missouri Breaks (May 2013)
• Quartet's Heidi (May 2013)
• Music Box Records' Fitzwilly (October 2013)
• Quartet's Tom Sawyer (Dec 2015)

 

I don't think there will ever be another one, though.

[Bespin 8,476]

Heidi (2013) too.

[Jay 37,281]

Oh thanks for that!  I completely missed it because it was a TV movie!

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

15 hours ago, Incanus said:

Thanks for the great report @mrbellamy!!!

 

I have reserved tickets for the CoS coming here next autumn but hopefully they'll also perform POA here soon.

 

I'm not sure if I want to see/hear CoS but maybe I should bring my whole family again to the event just to make sure that PoA will happen...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I happen to be in the USA when COS gets its 4 performances here.

[Arpy 4,145]

16 hours ago, crumbs said:

Makes sense. I can't imagine any cheering, hollering or clapping during an MSO LTP performance! Melbourne's quite an art-loving city.

 

I always thought POA was filled with alternates, as Cuaron was quite exacting of Williams. There's plenty on the OST alone!

People applauded and laughed at the most famous meme, which I will not dare utter here.

[TownerFan 4,983]

17 hours ago, Jay said:

The complete score to HP3 should fit on two discs, hard to know for sure though without knowing how many of the alternates we have sheet music for were actually recorded, ya know? 

 

From what I gather, Williams wrote the music to a different cut of the movie and then discovered right on the scoring stage that scenes were trimmed/moved around/modified, so he had to revise/rewrite a number of cues on the spot, hence I guess a lot of those alternates/early versions weren't even recorded.

[Arpy 4,145]

52 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

 

From what I gather, Williams wrote the music to a different cut of the movie and then discovered right on the scoring stage that scenes were trimmed/moved around/modified, so he had to revise/rewrite a number of cues on the spot, hence I guess a lot of those alternates/early versions weren't even recorded.

Such as the alternate 'Window to the Past'? How late a change was that?

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Has this 'different cut story' ever been confirmed? It seems highly unlikely that Williams had to change things on the spot, but that might just be my limited knowledge of film scoring... And there aren't that many alternates either.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

5 hours ago, RPurton said:

People applauded and laughed at the most famous meme, which I will not dare utter here.

 

Wait what?

[crumbs 14,300]

3 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Has this 'different cut story' ever been confirmed? It seems highly unlikely that Williams had to change things on the spot, but that might just be my limited knowledge of film scoring... And there aren't that many alternates either.

 

I hadn't heard that either but there's long been rumours that their collaboration was less than congenial. Supposedly Cuaron pushed Williams quite hard (clearly with great results).

 

Apart from the liner notes I'm not aware of any interviews where Cuaron discusses the score or working with Williams, nor any where Williams discusses working with Cuaron. Is there anything in that Bluray scoring doco?

 

I always found that curious, given how diplomatic Williams is when discussing his collaborations.

[Arpy 4,145]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Wait what?

It involves a certain Sean Bean and his aversion to walking somewhere, scoffing that it can't be done so simply...

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Ahhhhhh yes.

[Skelly 260]

3 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Has this 'different cut story' ever been confirmed? It seems highly unlikely that Williams had to change things on the spot, but that might just be my limited knowledge of film scoring... And there aren't that many alternates either.

 

No confirmation... all I ever found of it was this forum post, but there's no reason for him to have made up a story like that (either Beggs or the poster).

 

One clue that this story is at least somewhat accurate is the titling of one cue as "Sir Cadagon", who in the final cut of the picture appears for a split-second; the film originally was going to have a subplot with the knight which was entirely removed.
 

Note that the cue fits neatly into that scene, no editing required.

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Interesting.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

@bollemanneke Uploaded my concert videos on YouTube for you:

 

 

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Thank you very much indeed @mrbellamy !

- Leaky Cauldron sounds distinctly different, as though the film version was just a loop of 5 seconds of that entire cue.
- Quidditc: You're definitely right, they deleted sound effects. Also, they added trumpets in the Grim music (dialed out in the film). Your orchestra sounds really similar to the real one in the film too.
- A Winter's Spell... Jesus Christ... Can we bribe a choir to record this for us? This one isn't really great, though.
- Pub source: again, you hear so much more in your recording than in the film.
- Harry shouting at Hermione: they added oboe to the first moments of Lupin's Departure.
- Harry and Voices: Why do I have to wait till Decmeber next year for this concert? The choir is much better here than in A Winter's Spell too. Nice moment to applaud them as well.
- Buckbeak's Execution: sounds really lovely.
- Dementors Converge: choir added (dialed out on the film).
- End Creidts:
-- Really nice performance of Hagrid the Professor.
-- Piccolo in Window to the Past plays an entire octave higher.
-- Buckbek's Flight: trombones! But some violin problems too.
-- Double Trouble: Nice to hear this song without the posh accent, but a little too much vibrato to my liking.
-- Aunt Marge's Waltz: Nice audible flutes.
-- So did they just stop after the waltz? Or did they add the Hedwig's Theme and that really awkward inconclusive Pettigrew statement too?
 

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Yep, they just stopped at the waltz.

[Skelly 260]

Their performance of 'Dumbledore's Warning' also has a much more apparent celeste than the film.

[Simon McBride 113]

Just got back from the Utah Symphony playing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Overall it was really great, but I don't really like outdoor venues. Also, they didn't play the end credits. Is that a normal thing to do?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

No it isnt!

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Is this the next step in the history of live to projection concerts, not playing the end credit suites?

[Simon McBride 113]

I'm not sure, but I was quite surprised when the movie ended and the whole orchestra got up and left the stage

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Luckily when I see Sorcerer's Stone in September it will be an indoor venue

[Jay 37,281]

Every Live to Projection concert I've been to, they played the entire end credits.  In the case of both Home and Alone and Jaws, the orchestra actually stayed after the end credits were over, and played MORE music.

 

There is one exception though; when I saw Star Trek Beyond Live to Projection, they only played the first part of the end credits (the courage theme arrangement) that covers the "main" credit sequence, then stopped after that before the rolling credits started.

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Wow, what extra Home Alone music did they play? I really want one to take place here...

[Naïve Old Fart 9,493]

It was the suite from IMAGES. 

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Wait, what? Not the carols?

[Jay 37,281]

40 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Wow, what extra Home Alone music did they play? I really want one to take place here...

 

They played Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas from Home Alone II.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

1 hour ago, Richard said:

It was the suite from IMAGES. 

 

Stomu looked great!

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Review of pOA concert +interview with conductor Justin Freer:

https://www.snitchseeker.com/harry-potter-news/harry-potter-film-concert-series-hollywood-review-and-conductor-interview-on-tour-more-107838/

Why do they need one conductor for the entire tour?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Why do they need one conductor for the entire tour?

 

$$$$$

[Saxbabe 28]

On Saturday, we saw HPSS live with the Houston Symphony (and Chorus)!

 

It was so, SO incredibly good, omg. We truly, thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

A few weeks ago, we also saw them do Jurassic Park (for my friend's birthday, with a big group), and we sat far back but in the very middle, really a perfect spot visually and sonically in that hall. And it was absolutely wonderful - in fact I even got all teared up...such memories, then hearing that majestic theme live...it was just overwhelming how, like, utterly thankful I was in that moment for the sheer existence of John Williams and his music.  (Gah, soo sappy. But c'mon I know you've all had the same thoughts!!)

 

This time - we were in the primo seats, about Row 10, off to the left, which was also great, though not necessarily better, just different in the elements that stand out. (Honestly I waited a bit long to get tickets, so the most expensive seats were all that remained!) The orchestra did THREE performances of this one (vs two for Jurassic Park), and apparently all three were sold-out, which bodes extremely well for more of these performances. (Friday night, Sat. afternoon, and Sat. night...brass must've been icing the lips down in-between, jeez!)

 

We went to the Saturday matinee, with I would assume the largest kid attendance, and actually LOVED it! It was totally a giddy atmosphere, with little (and big) witches and wizards excited all over the place in their house colors with wands, so freaking adorable. In addition to the usual drink stations, they even had a special featured station for Butterbeer y'all! (Non-alcoholic though) Sadly we didn't get any Butterbeer though because it was totally mobbed (and we rathered adult beverages anyway), but still, super cool.

 

As others have described, the conductor (lovely Australian chap, Nicholas Buc), did encourage everyone to cheer on their favorite characters, which was fun, it really didn't bother me as I thought it might. Once it all got underway, for the most part everyone including those of tender age were rapt as if "under a spell" (har, har), and listening quite intently, especially during the heaviest-scored sections.

 

One awesome thing I got to see being up-close this time, was the sync system - I was very fascinated with watching it and figuring out how it functioned

 

For anyone who hasn't seen it well yet, I took a zoomed-in clip below as they reach Diagon Alley - you may want to zoom full-screen, here you will see the yellow streamer, and big blinky circle indicating tempo, and in the top right, the counter showing the measure number and beat (ex. 38/1, measure 38, beat 1)

 

The streamer bars come in red, yellow, and green - it appears Yellow indicates "get ready", so right before the beginning of a cue and then right before transitions of tempo/time signature, Green is for the beginning of the cue, and Red is for the end of cue.

 

(For anyone here who actually participates in film scoring etc., please correct me on any parts of that which are wrong!)

 

 

 

 

Couldn't have hoped for a better performance all-around - sometimes I would actually forget to pay attention to the orchestra as they sounded so natural and perfect as the soundtrack!  I was also so very happy the Chorus was there, they sounded marvelous and add so much to the score. The musicians looked to be enjoying themselves immensely, the cutest was on the "Fluffy's Harp" cue, when the harpist flawlessly played her feature solo, and at the end just beamed like "yes, I loved that!" Lots of smiles on players' faces, and of course in their rest periods were also watching the film  

 

I dearly love the JW HP scores, so it was all a dream to hear live, but wow, Quidditch and Wizard Chess were definitely high points!! I've heard these scores so many, many times, and the writing is still just stunning in how richly detailed, complex, and challenging it is, while also seeming to be very idiomatic and just flat out fun to play. Hearing live, I really noticed particularly the involved percussion parts in many cues, so much neat stuff going on that is harder to hear on recording!

 

They did indeed play the full End Credits, and almost everyone stayed - here is a little vid! I have heard the Houston Symphony probably dozens of times, and they were really in tip-top form at both the JW films we attended, sounding as great on this clip as anything I've ever heard from them - style, phrasing, articulation, perfect. The brass were to DIE for here, chills!!

 

 

 

 

 

I think after this doing #2 and #3 are no-brainers...they also did E.T. earlier this year and have done Star Trek etc., these always sell well, many of my friends who don't go to the symphony even went and loved it. Any JWFan here who has a chance to go at all, do it!!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

9 hours ago, Saxbabe said:

And it was absolutely wonderful - in fact I even got all teared up...such memories, then hearing that majestic theme live...it was just overwhelming how, like, utterly thankful I was in that moment for the sheer existence of John Williams and his music.  (Gah, soo sappy. But c'mon I know you've all had the same thoughts!!)

 

This was me when I finally got to see "Adventures on Earth" performed by a live orchestra.

[Jay 37,281]

Awesome report Greta, thanks for that!

[MrScratch 294]

Saw Chamber of Secrets last night here with the Baltimore Symphony.  The playing was excellent, I didn't notice any flubs and the music was always perfectly in sync with the picture.  At the beginning the conductor encouraged cheering and hissing.  All throughout the movie children (and some old ladies near us) hissed any time a Malfoy was onscreen.  Fortunately that didn't interfere with any significant music cue.  There was very little clapping or cheering except... when Lucius gave Dobby the sock.  The whole concert hall erupted in applause at that scene.  I thought was a bit strange.  Then again, I've never been a Dobby fan and don't see why that character is so loved with HP fans.

 

The best part of the evening was finding out upon arrival that Prisoner Of Azkaban has just been added to their 2017-18 schedule for March.

[Simon McBride 113]

It's cause he dies

[MrScratch 294]

14 hours ago, Hawmy said:

It's cause he dies

 

So do a lot of characters.

[Simon McBride 113]

Now that I've thought about it. They might have skipped the credits because someone had a heart attack or something and they had to stop the concert.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

On Friday, July 28, 2017 at 10:11 PM, MrScratch said:

Saw Chamber of Secrets last night here with the Baltimore Symphony.  The playing was excellent, I didn't notice any flubs and the music was always perfectly in sync with the picture.  At the beginning the conductor encouraged cheering and hissing.  All throughout the movie children (and some old ladies near us) hissed any time a Malfoy was onscreen.  Fortunately that didn't interfere with any significant music cue.  There was very little clapping or cheering except... when Lucius gave Dobby the sock.  The whole concert hall erupted in applause at that scene.  I thought was a bit strange.  Then again, I've never been a Dobby fan and don't see why that character is so loved with HP fans.

 

The best part of the evening was finding out upon arrival that Prisoner Of Azkaban has just been added to their 2017-18 schedule for March.

Really?!

[MrScratch 294]

1 hour ago, Brundlefly said:

Really?!

 

....really what? Yes, I really did attend this concert.

1 hour ago, Brundlefly said:

Really?!

 

Oh, the part about the conductor encouraging cheering? Yes. I was a little annoyed with that at first but as I said it didn't really interfere with much, if any, music. 

 

Though a friend of mine attended the Saturday afternoon show and she said that at her show there was a lot of cheering.  Probably a lot more kids at that performance than at my Thursday night show.

 

I picked the right concert to attend.

[Jay 37,281]

Damn I can't wait for these to show up near me!  Sounds great!

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

Man I wish I had the money to attend at least one of these concerts.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

That was pretty cool!  All the cons I sort of knew about going in were indeed cons.  The crowd was very vocal.  They cheered at just about anything.  This was encouraged by the conductor before the film began, actually.  Sometimes the SFX/dialogue were indeed louder than I'd have liked.

 

But on the other hand, for a film score fan these are pretty unique concerts that I'm very thankful are growing in popularity.  I will say, the highlight was probably the end credits though (after the crowd finished cheering every time an actor's name came up) because it was 5+ minutes where the music was the entire focus.

 

I'm pretty sure the orchestra used a synthesized celeste.  And they did use the pre-recorded choir.  Actually, do any of these Harry Potter concerts use live choir?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

On 02/08/2017 at 5:06 PM, Jay said:

Damn I can't wait for these to show up near me!  Sounds great!

 

They seem to be doing well here. They booked a fourth performance of CoS in Rotterdam and have fasttracked PoA to January.

[Jay 37,281]

Glad you had fun, Stu! I don't recall if there's an option for live choir or if they always play it though the speakers.

 

I've seen FOTR, TTT, and Home Alone with love choir.

 

When I saw Star Trek Into Darkness, the choir came from the speakers.

 

When I saw Raiders, there simply was no choir.

 

ET, Jaws, and Star Wars of course have no choir.

 

I think that's all the ones I've seen!

[mrbellamy 6,272]

14 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I'm pretty sure the orchestra used a synthesized celeste.  And they did use the pre-recorded choir.  Actually, do any of these Harry Potter concerts use live choir?

 

When I saw POA in Indianapolis they had a live women's choir.