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John Williams returns to Chicago -- April 26-29, 2018 (*Full concert now available online*)


Mari

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I have an ER shift that ends at 2 on Thursday. One that starts at 6 am on Friday. In-between, driving the three hours there and back, for what is sure to be a spectacular concert. Most excited about Jane Eyre! 4th time in concert for me. First was 2010 with Pittsburgh, thought that might be my one and only chance. Since then, also got to see Hollywood Bowl and Boston. What a time to be alive!

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He mumbled something about Ep.9 that we couldn’t catch. The gist was that he’ll be doing it. As the previous poster mentioned, he gushed about Daisy Ridley and joked that when Kathleen Kennedy asked him about doing TLJ he only agreed because Ridley was in it!

 

Jane Eyre unfortunately was sloppy and lazy. Not directed well. The first movement was fine but in the second one the flutes couldn’t keep up, and the third movement just wasn’t very musical at all. Adventures of Mutt same deal. All in all the first segment wasn’t great, though the genius of E.T. shone through. When Williams took the stage the orchestra was in good hands.

 

SW pieces were Rebellion is Reborn, Rey’s Theme, and Throne Room/Finale. Encores were Marion’s Theme, Superman Theme, and Imperial March.

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It was an amazing night!! 

I loved so much to hear those rare pieces like The New Beginning and Jane Eyre. 

 

No Han Solo and the Princess encore though😢

 But maybe tonight!

 

I loved also that pre concert conversation with the guest conductor and Gene Pokorny, tuba player. I thanked him afterwards and we talked about 90's when he played JW concerto with my orchestra.

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I wish I could have gone to all 4 concerts now, instead of the 2. I missed the Maestro undressing. 😂

 

 

Just a random observation. Does anyone else absolutely love his sign off now to the audience at the end of a concert? Of course with his age, it must be extremely tiring to give as much as he does while conducting for over an hour, so that little sleep sign he does when he rests his face on his hands to say, "that's all folks. Time for me to sleep."

 

I adore that.

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3 hours ago, leeallen01 said:

I wish I could have gone to all 4 concerts now, instead of the 2. I missed the Maestro undressing. 😂

 

 

Just a random observation. Does anyone else absolutely love his sign off now to the audience at the end of a concert? Of course with his age, it must be extremely tiring to give as much as he does while conducting for over an hour, so that little sleep sign he does when he rests his face on his hands to say, "that's all folks. Time for me to sleep."

 

I adore that.

Yes and Willliams has done that little gesture of "time for bed" for decades in his concert performances. :)

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3 hours ago, leeallen01 said:

I wish I could have gone to all 4 concerts now, instead of the 2. I missed the Maestro undressing. 😂

 

 

Just a random observation. Does anyone else absolutely love his sign off now to the audience at the end of a concert? Of course with his age, it must be extremely tiring to give as much as he does while conducting for over an hour, so that little sleep sign he does when he rests his face on his hands to say, "that's all folks. Time for me to sleep."

 

I adore that.

 

Yeah I love that. Especially when you've been to a number of his concerts down through the years. It is a lovely tradition and the audience always laughs.

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Anyone else notice a big difference in JW's physicality when he's conducting vs when he's not?  As soon as he starts conducting it's like he's 40 years old again. Amazing. 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, MikeH said:

Anyone else notice a big difference in JW's physicality when he's conducting vs when he's not?  As soon as he starts conducting it's like he's 40 years old again. Amazing.

 

He’s not E.T., he’s Yoda.

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Thursday night was a phenomenal concert. While there were some struggles with conducting, following the orchestra's lead, missing cues, etc... the stamina, energy and joy he had while conducting were quite heartwarming. In spite of the difficulties, there were many amazing moments. My favorite was during With Malice Towards None. In the middle of one of the solo trumpet miniature cadenzas, the Maestro exquisitely suspended the orchestra and adapted to the soloist. You could tell that he was really loving he opportunity to let the music breathe, without being limited by the screen. 

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You can tell Williams loves conducting Hook. It's been a staple of his concerts for years, just like the Imperial March.

 

I wish he'd conduct his new arrangement of The Face of Pan more often, though.

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3 hours ago, Damien F said:

I thought it was pretty cool that we got to see The Rebellion Is Reborn live just a few months after the OST was released. 

 

I didn’t think it was played with any particular enthusiasm, though. It seemed to me he cared much more about Rey’s Theme. (Which was slow, but heartfelt.)

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3 minutes ago, Pellaeon said:

 

I didn’t think it was played with any particular enthusiasm, though. It seemed to me he cared much more about Rey’s Theme. (Which was slow, but heartfelt.)

 

That is clear from his beaming admiration of Daisy Ridley. He literally said "I'm crazy about her" and referred to it as Daisy's Theme. 

 

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There is an error in the story on the jwfan.com main site—it was not Main Title but rather The Throne Room / End Title, as I have noted above.

 

I am listening to the various recordings of this suite, and the ROTS recording is shorter by a minute and a half than the other ones (Gerhardt, Skywalker, Kunzel), due to not including the usual End Title beginning. Does anyone remember if it was this version that he played at the concert, or the usual full version?

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