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Stepmom (John Williams)


Thor

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This doesn't have a previous thread either, it seems.

 

The film is a forgettable, soapy Chris Columbus melodrama, but the score is great -- especially considering it's a replacement score (not sure how much time he had). Paints wintery landscapes in broad strokes, with gorgeous writing for woodwinds and solo guitar (Chris Parkening is one of our greatest masters).

 

I've become more and more enamoured with this particular sound of Williams in later years (STANLEY & IRIS, PETE'N'TILLIE, THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST etc.).

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That's fine. Don't get me wrong -- I do like it sometimes when he goes all out mushy; when it's kind of a "celebration" of all those aspects, like HOME ALONE or the HARRY POTTERs or MRS. DOUBTFIRE. But it may also result in misfires, like BICENTENNIAL MAN and STEPMOM. Great melodrama is a tricky genre to get right. At least we almost always get great scores out of it.

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I love this score. Especially the tracks that feature the guitar as well as the sprightly Horse and Buggy cue.

 

 

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It is a charming little score with a lovely autumnal feel to it, very much in line with lyrical intimate JW scores like The Accidental Tourist and Stanley & Iris. The Days Between (aka the End Credits) is a particular highlight, both the guitar and oboe versions.

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1 hour ago, Richard said:

It's very nice, and I also like the guitar pieces, but...geez, doesn't JW get bored conducting his own music, all the time? Has he ever had the urge to conduct THE RING CYCLE, or the complete works of BRAHMS?

Your avatar is Rush.  Do their concerts typically feature a lot of music by other bands?  Does that irritate you as well?  Or are you being sarcastic and I am just not getting it? 

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Rest assured, Tom, you are getting it, and that's a good point, but even Rush had a FEEDBACK tour (which I saw, btw).

I know that JW is, primarily a composer, and that composers - usually - conduct their own music, but I wonder what JW's "spin" on, say, Vaughn Williams' 4th Symphony might be?

I'm not sure that he's ever stretched himself, as an interpreter of other people's music. After all, he is influenced by a lot of people. Then again, one could argue "why would he want/need to?".

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In the heyday of his conducting (BPO years), the ratio of other people's music to his was like 10 to 1.  At this point, when he does conduct, he seems like he is on an extended farewell tour, giving the largest segment of the audience what it wants. 

 

At the end of the day, I think he sees conducting only as a means to an end.  Composing he seems to find his artistic fulfillment. 

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I love this score!

 

Worth mentioning is the recording of "The Days Between" by Keisuke Wakao, accompanied on the piano by the Master himself.

 

p_cocq83115.jpg

 

Keisuke Wakao plays music of John Williams (1999, Denon, COCQ-83115; Pilot, Maruyama, Williams, Wakao, Borromeo String Qt)

Featuring John Williams (p): The Days Between from "Stepmom".

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1 hour ago, Thor said:

The Keisuke Wakao CD is a must-have for all Williams fans, and not only for the STEPMOM piece.

Absolutely! Among the top re-recordings done of Maestro's work. The arrangements are all top notch. E.g. the rarely performed The Accidental Tourist piece is fantastic and perfect showcase for oboe.

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And while you're at it, get the oboe concerto, which was written specifically for Wakao. It's not as strong as the bassoon concerto ("Five Sacred Trees"), but it's growing on me.

 

Sorry, that was a total detour.

 

Back to STEPMOM, I've always contemplated how cool it would have been if John Williams had employed John Williams instead of Parkening. :)

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  • 5 months later...
  • 3 years later...
On 3/25/2017 at 6:43 PM, Bespin said:

I love this score!

 

Worth mentioning is the recording of "The Days Between" by Keisuke Wakao, accompanied on the piano by the Master himself.

 

http://www.goplanete.com/johnwilliams/images/disco/p_cocq83115.jpg

 

Keisuke Wakao plays music of John Williams (1999, Denon, COCQ-83115; Pilot, Maruyama, Williams, Wakao, Borromeo String Qt)

Featuring John Williams (p): The Days Between from "Stepmom".

I mentioned it several times. I prefer the piano only version. Unfortunately, no recording exists to my knowledge. So, I had to take piano lessons to play it myself (more badly than well, but betterthan nothing). Together with Theme from Sabrina probably my favourite piano piece from Williams. 

But I would not need an expansion of the original album unless the piano arrangement is on it.

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1 hour ago, Bespin said:

 

 

I totally disagree.

 

As I said not Williams finest work but as he's THE master it's obviously another masterpiece! ;)

[Edit] never heard this piano version before thanks for the sharing.

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9 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

What do these codes mean? These aren't reel/part numbers, or are they?


No, they’re just arbitrary codes specific to this particular catalog. However, the codes for other JW scores in this database—The Patriot, The Adventures of Tintin, and Memoirs of a Geisha—precisely match the film order of cues when arranged ascending, and so do these, from what I can tell.

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19 hours ago, Raiders of the SoundtrArk said:

Inconceivable GIFs | Tenor

 

Is that HanZ?

 

23 hours ago, BrotherSound said:

Well, anyone dying to see the complete cue list for Stepmom, today’s your lucky day! Found it in the SESAC repertoire, apparently in film order:

 

Get a hobby!

 

On 3/25/2017 at 10:33 AM, Thor said:

The film is a forgettable, soapy Chris Columbus melodrama, but the score is great -- especially considering it's a replacement score (not sure how much time he had).

 

Who wrote the original score?

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Get a hobby!


Oh, this is my hobby. My day job is trying to sort out the utterly ridiculous editing of the score in The Rise of Skywalker. 😁

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  • 1 year later...

@Tom Guernsey, the FYC is an HDCD and with a little effort, one can extract the tracks as 20-bit WAVs (actually 24-bit WAVs but the audio data has 20-but resolution). There are slight, relative amplitude differences between them and the commercial CD, given the higher bit depth, but I think that’s about it. I’ll see about posting a waveform comparison later today.

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4 minutes ago, thx99 said:

@Tom Guernsey, the FYC is an HDCD and with a little effort, one can extract the tracks as 20-bit WAVs (actually 24-bit WAVs but the audio data has 20-but resolution). There are slight, relative amplitude differences between them and the commercial CD, given the higher bit depth, but I think that’s about it. I’ll see about posting a waveform comparison later today.

Thanks @thx99. Don't go to too much effort on my account, it was a fairly casual query. Of course, if you want to do it for your own interest and want to share the results, that would be cool.

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On 28/02/2021 at 11:54 PM, May the Force be with You said:

Would be great if they release that on. Not Williams finest work but it's still a good score that deserve an expansion.

#releaseStepmomexpandedscore

Nice. Ive never had the original album and was just thinking of getting the OST off ebay. To know that there is enough music for an expansion makes me to pause and ponder. 

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6 minutes ago, thx99 said:

@Tom Guernsey, the FYC is an HDCD and with a little effort, one can extract the tracks as 20-bit WAVs (actually 24-bit WAVs but the audio data has 20-but resolution). There are slight, relative amplitude differences between them and the commercial CD, given the higher bit depth, but I think that’s about it. I’ll see about posting a waveform comparison later today.

 

Since you know so much about these things, is it possible to rip the high resolution formats of SACD, DVD-A, or blu-ray audio with a USB blu-ray player (I've got a Verbatim blu-ray burner)?

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Since you know so much about these things, is it possible to rip the high resolution formats of SACD, DVD-A, or blu-ray audio with a USB blu-ray player (I've got a Verbatim blu-ray burner)?

 

It's been many years now, but I've personally ripped the "Advanced-Resolution" stream from a DVD-A before using "DVD-Audio Explorer".  I've never ripped SACDs or Blu-ray audio discs, though.  The last time I looked into it, I believe SACDs required a PlayStation that might have been hacked or something.  Granted, things may have progressed since then.

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Just now, thx99 said:

 

It's been many years now, but I've personally ripped the "Advanced-Resolution" stream from a DVD-A before using "DVD-Audio Explorer".  I've never ripped SACDs or Blu-ray audio discs, though.  The last time I looked into it, I believe SACDs required a PlayStation that might have been hacked or something.  Granted, things may have progressed since then.

 

Thanks. I was just wondering how I could transfer my high-res physical discs to a high-res portable player. Of course, they rather want us to purchase high-res downloads.

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This article may be a few years old but it goes into gory detail of all that is (or was back then) required to rip an SACD:

 

Down the Rabbit Hole of SACD Ripping and DSD Extraction

https://www.psaudio.com/copper/article/down-the-rabbit-hole-of-sacd-ripping-and-dsd-extraction/

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