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Omen II

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55 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

So nothing from Images, The Rare Breed, Fitzwilly or The River?

 

What a shit program!

 

No Daddy-O?!?!  No Bachelor Flat?!?! 

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2 minutes ago, Miguel Andrade said:

I heard the concert during the live broadcast and liked quite a lot. Will go through it again later tonight. Will the TV broadcast be available on-line?

 

It'll probably be subject to the usual iPlayer restrictions so the answer is yes, if you are able to use a VPN to watch BBC iPlayer.

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15 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Over-mixed? Are these concerts amplified?

 

I'm not sure, but it must have been mixed, for broadcast. 

 

 

All in all, it wasn't bad.

3.5,  for the inclusion of SUPERMAN, and JFK.

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3 hours ago, Stefancos said:

So nothing from Images, The Rare Breed, Fitzwilly or The River?

 

What a shit program!

 

And the Limey bastards didn't play American, the Dream Goes On neither!

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3 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

I heard the concert during the live broadcast and liked quite a lot. Will go through it again later tonight. Will the TV broadcast be available on-line?

 

It is very likely that someone will post the whole concert on YouTube after it has been broadcast.  How long it remains on there before being pulled is another matter of course, but I would be very surprised if it does not show up at all.  Also some of the most popular Proms concerts end up being released for sale on DVD a few months later, I think by the same people that did the John Williams / Gustavo Dudamel LA Philharmonic concert DVD.  The BBC really does know how to present a concert broadcast, so I am sure this evening will be essential viewing for all JW fans.

 

I read the programme today and was surprised to note a few factual errors in Matthew Sweet's programme notes.  For example, he implies that Williams scored only the first Harry Potter film, while the description of the selection from Catch Me If You Can clearly refers to the opening movement Closing In rather than the piece that was actually played, Joy Ride.  He also seems overly keen to point out similarities to various classical pieces in Williams oeuvre, as if defending Williams from perceived accusations of plagiarism that I very much doubt anyone in attendance was making.  That said, programme notes for Proms concerts often betray a delight in the writer's musical knowledge so no harm done I guess.

 

Incidentally, check out this lovely article from the BBC proms website on yesterday's concert:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/e8b2196f-3efd-4476-9072-4683e60a648f

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Great stuff! Loved the thunder sheet during Witches of Eastwick...in fact, the whole orchestra went a bit crazy during that piece. :lol: And such wonderful playing from the soloists too! I regret not being able to make it yesterday.

 

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I'm glad it was broadcast on radio/TV - I enjoyed being able to hear the orchestra clearly (the recording and balance engineers did a great job). The poor sound I experienced must have simply been due to my seat being located in a box (not at all worth the premium) rather than my usual Promming location.

 

10 minutes ago, Loert said:

Great stuff! Loved the thunder sheet during Witches of Eastwick...in fact, the whole orchestra went a bit crazy during that piece.

 

The Figrin D'an impressions in Cantina Band were a great touch too :)

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31 minutes ago, Loert said:

Great stuff! Loved the thunder sheet during Witches of Eastwick.

 

 

Two thunder sheets, actually! :znaika:

 

I have commented already on how brilliant I thought the three young soloists were, but watching the concert back on TV reminded me how well BBC Concert Orchestra lifer Catherine Moore played the trumpet solo in JFK.  I really hope this concert is released on DVD post haste.

 

There are already a few video clips available at the BBC proms website here.

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11 hours ago, Quintus said:

The saxophonist who played on Catch Me if You Can was a highlight, she really got her groove on 😀

 

It was an astonishingly assured Proms debut performance from Jess Gillam, considering that she is only eighteen and was playing in front of 6,000 people in the hall and millions watching at home on TV.

 

The full TV broadcast is now available on BBC iPlayer for those that can access it (you will need to register with a BBC account):

 

John Williams Film Prom

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Caught bits and pieces of this both video and audio.  I've been to one of these "greatest hits of Williams" concerts - and really enjoyed it, but not sure if I'd go again.  The music is great obviously, but having a program packed with little excerpts from as many films as possible doesn't make a great concert for me.  I prefer something I can concentrate on and become involved in, instead of being pulled in and out of different musical worlds every five minutes.

 

I'm glad the BBC chose Williams this year as one of their "popular" concerts, designed for an audience less familiar to classical music.  It certainly beats the Radio 6 Prom and such rubbish as has appeared in the past.  But I don't like the idea of Williams music staying in that comfort zone, and would like to see his work getting a look in in the more conventional concerts.  In order to have that however, more substantial concert reworkings need to get more of a look in.  Suites from his films, like Bernstein's Symphonic Dances, need to become more established in the repertory.  I'd love to hear a complete performance of the Memoirs of a Geisha suite, all three movements of Escapades, and the neglected Children's Suite from Harry Potter - many more there are too.  Going back to Thursday would have been nice to hear the whole Force Awakens suite without Katie Derham's interruptions.

 

So, mixed feelings about this.  Glad Williams was featured in the season, but he deserves better.

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I just watched a YouTube upload (from a user who has miraculously saved me from the pits of geoblocking).

 

It was a nice concert overall. I'm wondering if Lockhart's own interpretations of JW music is becoming distinctive enough for me to specifically recognise him as the conductor...

 

A few things I didn't like:

As (for some infuriating reason) seems to be the case with virtually all "Best of John Williams" concerts, we have to suffer a puerile MC. I hate how their presence trying to introduce each piece somehow trivialises the music.

 

The kids choir in 'Afrika' sounded not only tone deaf, but their elocution was shockingly bad.

 

I LOVED the arrangement of of Canina Band. I've heard a few concert versions of this piece - they didn't say whose version this one was, but it made really good use of the orchestra and was well executed. It's certainly not the Hal Leonard Signature Edition version.

 

I also really appreciated that Lockhart referred to the first Harry Potter film by it proper, original title, "The Philosopher's Stone".

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I hadn't even ever heard Dry Your Eyes Afrika until last night! I thought it was delightful, right down to the happily unpolished sound of the kids choir, it was all most heartening to listen to and to see. It was also awesome that John Williams had reappropriated his Lost World music from the same year right into it. Very cool song!

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1 hour ago, zoltan_902 said:

I also really appreciated that Lockhart referred to the first Harry Potter film by it proper, original title, "The Philosopher's Stone".

 

Of course, that's only because if he had used the "other" word there would've been a massive riot in the hall!

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1 hour ago, zoltan_902 said:

A few things I didn't like:

As (for some infuriating reason) seems to be the case with virtually all "Best of John Williams" concerts, we have to suffer a puerile MC. I hate how their presence trying to introduce each piece somehow trivialises the music.

 

I disagree that the commentary somehow trivialised the music. I thought Katie Derham did a nice job presenting the concert for a broad and probably quite casual audience, same as she always does. Worth keeping in mind that these prom programs aren't really aimed at die-hard lifelong fans such as yourself. I'd have thought that the Schindler's List dead composers anecdote coming from Derham to a chuffed audience in the auditorium would have made that obvious. 

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2 hours ago, Quintus said:

I hadn't even ever heard Dry Your Eyes Afrika until last night! I thought it was delightful, right down to the happily unpolished sound of the kids choir, it was all most heartening to listen to and to see.

 

These were my sentiments exactly.  It is true that the children were slightly pitchy at times and indeed a few of them seemed to lose their place a little towards the end of the piece, but I thought it added to the charm.  I could see some of the children watching the first half of the concert from up in the gallery and they were obviously loving the whole experience.

 

There have been some BBC Proms tribute concerts that have misfired over recent years (not least the awful David Bowie prom last year), but when they get it right as they did for the most part on Thursday, it can make for a very special and memorable evening.  It is almost unprecedented for the Proms to devote a whole concert to a single film composer (I can remember only one of the late night Proms featuring Michael Nyman a few years ago) and I was pleased that for the most part John Williams's music was given the respect it deserved.  Many of the performances were truly brilliant and while there will always be disagreements about what should and should not have been played, I thought it was an excellent and varied programme.  I might have swapped Heidi for Goodbye Mr. Chips and included one of the disaster scores (e.g. The Towering Inferno) somewhere, but have no real complaints about the selections.

 

Oh, by the way...

 

 

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I was fortunate enough to have been able to attend this, and it was a lovely evening, and IMO was done a lot better than previous BBC Proms I've attended. I was surprised at the number of die hard fans I saw there...not just die hard JW fans, but everything from kids who lit up when Harry Potter came on to scifi/fantasy geeks. A huge number of casuals of course (which is what these things are aimed at and primarily attended by), but overall a more fun, joyful atmosphere than usual. I'm looking forward to watching it on iPlayer.

 

I will say that the Schindler's List they're all dead "joke" fell REALLY flat. WTF was she (or whoever wrote those lines for her) thinking?

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4 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

I was fortunate enough to have been able to attend this, and it was a lovely evening, and IMO was done a lot better than previous BBC Proms I've attended. I was surprised at the number of die hard fans I saw there...not just die hard JW fans, but everything from kids who lit up when Harry Potter came on to scifi/fantasy geeks. A huge number of casuals of course (which is what these things are aimed at and primarily attended by), but overall a more fun, joyful atmosphere than usual. I'm looking forward to watching it on iPlayer.

 

I will say that the Schindler's List they're all dead "joke" fell REALLY flat. WTF was she (or whoever wrote those lines for her) thinking?

 

I thought nearly all of the narration was dull and lackluster, and I thought the Cher/Professor McGonagall joke was even more poorly delivered. The hostess was lacking any sort of energy in my opinion. Very awkward throughout.

 

Catch Me If You Can was a highlight for me though. The saxophonist absolutely nailed the piece, although her excessive and exaggerated body movements were a bit distracting at times. But overall, impressive technique.

 

I absolutely despised the clarinet soloist's interpretation of The Terminal. I thought that she was making too much attempt to add unnecessary flair.

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Less of it. Or perhaps simply a different narrator. I wonder if a different narrator might have done better given the material.

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I think when possible, the conductor should do the narration. Of course, not everyone wants to, and that's fine (but also, not every concert needs narration). But with film music in particular, most conductors who play it regularly are quite enthusiastic (and obviously knowledgeable) about it and can handle the narration very well when they're allowed to. It's disheartening to see a conductor you know has done this stuff in the past and knows a ton of appropriate anecdotes stand by while some starlet narrates their way through a half informed script, often more dramatically, or (not so) "funny" than necessary simply because that's literally all they get paid for.

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I agree that the "narrators" introductions and comments were pretty banal...clearly meant for the casual viewer, but inane even under that standard. And yes, remaking that her own outfit looked like Cher/McGonagall (it didn't) was particularly cringe worthy.  

 

I'd rather have either the conductor, or someone who is actually familiar w/JW's music do the commentary. But clearly BBC is going for something different.

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43 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

I agree that the "narrators" introductions and comments were pretty banal...clearly meant for the casual viewer, but inane even under that standard. 

 

That's the thing - the narration was intended as a light intro of the Williams bio for a very broad audience, most of whom probably get his Star Wars and Superman themes mixed up and don't even know what the man looks like. This was a fantastic and landmark evening for film music at The Proms, and frankly I think you guys just sound awfully entitled and nitpicky about it. When was the last time a major US network aired a film music concert during Friday evening prime time television?

 

1 hour ago, Stefancos said:

Lockhart is a very amiable personality who has known Williams personally for decades now. He could have easily done it!

 

Of course he could, but The Proms have been Katie Derham's gig for years now, same as nobody does Wimbledon for the BBC other than Sue Barker.

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What is everyone's problem with Katie Derham? As for everyone thinking that the Proms are meant for casual viewers, please look at the entire timetable and then tell me whether you still think this is the case. Also, please explain why the Schindler's List joke is so horrid.

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Topical...again!

 

7 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

What is everyone's problem with Katie Derham? As for everyone thinking that the Proms are meant for casual viewers, please look at the entire timetable and then tell me whether you still think this is the case. Also, please explain why the Schindler's List joke is so horrid.

 

The joke wasn't horrid, the presentation was. She's a typical snarky, snooty Radio 3 presenter. The links, themselves, ticked every bad box; patronising, stupid, childish, and completely unnecessary.

If you're going to present a programme about film music, at least get someone who knows a thing or two about film music.

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Hmm... I do see what you mean, but it didn't irritate me at all (okay, the 'there are no snakes in here' joke did, I'll give you that). But she could have been much worse, at least she didn't spout nonsense à la Zimmer whose comments about his own scores nearly always baffle me.

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2 hours ago, Richard said:

Topical...again!

 

 

The joke wasn't horrid, the presentation was. 

 

I'm sure it would sound better coming from the Maestro's mouth. I wonder if we'll ever have the chance to hear it?

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