Popular Post igger6 894 Posted June 30, 2017 Popular Post Share Posted June 30, 2017 I was fortunate enough to see this live about a month ago. Though my phone was not cooperating at the concert, some kind soul who was apparently sitting close by captured the whole suite in HD. I don't know if anyone has seen Star Wars performed by a band at this level before (these are all music majors at the well-regarded Bienen School of Music), but I hadn't, and I was blown away. I'm generally not a fan of band transcriptions (I love strings!), and this does lose something in not being live, but feast your ears all the same. It was an unusual program of "Imperial March," "Princess Leia's Theme," "The Forest Battle," "Yoda's Theme," and "Rebel Blockade Runner/End Title" (about which see below). A few stray observations: I thought "The Imperial March" would be limp without strings, but the arrangement seems to "cut" around them in a way that makes it a moot point, and the players' energy more than makes up for it. "The Forest Battle" is a triumph! I had never heard this piece live before, and I always thought of it as "The Battle of Hoth"'s homely little sister, but hoo boy, it's a party and a half when it's happening right in front of you. Listen to the tonguing in the finale! Most intriguing to me, though, is the transition between "Yoda's Theme" and the "Main Title," right around the 15-minute mark. Yoda tiptoes away in a soft twinkle as always, but before you know what hits you, you get—almost seamlessly—a soft, slow reading of the piccolo noodling from "Rebel Blockade Runner," which moves into a slow ominous non-strings approximation of the wild string intro to the first Rebel fanfare, then a slower but more regal play-through of that track, which then segues into the end title as usual. In person, this transition was so subtle and elegant that I only subconsciously realized what I was listening to at first. Really cool stuff that breathed new life into this old warhorse. Has anyone heard this version before? Pieter Boelen, Ricard, Disco Stu and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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