Whats ur fav john williams piece

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Whither @coatseyyy?

[Miguel Andrade 1,260]

Cello Concerto.

[Score 770]

15 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

I've always liked the ones that are different, and they feel like different things to me.

 

Like, I love the "Asteroid Field" concert arrangement.  If push came to shove, yeah the film cue is superior but I love having the concert arrangement in many ways because it is different.  Again, I listen to and enjoy both versions.

 

15 hours ago, Jay said:

His instincts for the theme arrangements recorded for his albums are impeccable but he does make some odd choices for concert hall versions at times, yea

 

Yes, I also agree, it's better to have an arrangement more than one less, but I was more reacting to the fact that the arrangements which are published and then performed by orchestras are (often, although not always) not as good as the original cues. So, I meant that I would prefer that they put orchestras in the conditions to play, say, the full 15 minute finale of E.T., rather than Adventures on Earth, which cuts away several beautiful parts. An entirely different story is when he writes cues that are specifically conceived as concert pieces from the beginning, like Leia's Theme, Imperial March, and so on.  

 

 

[Matt S. 492]

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 6:25 AM, Score said:

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 3:14 PM, Disco Stu said:

I've always liked the ones that are different, and they feel like different things to me.

 

Like, I love the "Asteroid Field" concert arrangement.  If push came to shove, yeah the film cue is superior but I love having the concert arrangement in many ways because it is different.  Again, I listen to and enjoy both versions.

 

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 3:07 PM, Jay said:

His instincts for the theme arrangements recorded for his albums are impeccable but he does make some odd choices for concert hall versions at times, yea

 

Yes, I also agree, it's better to have an arrangement more than one less, but I was more reacting to the fact that the arrangements which are published and then performed by orchestras are (often, although not always) not as good as the original cues. So, I meant that I would prefer that they put orchestras in the conditions to play, say, the full 15 minute finale of E.T., rather than Adventures on Earth, which cuts away several beautiful parts. An entirely different story is when he writes cues that are specifically conceived as concert pieces from the beginning, like Leia's Theme, Imperial March, and so on.  

 

 

 

The problem with Adventure on Earth (the OST version) is that 15 minutes is really too long for a standalone concert version, so he had to find material to cut; I think his longest single-movement concert suites are Adventures on Earth, the Cowboys Overture, and the Excerpts from Close Encounters.  All are around 9-10 minutes.  (The Reivers suite is around 18 min I believe, but the narration adds a whole new element to that and I don't consider it an equal comparison).  The first part of the cue is just tense underscore, so it made sense to lose that, and start with the bicycle chase music.

 

Now the musical architecture has changed; considering Adventures on Earth (the Spielberg/Williams arrangement) on its own merits, away from the film, it makes perfect musical sense to delay the payoff of hearing the Flying theme in its full-throated glory until the end, otherwise we'd be hearing it twice, and the second time would not be as emotionally effective.

 

 

[Jay 37,287]

The problem isn't that he removed the flying theme from the middle, it's that he left in all the build up that is supposed to lead into it.

 

Really he probably should have just one concert track for the bike chase and another for the departure, maybe.

[Score 770]

10 hours ago, Matt S. said:

 

The problem with Adventure on Earth (the OST version) is that 15 minutes is really too long for a standalone concert version,

 

Why would that be too long? It's absolutely normal for a concert of "classical music" to feature pieces which are that long, or even much longer: musical ideas and themes need time to be developed.  

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

It's a bit too long for a film music concert concert though, where the point is to have a measure of variation throughout a program. 

[Score 770]

1 hour ago, Stefancos said:

It's a bit too long for a film music concert concert though, where the point is to have a measure of variation throughout a program. 

 

I have to conclude and accept that most people (including JW) think in these terms when they consider film music concerts, I only wish that they just applied the same criteria that hold for classical music. I still do not understand what is the point of representing a 2-hour score which is written and conceived similarly to a ballet/opera/symphonic poem, and is also that good, by means of a 4-minute piece stating the main theme and making a big buildup as if it was ending the real thing. And in the case of "Adventures on Earth" it's not even that bad... but the purpose of pieces like "Flight to Neverland", "Flying Theme from E.T.", or "The Forest Battle" is beyond my understanding. Fortunately, there are also many examples of very well-done concert presentations, like the three pieces from Schindler's List, Escapades, or the two pieces from Angela's Ashes (maybe adding one more would have been even better - or maybe one can just combine them with the solo harp of "The Lanes of Limerick").

 

 

[Matt S. 492]

13 hours ago, Jay said:

The problem isn't that he removed the flying theme from the middle, it's that he left in all the build up that is supposed to lead into it.

 

I suppose it's just a matter of preference and familiarity.  Personally, I listen to the concert version much more than the full score, so it doesn't bother me that the build up doesn't go anywhere; that's sort of the point, that delayed payoff.

 

Quote

Really he probably should have just one concert track for the bike chase and another for the departure, maybe.

 

That's exactly how Erich Kunzel recorded it with Cincinnati, on the Star Tracks album.  That arrangement works well too, I think.