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NEW Concert work: "Highwood’s Ghost", a fantasia for cello, harp and orchestra for cellist Yo-Yo Ma and harpist Jessica Zhou (Premieres August 19th at Tanglewood)


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Agreed, I've sometimes found his concert works a little too meandering for my tastes but this is concise and conjures terrific imagery (for me at least). Bravo, Mr. Williams!

 

His writing really has never been as good as it is now. How lucky we are to enjoy it!

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42 minutes ago, Bespin said:

PM me for the Ghost.

 

The full Broadcast file will follow shortly.

 

Wa... this ghost, I never want to meet him in person!

Thank you Bespin "the Ghostbuster" !😜

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This morning I just to have to listen to the last part of the concert (the Bartok Concerto) to check if it's 100 % correct, because yesterday, I've slept on it...

 

Listening classical pieces for the first time, it needs a lot of concentration... and yesterday I was very tired!

 

EDIT: Okay the full broadcast is now ready.

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3 hours ago, Falstaft said:

I get hints of Holst's "Venus, Bringer of Love" from those slow pandiatonic wedges towards the end of the piece. 


I hear that too. I like the contrast of the parallel fifths (and the modal power chord motif earlier on) with the chromatic material. There is perhaps something Herrmannesque in the persistence of that slowly converging, contrary-motion figure - like BH's sequences that don't quit.

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18 hours ago, Jay said:

Am I the only one who was reminded of Bernard Herrmann at times?

 

Is it possible that Bernard Hermann is the ghost referred to in the piece?

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27 minutes ago, JohnnyD said:

 

Is it possible that Bernard Hermann is the ghost referred to in the piece?

 

Hmmm.... 

 

(This is gonna become like SW fan theories hehe) 

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Thanks for the upload, Lao Che. 

 

It's an intriguing piece. Few of JW's almost aleatoric concert pieces in recent years have done much for me, but this is at the very least more exploratory with a consonant tone buried deep down.

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4 hours ago, Thor said:

Thanks for the upload, Lao Che. 

 

It's an intriguing piece. Few of JW's almost aleatoric concert pieces in recent years have done much for me, but this is at the very least more exploratory with a consonant tone buried deep down.

 

You're welcome.

Yes, this piece is really an achievement starting with the solo instrumentation choice, which should not at all come as a surprise since JW has been so drawn to the harp in recent years - his "La Jolla" Quartet, Markings for Violin and Harp (very beautiful IMHO as a violinist) and of course his Harp Concerto "On Willows and Birches".

 

 

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6 hours ago, Lao Che said:

  

You're welcome.

Yes, this piece is really an achievement starting with the solo instrumentation choice, which should not at all come as a surprise since JW has been so drawn to the harp in recent years - his "La Jolla" Quartet, Markings for Violin and Harp (very beautiful IMHO as a violinist) and of course his Harp Concerto "On Willows and Birches".

  

 

 

Huh, didn't even know that existed! Just pulled up a YouTube video - time to check it out. :)

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I listened to it, but I won't listen to it that often. Sometimes, I wish I was more into classical music, but I'm not. After all this year being a film music fan and specifically a john williams fan, I still struggle to listen to more classical if not contemporary music.  Oh well, to each his own :)

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3 minutes ago, Will said:

Wow I've seen that EOTS scene several times before but chills washed over me watching it just now. 😍

I tear up in this film.  It is just so beautiful and subtle.

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I like it ,somewhat

 

Doesn't do the same thing for me as a new film music concert version like Rebellion of Reborn or Adventures of Han though, or the new Han Solo and the Princess

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The thing that always bugs me about JW's concert works is that they don't really climax near the end (with a few terrific exceptions, like Tributes, Soundings, Just Down West Street, etc.). The most celebratory parts usually seem to be in the middle (and sometimes, as here, they're pretty short). 

 

I still love many of his concert works, including this newest one. But I'm not really accustomed to the style of "proper" classical music so it's a bit of a shock to the system not to get a rousing finale. So I can understand why some film music fans find it hard to truly enjoy his concert pieces (and, indeed, much "classical" music in general). 

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Regarding the program for Saturday's concert.

 

I love that they are including a Copland selection but I think it would be much more appropriate to have that selection be the final movement from his 3rd symphony, not the finale from Appalachian Spring.  Bernstein rather famously had a major influence on that symphony and especially that movement (getting Copland to make cuts and adjust the orchestration).

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14 hours ago, Will said:

The thing that always bugs me about JW's concert works is that they don't really climax near the end (with a few terrific exceptions, like Tributes, Soundings, Just Down West Street, etc.). The most celebratory parts usually seem to be in the middle (and sometimes, as here, they're pretty short). 

 

I still love many of his concert works, including this newest one. But I'm not really accustomed to the style of "proper" classical music so it's a bit of a shock to the system not to get a rousing finale. So I can understand why some film music fans find it hard to truly enjoy his concert pieces (and, indeed, much "classical" music in general). 

Well, many if not most traditional classical pieces do have a distinct rousing "finale" portion that occurs near the end or a movement or piece.  Film music takes its cue from this.

In his concert works, Williams takes a more unusual approach, preferring to emphasize the reflective, introspective, component of the musical material.

3 hours ago, Ricard said:

 

The concert will be recorded for an exclusive U.S. broadcast premiere December 28 at 9 p.m. on PBS. It will also be distributed to major broadcasters throughout Europe and Asia.

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/PBS-Will-Broadcast-Tanglewoods-Bernstein-Centennial-Audra-McDonald-Jessica-Vosk-and-More-to-Perform-20180724

Adding this to my calendar!

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4 hours ago, Ricard said:

 

The concert will be recorded for an exclusive U.S. broadcast premiere December 28 at 9 p.m. on PBS. It will also be distributed to major broadcasters throughout Europe and Asia.

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/PBS-Will-Broadcast-Tanglewoods-Bernstein-Centennial-Audra-McDonald-Jessica-Vosk-and-More-to-Perform-20180724

 

I will definitely mark the date and time for the concert broadcast. A must-see event for sure!

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Just that it seems to move more into the realm of painting some external dramatic picture than maintaining an independent musical architecture.  Obviously that's some people's cup of tea but it loses my interest.

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It does certainly lose direction in the middle but that's still my favorite part. I've always cared more about individual moments than overall structure. 

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The middle section’s great.  And I love the last few minutes.  It feels too meandering otherwise on repeated listens.  I like it less now than on first listen, I’m sad to say.  Maybe I’ll come back around

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