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Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie performs Star Wars suite (Video)


Ricard

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On May 10, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra conducted by Krzysztof Urbański performed a program including Holst's The Planets and a suite from Star Wars (Main Title, Luke and Leia, The Asteroid Field, The Imperial March, Cantina Band, The Forest Battle, The Throne Room and Finale), The concert was streamed live and is now available on YouTube (the Star Wars suite starts at 1:27:15)

 

Program notes pdf (in German)

 

 

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4 minutes ago, lemoncurd said:

seriously, there are other languages than English. Look it up. 

 

I know there is french. Well I think!

 

What is Elb... Elf?

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There are several public broadcasters with magnificent orchestras in Germany, which most people aren't even aware of. The BR's orchestra once played excerpts from Star Wars and First Knight which also sounded exactly like the original performance. Impressive.

 

PS: I didn't know Harrison Ford is playing the clarinet.;)

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34 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

There are several public broadcasters with magnificent orchestras in Germany, which most people aren't even aware of.

yes, there are!!!

 

 

14 minutes ago, Darth Wanker said:

That sounds better than orchestra in TFA and TLJ

It does! A shame actually.

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Well it's unfair to compare, this is one of the best halls in the world and TLJ is recorded in the studio. I prefer the latter ofcourse. I just heard Chicago symphony orchestra live playing JW in a very bad hall. It still sounded so much better than this, especially the brass section.

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Nothing from TFA or TLJ, and just a recycled encore of a track played literally 5 minutes prior? Pfft.

 

Where's Rey's Theme? The Rebellion is Reborn?

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9 hours ago, hornist said:

He is conducting all Williams' music without scores? Must be a fan.

 

Urbanski is known to memorize scores so he can conduct without them, regardless og the composer.

 

21 hours ago, Ricard said:

On May 10, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra conducted by Krzysztof Urbański performed a program including Holst's The Planets and a suite from Star Wars (Main Title, Luke and Leia, The Asteroid Field, The Imperial March, Cantina Band, The Forest Battle, The Throne Room and Finale), The concert was streamed live and is now available on YouTube (The Star Wars suite starts at 1:27:15)

 

Program notes pdf (in German)

 

 

 

Great catch! This is the exact same program as Urbanski did with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in February, shortly after completing his seven years as chief conductor. You can listen to the whole concert here (available worldwide):

 

https://radio.nrk.no/serie/paa-konsert-radio/MKKL16000818/22-02-2018

 

And here's my review of the concert (in Norwegian):

 

http://celluloidtunes.no/planetane-og-star-wars-trondheim-symfoniorkester-dirigert-av-krzysztof-urbanski/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Damn, I can't watch it! :(

 

image.png

 

I wonder, is it like that just for me due to some regional restrictions or whatever, or is it completely gone from YouTube? :conf:

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So many great things about this performance. First off, I'm yet to hear recordings in this new hall, but it sounds gorgeous. Perfect reverb for orchestral playing. Need to go see something there for sure!

 

What caught me off guard was how fresh this sounds with the antiphonal second violin seating. I love this set up in the strings because it brings so much warmth to the orchestra placing basses and celli more center. I wish Williams used it more often - it's almost standard with most conductors now. It does bring down the brilliance of the seconds and violins in general (since he does a lot of unison I-II writing and play between the two parts), but it's refreshing to have the celli more present in the center and to have more delineation between the I and II Violins. Williams usually orchestrates really bright anyway (usually to cut through sound effects), so it seems appropriate to do whatever you can to bring it back to center.

 

In general, aside from the nearly flawless playing (I love most European and Japanese groups...), I appreciate the more Mahler lyrical approach to Williams music. There seems to be this tendency with most groups to treat Williams as a percussive composer and put a front edge on everything and treat all his accents (particularly in the brass) the same way. Urbańsk does a nice job varying the accents and pulling as much legato out of the orchestra as he can, even lengthening final notes so the chords can speak a little more clearly, and drawing some gorgeous lines in those schmaltzy unison string sections. I really like the interpretation, aside from a few tempi that are a few clicks too slow for my taste. The only exception is the slower approach to "Luke and Leia," which was stunning. Bravi!

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