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ACROSS THE STARS - Williams / Mutter collaboration album


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4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

In case you don't know, she's been nagging him for decades about writing a violin concerto for her. The finally, he gave in and composed Markings, as a kind of compromise.

 

She wanted her own violin concerto? Couldn't she just have performed the one Williams had already written?

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8 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

She wanted her own violin concerto? Couldn't she just have performed the one Williams had already written?

 

If you're a classical superstar like her, you want your own concertos. :) And from the notorious Previn interview, it seems like she had some specific request for such a concerto that didn't resonate with JW. My guess is that she wanted a concerto based on film themes, like Korngold's.

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On 11/8/2018 at 6:02 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

 

If you're a classical superstar like her, you want your own concertos. :) And from the notorious Previn interview, it seems like she had some specific request for such a concerto that didn't resonate with JW. My guess is that she wanted a concerto based on film themes, like Korngold's.

Korngold's Violin Concerto is my absolute favorite. Followed very closely by Walton, Barber and Mendelssohn ❤️

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On 11/8/2018 at 12:02 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

If you're a classical superstar like her, you want your own concertos. :) And from the notorious Previn interview, it seems like she had some specific request for such a concerto that didn't resonate with JW. My guess is that she wanted a concerto based on film themes, like Korngold's.

 

Yeah it was a confusing quote from Previn. I think he claimed she was asking him for a concerto and Williams said "I don't write that kind of music" or something. I agree she probably wanted a concerto in the style of his film scores and he balked.

 

This seems best of both worlds where she got her own new work that maybe isn't the most melodic but let him follow his own muse, and then also gets a bunch of new arrangements from his film career that she can tour around and are more what one would expect with John Williams in the marquee.

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Just now, Simon R. said:

Sounds pretty dreadful, that "Across the Stars" violin performance. I guess I just discovered I don't like Mutter's timbre/playing style.

I disagree with it being dreadful, as you say.  Williams did not write this arrangement in quite the same unabashed romanticism as the original.  To suit Mutter's style, and to give it weight in the concert hall, he gave the melody a bit more bite, as it were.  More pondering emotion.

 

As for her performance of Schindler's List, that is a bit of a different matter.  Here, I am not as much of a fan of Mutter's approach.  Lacks the sort of spontaneity of emotion that the piece needs.

 

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On ‎11‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 12:29 PM, MikeH said:

I’d love to hear something like The Eiger Sanction for Violin and Orchestra. The melody always sounded very classical/baroque to me. 

 

This!  There is a recording the Eiger Sanction Theme on Amazon for violin and piano.  I bought that a while back.

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2 hours ago, ocelot said:

Korngold's Violin Concerto is my absolute favorite. Followed very closely by Walton, Barber and Mendelssohn ❤️

 

These are all great, not to mention the Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Bruch! I remember the first time hearing the Barber concerto, it felt like a heavy burden lifted from my shoulders.

 

2 hours ago, Simon R. said:

Sounds pretty dreadful, that "Across the Stars" violin performance. I guess I just discovered I don't like Mutter's timbre/playing style.

 

How can anybody not like this?

 

 

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4 hours ago, Smeltington said:

Damn, that's just the right amount of tracks for an album, let's hope we get one with all 10 arrangements and don't need to cobble this together from live performances.

 

The album will actually be a recording of the live performance complete with audience coughing, explosive sneezing and clapping after every false ending.

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14 hours ago, Simon R. said:

Sounds pretty dreadful, that "Across the Stars" violin performance. I guess I just discovered I don't like Mutter's timbre/playing style.

 

I'm with you.  I didn't like it at all; turned it off halfway through.

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14 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

These are all great, not to mention the Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Bruch! I remember the first time hearing the Barber concerto, it felt like a heavy burden lifted from my shoulders.

 

 

How can anybody not like this?

 

 

 

That works much better. So it isn't about her timbre/playing style in general. It just sounds wrong, feeble and indelicate on "Across the stars". This recording sounds much better, as does Mutter's performance. So I take it back, depending on the material, I could probably like her :)

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John Williams should stop trying to complexify his Star Wars scores or trying to make them sound more "classical".

 

Han and Leia, Adagio from TFA, and now Across the Stars.

 

Where does it goes?

 

I mean, John Williams's music is already played in concert halls.

 

What is the goal of rewriting Star Wars like that?


It dilutes the strength of his melodies. Why doing that, to lengthen the pieces by a few seconds and to make them more acceptable for "serious" persons?

 

It's Star Wars!

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3 minutes ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

 

If anything, I'd say it strengthens, not dilutes, the case made for the ingenuity behind those initial melodies and their versatility to see them lend themselves so effortlessly to a musical context far removed from what they were originally intended to be used for.  

 

Nailed it, corn dog.

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Ok, listened to it, at last. It’s nice.

 

But she plays it very straight. The phrasing is different than from the original, it’s less syncopated, which comes across as less emotive, at least to my ears.

 

I think that’s why some JWfaners think that it sounds “wrong”, yet are unable to point out why.

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On 12/4/2018 at 2:47 PM, rpvee said:

I’d love Williams to revisit “Luke and Leia”. The more mature, dramatic statement of the theme in TLJ is so gorgeous, and makes the (also beautiful) original arrangement feel almost too energetic. A new full arrangement to reflect the characters’ older selves could be gorgeous, if the TLJ statement is anything to go by.

 

 

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