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Where's "Seven for Luck"?


TJH132

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According to this article on FSM way back in 1998, John Williams' song cycle "Seven for Luck" was premiered in its entirety at Tanglewood on July 25th, 1998.  While searching online, I came across this project:  https://www.bso.org/brands/tanglewood/tanglewood-music-center/tmc75-archival-recording-project-downloads.aspx#about

 

A Tanglewood archival recording project?  This sounds like a good way to start a search for a possible recording of the evening's concert.

 

The page has no directly link for contact.

 

Does this organization know it's sitting on a musical gem?

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Would have been cool if they made it available. For the moment, I'm sitting on a weird combo of the three cuts from the 90s TV special, and the remaining tracks in a piano/vocal version by that German duo a couple of years ago . Not ideal.

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What German duo? Aren't you confused with the recital available on YouTube we talked about a few months ago?

 

As for the Tanglewood 75th anniversary project we still got some Williams related material, most notably the suite from Angela's Ashes.

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2 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

What German duo? Aren't you confused with the recital available on YouTube we talked about a few months ago?

 

Yes, weren't they German? I'm probably misremembering.

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16 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

As for the Tanglewood 75th anniversary project we still got some Williams related material, most notably the suite from Angela's Ashes.

 

Do you mean that the Angela's Ashes suite is available for streaming or download?

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You have to buy the "Tanglewood 75" recordings. Those conducted by John Williams are all on my discography.

 

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But you can buy them lossless!

 

It’s a bit irritating that the narration between the tracks aren’t tracks in themselves, but included in the beginning of each cue (or is it the end? I can’t remember). It takes a bit of editing to cut out if you just want the music - which in my opinion enhances the listening experience - but is worth the rather small effort.

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3 hours ago, rough cut said:

But you can buy them lossless!

 

It’s a bit irritating that the narration between the tracks aren’t tracks in themselves, but included in the beginning of each cue (or is it the end? I can’t remember). It takes a bit of editing to cut out if you just want the music - which in my opinion enhances the listening experience - but is worth the rather small effort.

 

PM? :)

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On 6/1/2019 at 4:07 PM, TJH132 said:

According to this article on FSM way back in 1998, John Williams' song cycle "Seven for Luck" was premiered in its entirety at Tanglewood on July 25th, 1998.  While searching online, I came across this project:  https://www.bso.org/brands/tanglewood/tanglewood-music-center/tmc75-archival-recording-project-downloads.aspx#about

 

A Tanglewood archival recording project?  This sounds like a good way to start a search for a possible recording of the evening's concert.

 

The page has no directly link for contact.

 

Does this organization know it's sitting on a musical gem?

 

The July 25, 1998 performance was indeed broadcasted by WCRB radio back then. We might hope something will turn up in the future. I do remember there were talks about Williams recording the work for Sony Classical back then, but nothing materialized.

 

I agree this is a gem well worth of being (re)discovered. It reveals a sweet side of JW's character, putting into music a woman's wide variety of feelings.

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5 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

I'm probably one of the few who deeply enjoys the way the narration and music work together on this piece. Just like in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

 I do!

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11 hours ago, TownerFan said:

 

The July 25, 1998 performance was indeed broadcasted by WCRB radio back then. We might hope something will turn up in the future. I do remember there were talks about Williams recording the work for Sony Classical back then, but nothing materialized.

 

I agree this is a gem well worth of being (re)discovered. It reveals a sweet side of JW's character, putting into music a woman's wide variety of feelings.

 

There are a number of concerts that were broadcast and one can only dream of having them available one day. Williams also conducted his Horn Concert and Soundings and I would give a kidney (not necessarily one of mine :P ) for that broadcast.

 

As for the talks on recording the piece, it was mentioned on the September 1998 issue of Film Score Monthly. Later on, in the early 00's, around the same time it was announced that Placido Domingo had approached Williams for him to write an opera, Williams mentioned during an interview that he would love to work again with Rita Dove.

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I have a bootleg with some 7 for Luck songs if I recall I didn'tlike it very much.There was a song about chocolate or something

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7 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

 

There are a number of concerts that were broadcast and one can only dream of having them available one day. Williams also conducted his Horn Concert and Soundings and I would give a kidney (not necessarily one of mine :P ) for that broadcast.

 

As for the talks on recording the piece, it was mentioned on the September 1998 issue of Film Score Monthly. Later on, in the early 00's, around the same time it was announced that Placido Domingo had approached Williams for him to write an opera, Williams mentioned during an interview that he would love to work again with Rita Dove.

 

Did JW ever plan to follow up on that opera request?

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2 hours ago, King Mark said:

I have a bootleg with some 7 for Luck songs if I recall I didn'tlike it very much.There was a song about chocolate or something

 

That's probably the audio from the PBS special. A close friend ripped it back in 1998 and his recording ended up all over the internet.

2 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Did JW ever plan to follow up on that opera request?

 

Back then he was approached to write an opera on a light(er) subject, if one that interested him should be available. Nevertheless, when asked during an interview, he showed some apprehension with the time it would take him such an endeavor, that would ultimately distract him from other concert hall and film projects that he might feel more appropriate for him.

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