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New Williams piece, "Rounds" for guitar, to be premiered today [UPDATE: Studio recording released September 11 2015]


Miguel Andrade

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The way he speaks about the work makes me think it's quite a long piece (something different from the Lynn Farrel untitled solo cello piece).

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The way he speaks about the work makes me think it's quite a long piece (something different from the Lynn Farrel untitled solo cello piece).

The Lynn Farrel piece is entitled

:)
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The way he speaks about the work makes me think it's quite a long piece (something different from the Lynn Farrel untitled solo cello piece).

The Lynn Farrel piece is entitled

:)

Thank you for the input! (Y)

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This is fantastic! Williams hasn't used the guitar that much over the years (Munich comes to mind), so it will be very interesting what he has to say with this particular instrument!

Question: Is it a piece for solo guitar or with orchestra too?

Here's hoping it's recorded...

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Should be performed by that other John Williams who plays the guitar

Yes, now the guitar world is just going to get even more confusing when it comes to John Williams

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As someone who has been playing guitar for 20 years, studied jazz and classical, this is good news. Ever since I heard the solo piece in Munich, and was impressed by it, I was very much looking forward to hearing a concert work written for guitar by the Maestro. Hopefully the recording news is accurate so I can hear it.

Tim

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This is fantastic! Williams hasn't used the guitar that much over the years (Munich comes to mind), so it will be very interesting what he has to say with this particular instrument!

I think he used it quite extensively in the 70-ies and 80-ies (eg Reivers, Sugarland Express, The River), but also in many of his later scores such as Stepmom, Rosewood, Sabrina, mostly for a romantic touch.

I am very interested!

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Schindler's List, a brief unreleased piece from Angela's Ashes (it just quotes the main theme), and Star Wars Episode 2!

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Another new John Williams concert piece. Fantastic news. :) Williams has written for guitar quite a lot in his film scores the most notable examples mentioned above. But it will be truly interesting one day to hear how he will treat guitar in this solo work of its own.

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Just the other day I was thinking that it would be really nice if JW would tackle a concert piece for classical guitar... and here it is! :)

Let's hope they will record it soon.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm watching some lady talk on a stage. I don;t understand what she's saying so I don;t know if I'm watching the right thing

I see some guy performing an exerpt

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The full piece is performed.

It is a wonderful work. I just felt like the time stopped and all there was in the world was the sound of the guitar. Really a terrific piece.

Can't wait to have it published, as I have someone who will have the time of his life performing it :)

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You can hear the piece at 12:09. It lasts for about six minutes.

I think it was the most beautiful and intimate thing I have heard from Johnny in a long time.

Gorgeous, simply gorgeous :)

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Thanks for the heads up Miguel! LIstening now and it sounds good.

It's very rare to hear such an extended solo piece by Williams. In the beginning his style is a little less obvious but near the end it really starts to sound like Williams.

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Maybe it's just because the beginning was much more single-line stuff, whereas we got denser writing near the end which is a better mime of the full orchestral stuff I'm used to hearing from JW. I definitely heard some indications of JW's style in the beginning, it just wasn't as clear to me.

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What a lovely piece indeed! Gorgeous and wonderfully idiomatic guitar-writing -I think this, when published, stands a good chance of becoming one of Williams' most frequently performed concert works, as it so easily establishes itself amongst the very best repertoire for the classical guitar. I also love the structure of the piece, and it is great to hear this kind of destillation of style; having only six strings and not quite four octaves at his disposal, I think Williams manages to generate his signature harmonic blend quite brilliantly, and what's even better is that it ends up sounding very fresh for that particular instrument!

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What a beautiful and haunting piece of music, simple yet truly elegant and heartfelt.

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I recall reading that there was one of those old school conductors (Walter, Furtwangler or the likes, can't remember exactly who), that would commit the whole score of whatever piece (even a full opera) to memory before daring to conduct it live.

And yes, it's not that unusual for a musician to play without the score in from of him. I've attended a concert some time ago, were the conductor's score was closed the whole time. Another concert, the conductor had do score stand at all...

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And let's be honest, in a solo piece that doesn't have predictable harmonies, etc., nobody would really know if he missed a note. :P

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I ripped the guitar performance with Audacity, but only in 128kbps, as I don't know how to boost the quality -- if there's any way at all. Still, it's pretty good. You can PM me if you're interested in getting it in audio.

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