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Williams' Fenway Park Fanfare


Tom

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Thank you for posting the videos Faleel and Snowster! :) The piece sounds quite grand and Maestro himself looks full of determination and vigour while conducting. He truly does not look 80 years old.

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The fanfare is awesome. Classic John Williams. I like how the announcer borrowed some of the script from when he announced JW before he conducted his arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner.

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I really wonder how Williams is able to do it. Conduct with such energy and vigour, and compose such unbelievable works at this age. Does the man work out or something? Whats your secret old man?!

I remember reading quite recently that he takes hour-long walks in the park every day (when he has the chance) to stay fit.

Great theme, by the way....wish it were available in a bettersounding recording!

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Great to hear a new performance of Williams' arrangement of the National Anthem.

And Fanfare for Fenway is, as mentioned by someone above, classic Williams, with some nods to past brass fanfares (which were written with the BSO/BPO brass in mind) and an obvious baseball feel to it.

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lol @ tuba and trombone mistakes. Ya, it's good to see JW healthy and well.

This is a brand new piece that had never been performed before. None of us have ever seen the sheet music before or heard previous recordings. The piece sounded just fine. How could you possibly know that they made mistakes?

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lol @ tuba and trombone mistakes. Ya, it's good to see JW healthy and well.

This is a brand new piece that had never been performed before. None of us have ever seen the sheet music before or heard previous recordings. The piece sounded just fine. How could you possibly know that they made mistakes?

because it was obvious? especially the tuba when he came in, but who cares? it was a good piece.

Hi gang

I may be late to the party (not unusual in my life) but I came across this intvw. with JW at the bottom of the page covering F3: http://filmmusicrepo...are-for-fenway/

Dream well!

James

That interviewer is wacky as hell in the video, lmao!

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That interviewer is wacky as hell in the video, lmao!

:lol: Indeed. First he looks like he is about to jump through the roof from excitement. Plus he acts so wacky even JW seems to find it funny. But it is a pretty good interview with some information that was new to me. Williams seems quite lively and in great mood in this one.
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That interviewer is wacky as hell in the video, lmao!

:lol: Indeed. First he looks like he is about to jump through the roof from excitement. Plus he acts so wacky even JW seems to find it funny. But it is a pretty good interview with some information that was new to me. Williams seems quite lively and in great mood in this one.

I just loved Williams final remarks. Very true and very touching.

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JW: What the fuck is wrong with this guy?

Interesting to hear JW's first experience in writing music with the trumpet transcriptions.

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At least that interview had some new questions. This one was just more of the same stuff we've been hearing for the last few decades.

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That interviewer is wacky as hell in the video, lmao!

:lol: Indeed. First he looks like he is about to jump through the roof from excitement. Plus he acts so wacky even JW seems to find it funny. But it is a pretty good interview with some information that was new to me. Williams seems quite lively and in great mood in this one.

I just loved Williams final remarks. Very true and very touching.

Indeed. It was a lovely piece of wisdom from the Maestro.
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lol @ tuba and trombone mistakes. Ya, it's good to see JW healthy and well.

This is a brand new piece that had never been performed before. None of us have ever seen the sheet music before or heard previous recordings. The piece sounded just fine. How could you possibly know that they made mistakes?

because it was obvious? especially the tuba when he came in, but who cares? it was a good piece.

Ah, I hear it now. I had to turn my laptop volume all the way up to hear it though. :P

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  • 1 month later...

I just noticed on the web page for the Bass Trombinist for the Boston Symphony (the link has a few pictures)

http://www.yeodoug.com/home/text/whats_new.html

March 31, 2012 - COMMENTARY

One of the great joys of my career as a member of the Boston Symphony has been the opportunity to work with composer/conductor John Williams. John needs no introduction - his name is synonymous with the genre we call film music, with his soundtracks to Star Wars, ET, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark and a host of other films being well known to millions of people. John was conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra when I joined the Boston Symphony and we have enjoyed a very nice friendship over the years. In addition to making many CD recordings with him and the Boston Pops, I've been soloist with the Pops with John on the podium on two occasions - in performances of his Tuba Concerto (I was the first bass trombonist to play the piece on bass trombone) and Simon Proctor's Serpent Concerto. In addition we have played concerts together that are too numerous to count, as well as recording the soundtracks to two of his movie scores, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.

Last week my wife and I were on vacation in Arizona, continuing our preparations to move there in a few weeks. As is sometimes the case, a last minute recording session with members of the Boston Pops materialized and while my participation was not mandatory (since I was officially on vacation from the Boston Symphony), I could not miss the opportunity to record a new fanfare by John Williams. So I took a "red eye" flight overnight from Phoenix to Boston, played the recording session in Symphony Hall, and turned around and flew back to Arizona - all in 24 hours.

But it was worth it. 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the opening of Fenway Park in Boston, home of the Boston Red Sox. John Williams had been asked to compose a fanfare to celebrate the occasion and he composed it for members of the Boston Pops Orchestra brass and percussion section. I've recorded several of John's other fanfares over the years, his Liberty Fanfare and several of his Olympics fanfares including, The Olympic Spirit and Summon the Heroes. This new fanfare was composed for six trumpets, six horns, five trombones, two tubas, percussion and timpani. The recording session was held at Symphony Hall in Boston.

It is such a thrill to be a part of a recording session such as this. No concerts or rehearsals preceeded it - we just sat down and started playing for the microphones. The Fanfare for Fenway has that John Williams "signature sound" and in a few hours, we had recorded the full fanfare, a 30 second version and a short "loop" of the piece that can be used on television. The trombone section consisted of BSO players Toby Oft and Steve Lange, and Karna Millen (US Coast Guard Academy Band) and Adam Rainey (bass trombone student at New England Conservatory of Music).

The photos accompanying this entry tell a little of the story - John Williams and me together during a break in the recording session, and my view of the podium through recording equipment. Perhaps you'll hear the Fanfare for Fenway sometime during the 2012 Major League baseball season. I know that when I hear it, I'll be smiling, remembering a nice moment in time.

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Nice catch MarkRSmith! :)

Let's hope Williams finds time to release the fanfare along with some of his previously unreleased fanfares and concert pieces.

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Thanks for sharing this.

I'd love to hear the Bass Trombone version of the Tuba Concerto in the orchestral setting (there is already a wonderful recording with the reduction for bass trombone & piano).

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Thanks for sharing! I can't imagine why they would record the fanfare and not release it, although maybe they'll sit on the recording for years like Sony did with the "Variation on Happy Birthday."

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  • 3 weeks later...

I found a transcript (ignore the many grammatical errors) of the Rachel Maddow show, the night she claimed Williams' "Fanfare for Fenway" was the "best new thing."

You know composure John Williams? He is the guy who composed the music

from "star wars." John Williams is also the guy who composed the music for

-- jaws. Little known John Williams fact, he also wrote the theme to a

little something we like to call NBC news.

Basically, if you have hummed it, John Williams wrote it. And John

Williams has just written a little something for the Red Sox. It`s called

fanfare for Fenway. About three weeks ago, the Red Sox released a little

teaser of video, a 20-second e excerpt of the fun fare just to get the

blood pumping up every red Sox fan in the country.

Today, just before the game, we got finally to hear the whole thing, but

not before the Red Sox got us all worked up by inviting 214 former Red Sox

players, managers, and coaches on to the field including 92-year-old,

Johnny Pesky and 93-year-old Bobby Darin. They took the field in

wheelchairs. Yes, that was just the warm up.

Then, came the pitch. John Williams conducting the Boston pops playing

fanfare for Fenway.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

MADDOW: Somebody is cutting up onions in the studio, obviously. Perhaps

my allergies are acting up. I need to be alone with my feelings. I`m a

crier. You can`t do this to me.

Happy 100th birthday Fenway Park. You are the best old thing in the world,

almost every day. And your new fanfare is the new best thing tonight.

http://www.msnbc.msn...l/#.T--QhGgpxaF

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  • 5 months later...

Hey guys,

Thought you may enjoy hearing/seeing this live rehearsal of "Fanfare for Fenway" by our Ceremonial Brass group. If any of you musician-types plan to be at the Midwest Band & Orchestra Clinic next week in Chicago, they'll be doing it live. If you're interested, let me know and I'll look up the time/date/location. (It'll be free of course.)

Keep in mind this is just rehearsal, recorded with a video camera...

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Thanks so much for posting! You guys sound great--I've never heard the tuba players make that entrance without cracking a note (out of curiosity, do you know what about the music makes that entrance so difficult?).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi everyone

A Happy and Peaceful New Year to you all.

Re: all things Bostonian...I wonder if there will be a release of Fanfare for Fenway this year ? Should we expect such a thing ? An iTunes release perhaps ?

James

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  • 2 months later...

Hi gang

Just following up on the little run of postings from a few months ago: any thought or information regarding a potential downloadable release of Fanfare for Fenway to tie in with this year's imminent baseball season commencing ?

"Unlikely" is what I am thinking...alas.

Let's hope we eventually get a release that anthologises Rounds, Fanfare for Fenway, Soundings, Young Person's Guide to the Cello etc.

JC

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  • 1 year later...

It is incredibly frustrating that there is still no decent commercial recording of this great fanfare. I recently found a somewhat sluggish live recording in the iTunes store with Shanti Simon Nolan conducting the United States Air Force Band performed as part of the 2012 Midwest Clinic (International Band & Orchestra Conference). At least this performance isn't interrupted by cheers from the audience. Incidentally, the track isn't tagged with John Williams as composer -- just search "Fanfare for Fenway" and it will turn up.

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Dr. Know, if you look up about a dozen posts back you can see I posted a video of the AF Band's ceremonial brass performing the fanfare in a rehearsal (and that's Lt. Shanti Nolan conducting in the video). I haven't heard the version of the live performance on iTunes, but this is the same group just a couple of days before that performance.

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One thing that bothers me is that, since its premiere at the baseball game, the tempo has been significantly reduced in every recording. Not sure why this is the case. Maybe Williams marked the tempo slower, but for whatever reason (time shortage, or just a mistake) he conducted at a much faster tempo at the game?

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  • 1 year later...

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