Jay

It looks like Robert Townson's post about this album isn't here yet: John Williams Reimagined Sara Andon, flute; Cecilia Tsan, cello; Simone Pedroni, piano Produced by Robert Townson So proud to announce this 2-CD set that will be released by Warner Classics on August 23, 2024. Star Wars. Memoirs of a Geisha. Schindler’s List. Far and Away. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The list goes on and on. Legendary film composer John Williams has for decades reigned as the most celebrated film composer of all time. But John Williams Reimagined is Williams like you’ve never heard him before. John Williams’ themes and orchestrations have resonated in moviegoers’ minds for generations. Steven Spielberg called him “the greatest of all maestros.” George Lucas once told him, “You brought my stories to life beyond my wildest dreams.” For film score producer par excellence Robert Townson, it was the “extraordinary flute solos John has featured in so many of his film scores” that triggered the idea of “a John Williams album…unlike any other.” But could the album Townson imagined—scored for chamber trio of flute, cello, and piano—become reality? With a long career of film score productions to his credit, the producer knew that Williams seldom approves new arrangements of music from his iconic scores. Townson had more than a dream, though. He had a dream ensemble in mind: flutist Sara Andon, cellist Cécilia Tsan, and pianist Simone Pedroni. So, with no guarantee they’d ever see the light of day, he enlisted Pedroni to create three sample transcriptions; record them with the three musicians; and sent them to the composer. Much to their delight, Williams approved Townson’s full track list and sanctioned the trio to exclusively record and perform the full set. Pedroni, for his part, describes the orchestral color of John Williams’ film scores as “always masterful—which made me think that it is impossible to do better.” Yet as the pianist worked on the transcriptions he realized that “Williams’ compositional genius…pure, deep, and great in itself” was precisely what would enable him to reimagine the selections—some iconic, some relatively obscure—for the chamber trio Townson had in mind. The result is a revelation. Familiar themes pepper the track list, intermingling with lesser-known music. “Princess Leia’s Theme” from Star Wars made a lasting impression on Sara Andon when she first heard it as a child. The score for Memoirs of a Geisha features cello solos that Williams wrote for his friend Yo-Yo Ma, and that translate perfectly for Cécilia Tsan, who is a childhood friend of Ma. The trio premiered their John Williams Reimagined concert recital at the Rome Film Music Festival in 2023. The selections cover more than half a century—from Williams’ Emmy-winning score for the 1970 telefilm Jane Eyre—Townson’s original inspiration for the album—to the main theme of 2022’s The Fabelmans, one of over two dozen collaborations between Williams and Spielberg, which affords the brilliant Pedroni a solo piano spotlight. From the canon of iconic Williams scores over this timespan, the two-CD set includes selections from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Witches of Eastwick, Jurassic Park, The Accidental Tourist, Dracula, The Sugarland Express, Jane Eyre, War Horse, Hook, The Patriot, and more, not to mention the Star Wars saga, Schindler’s List, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. During the recording sessions in Los Angeles, John Williams invited the trio to perform a selection of the new arrangements for him privately in his writing studio at Amblin. This was in 2022, during Williams’ 90th birthday year, and he was being celebrated all over the world. Following the performance of “The Face of Pan” from Hook, the composer was very moved. He warmly remarked, "This is one of my best birthday gifts," and gave each of the musicians a hug. Sara, Cécilia and Simone will remember this moment with immense joy and heartfelt gratitude for the rest of their lives. Film music producer Robert Townson founded his first record label in 1985 and has produced nearly 1,500 film music recordings over the past four decades. He has worked with a galaxy of eminent composers, from Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein and Alexandre Desplat to Hans Zimmer, Lalo Schifrin, Danny Elfman, and of course John Williams. Flutist Sara Andon is a versatile international soloist and recording artist equally at home with symphonic and chamber music, opera, ballet, new music, jazz, and Broadway. She has performed with top-tier orchestras and is heard on countless film, TV and video game scores. She has recorded with such composers as Brian Tyler, John Debney, Marco Beltrami, and Jeff Russo and for labels Sony Classical and Varèse Sarabande. Cellist Cécilia Tsan, winner of the Debussy Prize at the Paris International Competition, performs as a soloist and chamber musician in her home country of France and abroad. She has recorded hundreds of movie soundtracks in Los Angeles by composers such as John Williams, Randy Newman, James Horner, and Alan Silvestri. Pianist, conductor and arranger Simone Pedroni launched his solo career winning the gold medal at the Van Cliburn Competition in 1993. He has performed in sold-out concerts throughout the world, working with artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Zubin Mehta, and Leonard Slatkin, and recorded for labels including Sony Classical and Decca Records. JOHN WILLIAMS REIMAGINED - TRACKLIST CD 1 1. Star Wars: Princess Leia’s Theme Jane Eyre 2. To Thornfield 3. Reunion Memoirs of A Geisha 4. Sayuri's Theme 5. A Dream Discarded 6. Going to School 7. Images: In Search of Unicorns The River 8. Growing Up 9. The Pony Ride 10. Love Theme 11. Young Friend’s Farewell 12. The Sugarland Express: Theme 13. Elegy for Cello and Piano 14. A.I.: The Reunion 15. The Empire Strikes Back: Han Solo and the Princess 16. Far and Away: County Galway, Joseph and Shannon, Blowing Off Steam, Finale CD 2 1. The Fabelmans 2. Seven Years in Tibet 3. Jurassic Park: A Tree for My Bed 4. Hook: The Face of Pan 5. The Accidental Tourist 6. Schindler’s List: Theme Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 7. Double Trouble 8. A Window to the Past 9. Hagrid the Professor 10. Chasing Scabbers/Hagrid’s Friendly Bird and The Snowball Fight 11. Dracula: End Credits 12. War Horse: Dartmoor 1912, Bringing Joey Home and Bonding, The Death of Topthorn, Finale and The Homecoming 13. The Patriot 14. Sabrina: How Can I Remember? The Witches of Eastwick 15. The Tennis Game 16. The Seduction of Suki and The Ballroom Sequence 17. Devil’s Dance 18. E.T.: Over the Moon Recorded and Mixed by Gabe Burch Mastered by Patricia Sullivan at Bernie Grundman Mastering https://www.facebook.com/100007586280737/posts/3571911583071683/

I like all his movies. Well, I never saw the Piranha one

Has anybody on JWFan heard this new release?

Nope.

Ordered!

Ordered!

Woohoo, Ordered! I LOVE early Elfman, and normally would have ordered this on day one. But since they had already told us beforehand that The Piper was releasing last night, I waited to order it along with that (and Species). This will be a title I listen to very soon after receiving. I avoided the samples (though am familiar with the suite on Music For A Darkened Theater) so can't wait to just go right into the new main program when I get it!

I've bought this totally blind. Never seen (never even heard of) the movie, and only watched the trailer above, didn't listen to the samples. Looking forward to a nice blind first listen.

I've purchased it now (I really like this score), and look forward to selling all the previous editions and only keeping this one I'll try to comment on sound quality when I open it up and check it out

I've ordered this release and look forward to checking it out; I remember liking the previous edition. I guess I should see the movie at some point.

Finally was able to purchase this release since its back in stock. Looking forward to finally checking it out. I guess I should see the movie again too; I haven't seen it since it was in theaters.

James Cameron past his prime? Avatar and Avatar 2 are the biggest hits of his career! He didn't direct Dark Fate.

Purchased direct from Intrada: Couldn't order MacArthur because it's already Out Of Stock. That happened to me last year with Hollow Man which is why I didn't have that yet.

The sale has been extended to April 30th. From LLL's home page: 25% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER!!! Spring into great savings NOW with 25% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER of IN-STOCK titles – including this month’s two new releases! Discount will be applied at checkout. (This offer applies to IN-STOCK items only and excludes our SCARFACE VINYL 2XLP and the purchase of Gift Certificates). Special offer EXTENDED through 4/30 BACK IN STOCK… THE THIN RED LINE (4-CD SET), FIELD OF DREAMS (2-CD SET), X-MEN (2-CD SET LAST BATCH) ... THESE TITLES START SHIPPING 4/23 ALSO BACK IN STOCK… DAYS OF THUNDER (LAST BATCH!!!), THE GODFATHER: 50th ANNIVERSARY EXPANDED AND REMASTERED LIMITED EDITION (2-CD SET), THE MASK OF ZORRO (2-CD SET) and KARATE KID 35th ANNIVERSARY (LAST BATCH!!!). Get ‘em as part of our 25% OFF special! NOTE: NEW ORDERS MAY NOT BE COMBINED WITH PREVIOUS OR CURRENT ORDERS. I also saw this posted on FSM. Is it from an email? If so, that means I'm still not getting them I wonder if other gmail users are afffected? Kind of like what we have going on here? SALE EXTENDED THRU 4/30 BACK IN STOCK DAYS OF THUNDER – LAST BATCH!!! FIELD OF DREAMS (2-CD SET) – starts shipping 4/23 THE GODFATHER: 50th ANNIVERSARY (2-CD SET) THE THIN RED LINE (4-CD SET) – starts shipping 4/23 X-MEN (2-CD SET) – LAST BATCH!!! – starts shipping 4/23 LAST CALL DIE ANOTHER DAY – Less than 20 remain THE KARATE KID: 35th ANNIVERSARY – LAST BATCH!!! A QUIET PLACE PART II – Less than 100 remain SLIVER – Less than 70 remain VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA – Less than 50 remain

I definitely want to see that one