rpvee

I would 100% keep it sealed. I can’t imagine there any many, if any, still totally sealed copies in existence. And the contents can be easily found online these days, so it’s not like anything unique is inside.

Still eager for details of the vinyl box set that goes up for preorder in a week…

I’m still seeing seats available for all three Williams events, but can’t drop $600 right now. I’ve had luck getting great seats between the sale date and concert date anyway - not stressing it for now.

I’m sure he’s fine. He’s said in recent interviews that he doesn’t find these long award shows that fun anymore, that they used to be more natural and entertaining, and has acknowledged that along with his record number of nominations are a great deal of losses. He probably just didn’t want to sit through three-plus hours of fanfare after being to so many of these over the years.

In honor of Schindler’s List turning 30, the orchestra played the main theme as Spielberg came out to hand out Best Director. Awkwardly, or perhaps a bit fittingly, it was directly after Cillian Murphy won Best Actor for his performance in another WW2 drama.

Alas, Oppenheimer won. Don’t think Williams is even there - they didn’t do a split screen of all the nominees, and when someone who won earlier shouted out Williams as an inspiration, they never showed him for one of those classic “reaction shots”.

Interesting that they haven’t listed a co-conductor!

Another truly wonderful evening! Not much to add since I covered this same program in my post about the Philly concert, but Williams was again in amazing spirits, even widely smiling at the orchestra while conducting. He couldn’t remember Mark Hamill’s name, referring only to Carrie Fisher’s screen “partner”, but that’s literally my only nitpick beyond again lamenting the missed opportunity of having Williams conduct Yo-Yo Ma himself. Beyond that, nothing but great energy from the stage and the audience, and in an iconic and historic venue that Williams highly praised when he began the second half of the program (even theorizing there are ghosts in the Hall that dance and play music when it’s empty after performances). I guess for now, this is it until Tanglewood for East Coast-ers. August feels so far away, but I’m sure it’ll be here before we all know it! Until then, grateful as ever to the living legend that is Maestro John Williams for countless priceless musical memories, from the first note of the first piece to the famous “sleepy hands”, and everything in between. I mentioned in that thread that I emailed the station and they told me the concert won’t be broadcast.

First half done! Exactly the same as the first, including Williams greeting the crowd before and after the Schindler’s List encore. Also worth noting that while the Philly concert was confirmed to not have a future broadcast, it was heavily mic’d all the way down to one specifically in front of Yo-Yo Ma. Meanwhile, tonight’s concert only has a single microphone hanging in front of the conductor’s podium and no where else. There are a bunch of cameras at the back of the hall, but I can’t see how a good sound recording could be acquired for this one with the only mic I can see.

A single seat in orchestra center, row Q has opened up.

I believe it'll be "Violin Concerto No. 2 & Selected Film Themes", which was recorded in Boston in October 2021. It features the Concerto, along with Theme from The Long Goodbye, Han Solo and the Princess, and Marion's Theme. Notably, the release has no audience applause before and after pieces (except for the Blu-Ray version).

Me!

Wowwww, that box set sounds incredible!!! I wonder what the bonus content will be. I’m sure it’ll cost an arm and a leg, but if the vinyl editions in the box are exclusive in some way (like the limited gold variants the individual releases had when they first went on sale), it'll be perfect. Also excited to see what concerts are unearthed on Stage+! The choice to release a box set now with Japan done also feels a bit… definitive? Surely this isn’t the end of their John Williams live releases?

Yes, he gave a synopsis of the book/film’s story.

Update: emailed the station and they replied saying the concert was not recorded for broadcast.