Google Alert for "John Williams"...

[pete 907]

I just set up a Google Alert for John Williams and within seconds recieved a few interesting links:

http://www.derryjournal.com/what-s-on/arts-culture/marie-louise-back-practising-cello-for-bbc-documentary-1-6675043

Best known for her popular BBC Radio Ulster programme ‘The Arts Show’, Marie-Louise Muir has returned to her childhood roots in Derry to make a documentary for BBC Radio 4 entitled ‘Notes on a Northern Ireland Childhood’. ...

The music Marie-Louise will be playing is that of John Williams, made famous through the films he composed for, including E.T. and Superman. This week Marie-Louise said she is finally playing ‘something that resembles ET, but Superman is not going so well.’

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/entertainment/music/7820486

It was less than a decade ago when renowned violinist Steven Greenman was seeking enlightenment during a tai chi class. ...

In addition to “The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto,” the April 11 program at the Sandusky State Theatre features selections from Zoltan Kodaly’s “Hary Jonos Suite,” Antonin Dvorak’s “Legend #3,” Klaus Badelt’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” and John Williams’ “Themes from ‘Hook.’”

http://www.cibolabeacon.com/news/tuba-conference-to-be-hosted-at-p-a-c/article_8fd9abb6-dd1b-11e4-a1d8-67a18180b1b0.html

Saturday night's Gala will be five special sets with five different artists. They will include many notable composers from the state, including New Mexico State University's Dr. Warner Hutchinson. Tickets for this section of events are $10 per person. The evening will feature a John Williams concerto and 4 other concertos

Since a lot of these events may not be worthy of their own threads, how about we dedicate a thread to all these little tidbits of information that come in?

[Hlao-roo 389]

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/04/star_wars_at_the_saenger.html

The Mobile Symphony Orchestra will play the soundtrack star's most memorable movie tunes at "The Music of John Williams," concert this Saturday and Sunday at The Saenger Theatre.

The show is going to be heavy on "Star Wars" music, so guys and gals are encouraged to dress like they're from a galaxy far far away. So proudly don your Darth Vader helmets and Princess Leia braid puffs, because Speck and the musicians want to look out an audience filled with aliens and more spacey specimens.

"One half of the concert is devoted to 'Star Wars.' We're playing music from all six movies," said Mobile Symphony Orchestra conductor and music director Scott Speck. "The second half of the concert is devoted to all the other famous soundtracks; "Jaws," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Superman," "Schindler's List," "Harry Potter, E.T."

"In 'Star Wars' Williams uses the orchestra so well. The musicians asked for the music far in advance because they know its extraordinarily difficult to play. John Williams doesn't pull any punches," Speck said. "He knows what sounds he wants, and he knows how the great composers of the past, like Richard Strauss, got them. The horns and trumpets especially, have a workout in this concert. All the brass, trombones and tubas have long periods where they're playing fanfares and melodies that really call on them to play at the highest level."

Speck said "Across" is his favorite piece of music from the prequel trilogy.

"It perfectly combines the feelings of passionate attraction between Padme and Anakin, and tragedy, because you know its going to be a tragic end," he said. "It's a very long, flowing melody that is mostly played by the strings, and the whole orchestra plays when it rises to its climax."

If you were worried about getting Jar Jar Binks flashbacks at the show, you can relax. Speck is not a fan of the grating character or his accompanying music.

"Jar Jar does have a theme, but were not playing it," Speck said. "It's my least favorite."

Speck said all the "Star Wars" soundtrack installments so far show an impressive continuity, despite the fact that Williams started them in the 1970s and is still fashioning them forty years later.

"He managed to stay remarkably true to the original style of 'Star Wars." When he went back again and again into that world, he stuck with the same sound world. It's all in the same vein, and its all in the same style" Speck said. "What's different is the themes. One of the reasons we love 'Star Wars' is not just the brassy triumphant momentous sound of the music, but the characters' themes."

Williams has written many different scores in many different styles, but he's particularly drawn to Wagnerian drama.

"Williams is an amazing chameleon. In the case of "Jaws," he sort of invented his own sound, and in "Catch Me If You Can" he has a jazz solo; but most of his scores are in the grand late romantic Germanic orchestra tradition," Speck said.

That means in addition to Wagner, Williams also takes cues from 19th and 20th century German composers Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler.

Speck said the famous Flying Theme from "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial," which evoked images of E.T. and Elliott bicyling across the face of the moon, is heavily influenced by Mahler's Ninth Symphony.

Strauss was also a champion of the leitmotif, and he used the device in his symphonic poems. Coincidentally, the MSO's last concert featured the Strauss tone poem "Death and Transfiguration," and Speck detected some very Williams-ish sounds in Strauss' stirring musical mortality play.

"It seemed to me that Williams had ripped off Lois Lane's theme in 'Superman' from the transfiguration theme," Speck said. "There are only two notes' difference."

In Williams' other soundtracks, references to Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky and Giacomo Puccini are also present. Audiences at Mobile Opera's recent performance of Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" were surprised to hear music very similar to the main "Star Wars" theme in the score.

Williams does have a tendency to emulate and borrow, but he's still an American original with an unquantifiable influence on the music world and our collective pop culture consciousness.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

"Williams is an amazing chameleon. In the case of "Jaws," he sort of invented his own sound, and in "Catch Me If You Can" he has a jazz solo; but most of his scores are in the grand late romantic Germanic orchestra tradition," Speck said.

[KK 3,307]

This Speck guy sounds like an idiot.

[Hlao-roo 389]

This Speck guy sounds like an idiot.

Scott Speck has been a regular commentator on National Public Radio, the BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Voice of Russia, broadcast throughout the world. He has been featured in TED talks and at the Aspen Ideas Festival. His writing has been featured in numerous magazines and journals.

Born in Boston, Scott Speck graduated summa cum laude from Yale University. There he founded and directed the Berkeley Chamber Orchestra, which continues to perform to this day. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Berlin, where he founded Concerto Grosso Berlin, an orchestra dedicated to the performances of Baroque and Classical music in a historically informed style. He received his Master’s Degree with highest honors from the University of Southern California, served as a Conducting Fellow at the Aspen School of Music, and studied at the Tanglewood Music Center. He is fluent in English, German and French, has a diploma in Italian, speaks Spanish and has a reading knowledge of Russian.

http://www.scottspeck.org/about-me#bio

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

And this gives him... intelligence? Wisdom?

[Hlao-roo 389]

And this gives him... intelligence? Wisdom?

Cachet.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Sure, ok. But what about panache? Has he got that?!

[KK 3,307]

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/04/star_wars_at_the_saenger.html

"It seemed to me that Williams had ripped off Lois Lane's theme in 'Superman' from the transfiguration theme," Speck said. "There are only two notes' difference."

Yeah, because that's how you're supposed to dissect music...

All the quotes from the article sound more like it came from those crazed youtube commenters rather than a musical academic.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

The Mobile Symphony Orchestra? What's that? Is it a bunch of people with their cellphones playing ringtones? Or is it a bunch of people moving around as they play the music? Or both?

[Hlao-roo 389]

“Musical Masterpieces” The U.S. Army Concert Band and Army Voices perform “An American Journey” from John Williams, the premiere of “Three Washington Statues” by Philip Sparke and music from “Les Miserables.” 7:30 p.m. Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall, 10960 George Mason Cir., Manassas. 703-993-7759. www.hyltoncenter.org. Free.

 

http://www.hyltoncenter.org/calendar/686/

[Faleel 5,348]

http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/04/star_wars_at_the_saenger.html

"It seemed to me that Williams had ripped off Lois Lane's theme in 'Superman' from the transfiguration theme," Speck said. "There are only two notes' difference."

Yeah, because that's how you're supposed to dissect music...

All the quotes from the article sound more like it came from those crazed youtube commenters rather than a musical academic.

Or JWfan.

The Mobile Symphony Orchestra? What's that? Is it a bunch of people with their cellphones playing ringtones? Or is it a bunch of people moving around as they play the music? Or both?

Or perhaps it's an orchestra from Mobile Alabama?

[Hlao-roo 389]

Without faulting Speck or the Press-Register, I suspect some of the nuances got lost in translation.

[Bespin 8,481]

"It seemed to me that Williams had ripped off Lois Lane's theme in 'Superman' from the transfiguration theme," Speck said. "There are only two notes' difference."

Please tell this Speck to just stop smoking weed.

[Hlao-roo 389]

"It seemed to me that Williams had ripped off Lois Lane's theme in 'Superman' from the transfiguration theme," Speck said. "There are only two notes' difference."

Please tell this Speck to just stop smoking weed.

His Twitter handle is @scottspeck1; you can tell him yourself.

[pete 907]

He also credited John Williams with inspiring him to start conducting, so he can't be totally evil^.

[Hlao-roo 389]

http://www.recordnet.com/article/20150408/ENTERTAINMENTLIFE/150409731/-1/A_BIZ

“Carmina Burana” is famous for its flexibility and adaptability. Many people never connected “The Lone Ranger” theme with Giacomo Rossini’s “William Tell Overture.” Hardly anyone would link Orff’s one-hit wonder with Ozzy Osbourne.

But the Black Sabbath co-founder used 63 seconds of Orff’s “O’Fortuna” as mood music prior to his shows and now on the Internet.

It’s been adapted for TV commercials and movies, including by John Williams for the first “Star Wars” “prequel.”

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Lol. These Google Alerts sure do lead to some amusing things.

But think... these are how your average person is exposed to "information" about the man.

Anyway, it's hard to tell from the wording but if the implication is that Duel of the Fates is modeled after O Fortuna, then it should be clarified that the similarity in question is actually to the less-known and superior second piece in the cycle, Fortune Plango Vulnera.

They don't write lyrics like that anymore!

[KK 3,307]

That's a good one.

This is my favourite from the cycle:

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Shockingly, not an easy song to get started when you're out at the local pub on a Friday night.

[Incanus 5,714]

Shockingly, not an easy song to get started when you're out at the local pub on a Friday night.

I guess your crowd was too shy to sing without the orchestral accompaniment.

[KK 3,307]

I don't care! I sing it all the time, sober and drunk!

[Incanus 5,714]

But it is great that every bit of later choral work can ultimately be derived from Carl Off's Carmina Burana. It is nice to know the ultimate source.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Anyway, it's hard to tell from the wording but if the implication is that Duel of the Fates is modeled after O Fortuna, then it should be clarified that the similarity in question is actually to the less-known and superior second piece in the cycle, Fortune Plango Vulnera.

Always preferred that one to O Fortuna.

[pete 907]

Nice Star Wars soundtrack review.

American Journey performance on April 10:

Musical Masterpieces” The U.S. Army Concert Band and Army Voices perform “An American Journey” from John Williams, the premiere of “Three Washington Statues” by Philip Sparke and music from “Les Miserables.” 7:30 p.m. Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall, 10960 George Mason Cir., Manassas. 703-993-7759. www.hyltoncenter.org. Free.

Last but not least: John's third book, Stoner, gets a nice mention here:

It’s the 50th anniversary of Stoner. I think most readers will know that I’m talking about John Williams’ third novel.

[Hlao-roo 389]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/lifestyles/ct-nvs-bach-to-bock-st-0417-20150417-story.html

[Guest violinist David] Taylor was instrumental in getting [the] music from "Fiddler on the Roof," [New Philharmonic Orchestra Music Director Kirk] Muspratt said. He bugged [John] Williams for years to publish the fiddle music from the beginning of the movie that was written for Isaac Stern. It sat on the shelves at MGM for 30-something years.

"David loves this violin music … and every time he works with John Williams, which is about once a year at the [Chicago Symphony Orchestra], he would say, 'Hey John, would you ever take this music off the shelf and publish it so we could all play it.' Because no one's played this music since Isaac Stern had a chance to do it in 1971. And David would bug him every year when he would come to Ravinia or CSO. And about five or six years ago, they were at Ravinia and John Williams came up to David and said, 'David, come to my dressing room at intermission. I have something for you.'

"And he gave him a set of parts and the score to the music that he had re-arranged and re-worked from the 1971 music. Now we're playing from that set of parts that John Williams gave to David."

[Hlao-roo 389]

This is not new, but it's a fun tidbit regardless:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/star-wars/11532663/Star-Wars-digital-Release-was-it-worth-60.html

It's also interesting to hear John Williams explain why the Cantina jazz in A New Hope was deliberately played a little off-tune:

"[George Lucas's] idea, what he said to me was, 'Can you imagine these creatures in some future century having found in a time capsule or under a rock some place an old 1930s Benny Goodman swing band record? And can you imagine what their distorted idea of how to play it would be?' So that’s more or less what I tried to do. And I think it looks pretty cute with the monsters, you know, doing their little Benny Goodman licks."

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I thought it was a long time ago....

[Hlao-roo 389]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/first-lady-of-the-fiddle-1428961889

And despite entreaties, John Williams has also not gratified [German violinist Anne-Sophie] Mutter with a work written expressly for her. Though best known for his film scores—Ms. Mutter is fond of the theme to “Schindler’s List”—Mr. Williams is also a composer of music for the concert hall. “He wrote a beautiful violin concerto in the 1970s,” she said. “What he could bring to a new composition now is just tremendous.”

[Incanus 5,714]

This is not new, but it's a fun tidbit regardless:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/star-wars/11532663/Star-Wars-digital-Release-was-it-worth-60.html

It's also interesting to hear John Williams explain why the Cantina jazz in A New Hope was deliberately played a little off-tune:

"[George Lucas's] idea, what he said to me was, 'Can you imagine these creatures in some future century having found in a time capsule or under a rock some place an old 1930s Benny Goodman swing band record? And can you imagine what their distorted idea of how to play it would be?' So that’s more or less what I tried to do. And I think it looks pretty cute with the monsters, you know, doing their little Benny Goodman licks."

I think this quote was paraphrased by Matessino in the 1997 liner notes of the SW special edition.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/first-lady-of-the-fiddle-1428961889

And despite entreaties, John Williams has also not gratified [German violinist Anne-Sophie] Mutter with a work written expressly for her. Though best known for his film scores—Ms. Mutter is fond of the theme to “Schindler’s List”—Mr. Williams is also a composer of music for the concert hall. “He wrote a beautiful violin concerto in the 1970s,” she said. “What he could bring to a new composition now is just tremendous.”

I think the demand for new pieces or adaptation of old ones (like the violin piece from Fiddler on the Roof) is so huge JW simply hasn't got the time to write all of these as unfortunate as it is to us fans.

[Thor 7,504]

I think the demand for new pieces or adaptation of old ones (like the violin piece from Fiddler on the Roof) is so huge JW simply hasn't got the time to write all of these as unfortunate as it is to us fans.

Let's face it. John Williams will have nothing to do with us Europeans anymore -- neither in person nor in spirit. It's all about AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

'MURICA!