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Williams orchestrating The Force Awakens himself?


mstrox

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You can generally tell when he's written something relying on the piano or not. You can tell that with most composers, really.

Is that meant in a positive sense? I.e. implying that music written on a piano sounds better?

There are certainly some scores where I can almost see the sequencer beeping away in front of me, but there are many other cues, from composers that write on a computer, which sound very natural.

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It's not implying anything. It's just a quality the music has. Mozart wrote very "pianistically." So did Ravel. John Adams doesn't. You can either break down the music easily into a form that one or two people could play, or it's fundamentally conceived for a symphonic scale.

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It's not implying anything. It's just a quality the music has. Mozart wrote very "pianistically." So did Ravel. John Adams doesn't. You can either break down the music easily into a form that one or two people could play, or it's fundamentally conceived for a symphonic scale.

I actually think Ravel sounds symphonic even when the work originated on the piano. Same with Shostakovitch and Rachmaninoff...it is like they thought in orchestra and reduced it for piano.

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It's not implying anything. It's just a quality the music has. Mozart wrote very "pianistically." So did Ravel. John Adams doesn't. You can either break down the music easily into a form that one or two people could play, or it's fundamentally conceived for a symphonic scale.

I actually think Ravel sounds symphonic even when the work originated on the piano. Same with Shostakovitch and Rachmaninoff...it is like they thought in orchestra and reduced it for piano.

I agree. Look at what Ravel did for Moussorgsky's pictures at an exhibition(originally for piano) I guess Mozart didn't have access to the same instruments that his contemporaries had. Or at least the modern versions of those instruments. I'll use my instrument as an example...Mozart's trumpets had no valves, so were extremely limited to the amount of notes they could play.From the late 1800's it all changed. Ravel uses the trumpet beautifully, so does Shostakovitch and definitely JW. A word on John Adams since I just performed his chamber symphony. He writes from his computer for sure,and it seems only a computer can play this stuff the way it's written. Unbelievably difficult. Kind of fun though.
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Adams writes at a big desk.

That Ravel was a master orchestrator is certain. But texturally, his music is very pianistic. But then, his piano music and others' of the time is rather symphonic itself.

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Adams writes at a big desk.

That Ravel was a master orchestrator is certain. But texturally, his music is very pianistic. But then, his piano music and others' of the time is rather symphonic itself.

Very good observation. Your mention of his piano music reminded me that we're performing his concerto in G next season. Cool trumpet part once again. Actually one of the most requested orchestral excerpts on the audition lists.

Apparently Adams chamber symphony was to be somewhat of a tribute to Shoenberg chamber symphonies. But as he was working on it his daughter was in the other room watching old cartoons, and the music influenced him. You can definitely hear this in the last mvt. You might also hear a bit of the he imperial march in there. Adams wrote this in the 90's I believe.

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On the subject of composing at the piano, you might find it surprising to know that Mozart always felt he needed one to compose. An excerpt from one of his letters to his father reads:

"My room that I'm moving to is being prepared—I'm just off now to hire a keyboard, because I can't live there until that's been delivered, especially as I've got to write just now, and there isn't a minute to be lost."

Even the greatest of great geniuses wrote that way. But due to Amadeus, everyone thinks Mozart just thought his music up as if struck by the divine. Nothing could be further from the truth. He certainly could write away from the keyboard, but he seemed to feel a loss without it.

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Mozart and other so-called 'genius' composers should not be overestimated in their ingenuity as they tend to be, but not underestimated as well, that's for sure.

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Mozart and other so-called 'genius' composers should not be overestimated in their ingenuity as they tend to be, but not underestimated as well, that's for sure.

When I say genius, I don't use the term lightly. I mean someone with astonishingly rare gifts, and Mozart certainly qualifies. Consider his musical memory. Having only a single night to compose his Violin Sonata in G, K. 379, he wrote out only the violin part and played the piano part only from his head the next day. His skills of improvisation tell a similar story:

"An experienced musician gave him a fugue theme, which he worked out for more than an hour with such science, dexterity, harmony, and proper attention to rhythm, that even the greatest connoisseurs were astounded."

Fugues are damn hard to write, so I cannot begin to fathom someone improvising one, let alone going on for an hour like this.

If this ain't genius, I don't know what is.

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So now it's Doug Adams' word vs. "governor from FSM Board." I'm more inclined to believe Doug, although he was reporting secondhand information. Either way, I don't really care who orchestrates. The music will be great regardless.

I have stronger opinions about who records and mixes the score, since that affects the album/listening experience.

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I approached him about something. I was surprisingly not burnt to ashes by the end of it.

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I'm more inclined to believe Doug, although he was reporting secondhand information.

Fourth-hand information, actually. We heard from Doug who heard from "reporters" who heard from Bruce Broughton who heard from John Williams...

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I can confirm that Conrad Pope was never asked by Williams to orchestrate any music for STAR WARS VII, and although I didn't receive absolute confirmation, I think we can safely assume that Williams is orchestrating the project himself.

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I thought Kanadians were supposed to be kind and humble?

I asked kindly!

Nope. Two words. Hockey fights.

That's where we purge all our hate. Not just the players, but the audience too....you don't want to mess with the fans...

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I can confirm that Conrad Pope was never asked by Williams to orchestrate any music for STAR WARS VII, and although I didn't receive absolute confirmation, I think we can safely assume that Williams is orchestrating the project himself.

How did you find that out?

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I can confirm that Conrad Pope was never asked by Williams to orchestrate any music for STAR WARS VII, and although I didn't receive absolute confirmation, I think we can safely assume that Williams is orchestrating the project himself.

How did you find that out?

I asked the Pope himself for disclosure, of course.

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JWFAN is no longer a reliable source of information (and hasn't been for a long time now).

Nowadays, saying "I read it on JWFAN" is not different than saying "I read it on Latino Review"!

That's news from Bree!

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Good! That's the spirit!

This should be the tagline of the website: The Most Unreliable Source Of John Williams News

Wouldn't such a claim undermine itself, like the Liar's paradox?

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