23 replies to this topic

[lester1231]

AND

he had just finished updating themes for the "Today" show and "Meet the Press"

http://www.latimes.c...0,2935410.story

[king mark]

He's started working on Lincoln too

[Richard Penna]

Says he starts on Lincoln in a few months. Hopefully he's thinking about themes already though

[Maurizio]

"[Spielberg is] a much younger man than I am and he will go on a lot longer than I'll be able to, but for the time being we're having a wonderful time. Time goes by so quickly," Williams said. "Steven and I, when we're working together we're so much in the now, in this moment. There isn't a past, there isn't a future, you're so completely absorbed and concentrated. If you do that long enough, you suddenly realize, my God, I'm 80 years old, what happened? What happened was a well-spent, focused period of time."

Well, when I read this at the end of the piece a little tear formed in my eyes...

[Tom]

sounds like we have confimation of a new piece: a quartet written for the BSO.

Using the CSO for Lincoln is pretty cool as well.

[Maurizio]

Yep, they're both exciting tidbits.

It seems JW has found a new love for chamber music.

[Charlie Brigden]

"[Spielberg is] a much younger man than I am and he will go on a lot longer than I'll be able to, but for the time being we're having a wonderful time. Time goes by so quickly," Williams said. "Steven and I, when we're working together we're so much in the now, in this moment. There isn't a past, there isn't a future, you're so completely absorbed and concentrated. If you do that long enough, you suddenly realize, my God, I'm 80 years old, what happened? What happened was a well-spent, focused period of time."

Well, when I read this at the end of the piece a little tear formed in my eyes...

Me too. A beautiful sentiment.

[Miguel Andrade]

Yep, they're both exciting tidbits.

It seems JW has found a new love for chamber music.

New love? Williams has been writing chamber music since his early days, and have enjoyed playing chamber recitals with his close music friends for as long I can remember.

[indy4]

I wonder fi the quartet will be released on this?

http://www.amazon.co...ks_all_1#disc_1

EDIT: Ah, I didn't see the tracklist was already available.

[Miguel Andrade]

I wonder fi the quartet will be released on this?

http://www.amazon.co...ks_all_1#disc_1

EDIT: Ah, I didn't see the tracklist was already available.

I already saw this some time ago, but it's just a compilation from the Philips recordings with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

[Maurizio]

Yep, they're both exciting tidbits.

It seems JW has found a new love for chamber music.

New love? Williams has been writing chamber music since his early days, and have enjoyed playing chamber recitals with his close music friends for as long I can remember.

You're right as usual, Miguel I intended that there seems to be a wealth of new compositions in chamber form in the latest years from JW.

[Miguel Andrade]

I understand. It is indeed curious that it is not an unusual thing that composers, as they grow older, choose to write for smaller ensembles.

[Hedwig]

That last statement was really beautiful. Made me quite sad when he was talking about Spielberg going on longer without him, something I have always tried to avoid thinking about

"He said he has begun consulting with a musicologist about "Lincoln," - What could that be about?

[indy4]

"He said he has begun consulting with a musicologist about "Lincoln," - What could that be about?

He probably wants to learn about the music of the period, either to incoroporate some of its elements into his score or because he needs to write some source music.

[Thor]

"He said he has begun consulting with a musicologist about "Lincoln," - What could that be about?

He probably wants to learn about the music of the period, either to incoroporate some of its elements into his score or because he needs to write some source music.

Well, he's certainly no stranger to "typical" Americana, but I assume this is something else altogether.

[Quint]

Sometimes we are guilty of second guessing John's motivations when really we ought to be humbled by them.

[Maestro]

I hate reading populist articles on John Williams. Not only do they always regurgitate the same stories (he writes with pencils at a piano, Spielberg wanted other composers for Schindler's List...but they're all dead), the same filmography lists ("Williams has composed music for such classic films as 'Jaws,' 'Indiana Jones,' and the 'Star Wars' series"), and the same obvious information, but they often make stupid, sweeping generalizations about Williams and film music as a whole (ie., "Williams has no discernible tells as a songwriter"). Seriously, haven't we read this article 20 or 30 times now? And this is in the L.A. Times, no less, in a city where Williams has been a household fixture for decades. "Who the heck is this John Williams guy? OH, he wrote the music for E.T.!" And yet, these are the anointed people who get to interview Williams—the giant publications that ask the same insipid questions and write the same stupid article over and over.

Curmudgeonly rant over.

[indy4]

I too took some offense at the "he has no style" statement (also when Spielberg said the same thing in the TCM interview), but I appreciate this article for the new bits of information it brings. I would love to read an interview from a JWFan. That reminds me about Blum's old thread, we should get that rolling again.

[Hlao-roo]

I hate reading populist articles on John Williams. Not only do they always regurgitate the same stories (he writes with pencils at a piano, Spielberg wanted other composers for Schindler's List...but they're all dead), the same filmography lists ("Williams has composed music for such classic films as 'Jaws,' 'Indiana Jones,' and the 'Star Wars' series"), and the same obvious information, but they often make stupid, sweeping generalizations about Williams and film music as a whole (ie., "Williams has no discernible tells as a songwriter"). Seriously, haven't we read this article 20 or 30 times now? And this is in the L.A. Times, no less, in a city where Williams has been a household fixture for decades. "Who the heck is this John Williams guy? OH, he wrote the music for E.T.!" And yet, these are the anointed people who get to interview Williams—the giant publications that ask the same insipid questions and write the same stupid article over and over.

Curmudgeonly rant over.

And they're always interviewing that same ignorant fool Burlingame, too!

You're right, Tim, the article is pretty standard fare, but there were some nice nuggets, including the final quote from Williams. The bit about the musicologist is interesting and could bear further elucidation -- Williams hasn't on the whole been terribly revealing about the research he undertakes for his scores.

[Incanus]

I hate reading populist articles on John Williams. Not only do they always regurgitate the same stories (he writes with pencils at a piano, Spielberg wanted other composers for Schindler's List...but they're all dead), the same filmography lists ("Williams has composed music for such classic films as 'Jaws,' 'Indiana Jones,' and the 'Star Wars' series"), and the same obvious information, but they often make stupid, sweeping generalizations about Williams and film music as a whole (ie., "Williams has no discernible tells as a songwriter"). Seriously, haven't we read this article 20 or 30 times now? And this is in the L.A. Times, no less, in a city where Williams has been a household fixture for decades. "Who the heck is this John Williams guy? OH, he wrote the music for E.T.!" And yet, these are the anointed people who get to interview Williams—the giant publications that ask the same insipid questions and write the same stupid article over and over.

Curmudgeonly rant over.

And they're always interviewing that same ignorant fool Burlingame, too!

You're right, Tim, the article is pretty standard fare, but there were some nice nuggets, including the final quote from Williams. The bit about the musicologist is interesting and could bear further elucidation -- Williams hasn't on the whole been terribly revealing about the research he undertakes for his scores.

I agree on the general tone of the piece. Once again it is written as if the readers have no idea who John Williams is and thus they say the same things over and over again. But as you say there are some little snippets that contain something new.

Williams has to my amazement in an interview (at Thornton School of Music USC) admitted that he did very little research on Schindler's List, Munich or Memoirs of a Geisha or other projects. Williams said he studied a bit of the Jewish music for Fiddler on the Roof and also said he does not on the whole do a lot of research. He usually discusses specialty instruments with the players and tries to incorporate them into the orchestral palette but he is not like Rózsa who would go into a long research period for his historical or ethnic films (and came out sounding 100% Rózsa in the end). I guess Williams if he knows the vernacular of given cultural area or historical period to some degree, tries to learn from the musicians more about how to incorporate it but he mostly alludes to these things rather than going truly authentic. At least that is the picture I got from the interview.
But it was interesting to hear he has been consulting musicologist for Lincoln of all movies. I guess he wants to get the period sound right for either the score or something (source music) in it.

[Miguel Andrade]

Williams has to my amazement in an interview (at Thornton School of Music USC) admitted that he did very little research on Schindler's List, Munich or Memoirs of a Geisha or other projects. Williams said he studied a bit of the Jewish music for Fiddler on the Roof and also said he does not on the whole do a lot of research. He usually discusses specialty instruments with the players and tries to incorporate them into the orchestral palette but he is not like Rózsa who would go into a long research period for his historical or ethnic films (and came out sounding 100% Rózsa in the end). I guess Williams if he knows the vernacular of given cultural area or historical period to some degree, tries to learn from the musicians more about how to incorporate it but he mostly alludes to these things rather than going truly authentic. At least that is the picture I got from the interview.
But it was interesting to hear he has been consulting musicologist for Lincoln of all movies. I guess he wants to get the period sound right for either the score or something (source music) in it.

Williams also does not have the luxury of a long post-production period like in the days Rozsa would be writing those bigger than life biblical scores.
And as for consulting specialists, he did mention the same back in an early 1997 interview, while talking about "Amistad". Funny enough is research was, from what I recall, more directed to the music of the colonial period, rather than to that on the black slaves that were brought to the american continent.

[Thor]

I hate reading populist articles on John Williams. Not only do they always regurgitate the same stories (he writes with pencils at a piano, Spielberg wanted other composers for Schindler's List...but they're all dead), the same filmography lists ("Williams has composed music for such classic films as 'Jaws,' 'Indiana Jones,' and the 'Star Wars' series"), and the same obvious information, but they often make stupid, sweeping generalizations about Williams and film music as a whole (ie., "Williams has no discernible tells as a songwriter"). Seriously, haven't we read this article 20 or 30 times now? And this is in the L.A. Times, no less, in a city where Williams has been a household fixture for decades. "Who the heck is this John Williams guy? OH, he wrote the music for E.T.!" And yet, these are the anointed people who get to interview Williams—the giant publications that ask the same insipid questions and write the same stupid article over and over.

Curmudgeonly rant over.

Same here. I usually skip these articles and just read the highlights as they are presented in threads like this (if there are any news-worthy bits etc.).

[Pasi Tiitinen]

Well, these articles are not made for the most fanatic fans, who desperately want every second of his music and know all of his music.
They are for wider audiences, who don't know who the hell JW is and what thell is orchestral music. This is very simple to understand.

I liked to read this though.

[Thor]

Well, these articles are not made for the most fanatic fans, who desperately want every second of his music and know all of his music.
They are for wider audiences, who don't know who the hell JW is and what thell is orchestral music. This is very simple to understand.

I liked to read this though.

I get that, but it's still possible to write in a more original way.