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John Williams to attend Academy's "Behind the Score: The Art of the Film Composer"


Muad'Dib

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yeah,I know

What pisses me off is they invite this guy who has written about 2 film scores instead of another one with more experience

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Dudamel hasn't written many scores either. It's a really odd pairing. Maybe they want people with all levels of experience.

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yeah,I know

What pisses me off is they invite this guy who has written about 2 film scores instead of another one with more experience

Santaolalla has written many scores, don't be ignorant just because he won an Oscar over Williams.

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I would have gone to this if tickets hadn't sold out. Where's that golf course he walks around every evening? The "worse JW expanded release" thread has reminded me that I need to have a little word with him about some of his unreleased music...

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Santaolalla is a fine and experienced film composer. I think it's a great pairing -- Dudamel with the classical experience, Santaolalla with the rock background (and a more 'stripped' form of composition) and Williams with...well, all the varied experience in several fields.

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Well I'd go to the event for John Williams alone.

If I remember correctly Dudamel has done a single score and thought it was a tough and challenging gig.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well that was the most visceral thing I have ever heard Williams say. In some weird way, it might even solidify his reputation as a great artist in the minds of detractors.

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Very moving to hear him speak about how his wife's death affected him and his work.

Interestingly we were talking about this earlier this year here.

I really do think these events profoundly shape artists, and knowing about them can really shape our appreciation of their work. For example, I don't hear ST: Nemesis the same way knowing what I know now about Jerry's life while he wrote it.

When we know these stories, we hear and feel things that would otherwise be hidden. There's a lot of physiological and behavioral evidence of this: stories shape our perceptions, whether we want them to or not. It's a shame that a lot of artists lived and died with the belief that their works should stand on their own, without their audience ever knowing such stories. It's a profound shame because we can never tap into that dimension of their works.

Yes in a sense it's their artistic choice, but knowing what we know about human psychology now, I think it's a misguided choice.

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It was indeed moving to hear Williams recount his first wife Barbara Ruick's passing as the pivotal moment of his life. He sounded somehow awed and grateful of the experience despite what must have been a devastating loss.

I think it is for any artist or creative person a difficult to thing to put to words the process of creation of their work and entirely dissect the causes that led to it, impeded or facilitated it. Film composers usually have very clear goals as far as their work needs to accomplish certain task in the film and they often illuminate this on a broader scale and tell those stories of what their overall aesthetic or ideas were for a particular score. I am sure there would be another emotional or psychological dimension to the work be it music or painting or sculpting or any art if we knew such intimate stories and thoughts that ran through the artist's mind at the moment of creation but those influences, mental states and thoughts might pass without conscious recollecting by the artist of each and every moment in the process of creation. The art itself is very personal and something they give to us so do we need to know "behind-the-scenes" process or causes that went into creating it? It might be interesting and it might indeed add another layer or understanding to the appreciation of this art but perhaps composers and other artists deserve to keep this personal side just that, personal. It does not diminish the power of their work even if we don't know every thought or anecdote or event that went into making of these things.

But undoubtedly knowing such things would certainly change perspective from which we view a piece of music, an entire score or painting or they would probably go a long way to explain certain qualities in these works.

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Finally watched the video. Good stuff. The saddest thing that could happen in his personal live lead to a creative explosion in his professional life.

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There is something almost Beethovenian in Williams' deeply moving thought. The way he found enlightenment through personal tragedy also reminded me of Joseph Campbell's "pathway to bliss" philosophy,

All this reminded me of the powerful emotions I felt when I listened to him conducting his Violin Concerto in Chicago last November. I was deeply struck by the emotional journey of this work, which is probably JW's most personal ever.

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There is something almost Beethovenian in Williams' deeply moving thought. The way he found enlightenment through personal tragedy also reminded me of Joseph Campbell's "pathway to bliss" philosophy,

All this reminded me of the powerful emotions I felt when I listened to him conducting his Violin Concerto in Chicago last November. I was deeply struck by the emotional journey of this work, which is probably JW's most personal ever.

From what I heard, that was started while Ruick was alive, for her, but then she passed away. I imagine he heavily revised the whole concerto once she passed away, correct?

Assuming that's true, I wonder what it was supposed to have sounded like before the tragedy. The final version we got is certainly his darkest, most inaccessible work.

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Pah! I'm in semi-retirement. Getting too old for this.

I'd settle for another round of JWFan Survivor. Though it wouldn't be the same without artyjeffrey's illustrations.

I really really miss that guy. I can't even find his website with his art on it anymore.

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Pah! I'm in semi-retirement. Getting too old for this.

I'd settle for another round of JWFan Survivor.

I'd love that.

I don't know what it is, but I'm in.

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I just watched the clips, and as many others have posted, the impact of his first wife's death was incredibly touching.

Pah! I'm in semi-retirement. Getting too old for this.

I'd settle for another round of JWFan Survivor.

I'd love that.

Indeed. I miss Blume's old shenanigans.

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I was never even interesting enough to be in the JWFan Survivor... :(

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I believe Williams has stated in the past that he actually doesn't like Wagner's music.

edit: oops, i notice that he complimented Dudamel on his Mahler, so it's a moot point.

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