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Disc 3: my thoughts. Opening with the children's suite is a great idea. Hearing the entire thing as a whole for the first time in ages was really refreshing. Though I don't like Fluffy's harp, those violins in Diagon Alley are such a delight, Quidditch is wonderful and Harry's Wondrous World at the end works so well, especially because it references previous movements. I do think that including HWW on disc 2 was a bit superfluous/overkill: I know that's how it is in the credits, but now it's a little repetitive and we have HWW in Chamber of Secrets again too. I would also have preferred the pub music to come first, because that flute solo is Hedwig's theme yet again. The vocal Hogwarts forever versions is great, Hedwig's theme for harp is a little weird but great fun, the coke ad is as magical as ever, but the teaser music is rather redundant. The trailer is interesting because it was seemingly recorded in a smaller studio or by a small/inexperienced orchestra and given the short running time of this disc, I think it would have been nice to have Owl's Flight at the end of a Dumbledore's Advice reprise. It would have given Hedwig's theme a well-deserved break and casual listeners might have had a better idea about where the cue belonged.

Went to see PoA live yesterday: as I said in the LTP thread, apart from a few minor glitches it was an incredible experience. Anyway, I probably was the only one feeling sad during the Discussing Black scene. We miss you, 30" shawm cue ❤️ (sorry for the vertical video — ugh — and the Italian dubbing) IMG_9144.mp4 By the way, I also snatched a certain tambourine/Cadogan cue IMG_9145_TRIM.mp4

Geez! It's Vangelis!

Damn! Isn't this thread supposed to be about the music? Some of you guys are obsessed with the tiniest flaws and mistakes and imperfections. Really! I swear, some of you guys didn't even buy this set to enjoy the music buy to find mistakes and flaws....

Ni!

I'm sure @The Illustrious Jerry will play it on his mighty organ for you.

Of course. That is why I responded initially, “John Williams.” I had to edit my response after I realized he was referring to the final track. Regardless of that, all of the Maestro’s music is presented, and I really enjoy this phenomenal set.

Mine is still sitting underneath the tree unlistened to. I'm enjoying my 4K player visually rather than aurally. Got Poltergeist in right now. The great Goldsmith score is a very emotional score.

Apparently, LLL wants me to appreciate them packaging the order well, because on the invoice, they circled my comment to "please please please package well" with a pen So I hereby announce that I appreciate LLL's packaging.

Like mine earlier today?

My piano concerto album is finally out on youtube/itunes. Recorded at Abbey Road - hope you enjoy.

Ah, thanks! So the actual HP1 OST version isn't on there, because a bit in the middle was restored. And the Children's Suite and CoS versions are the same ones then. That makes sense.

Yes, there are differences between the two versions on this HP1 set: number one is the uncut version that was truncated (only like two seconds missing for the OST, number two is the 'cut' version, but with the suite ending, e.g. the one supposedly recorded for COS. Teaser might be the first ever recorded cue, but that doesn't make it less redundant for my listening experience. I'm not saying it's historically unnecessary, it just doesn't add anything to my enjoyment after the entire score.

Hey, Jay. I had a question. Out of curiousity, why was “Trailer” included as the final track? I find it odd as the first part of it is not composed by the Maestro.

The sugar-coated Tom Hanks Walt Disney was more intolerable than that woman, who seemed reasonable enough. The smoking PSA scene was especially embarrassing.

I could arrange it for you if you’d like!

Very nice! The John Williams at 80 article was a great read! It’s motivating to see someone of his age still so dedicated to the creation of beautiful art and truly meaningful music! I was thinking about purchasing this set. How is it?

That's my pleasure! Visit my website now: http://www.goplanete.com/johnwilliams/music/disco/albums.htm. 😁

I just received the new Harry Portter set the other day so I’ve been listening to those scores off and on. Someday soon I will sit down and listen to them all in their glory! I’m very happy to see that the new set includes the children’s suite, I’m a huge fan of Williams’s chamber works. I can’t get enough of the wonderful counterpoint and his rich harmonies in the Quidditch piece! Also, I’ve been really into Hook lately. The arrival of tink track (specifically in the extended release edition) always manages to bring a beaming smile to my face!

Well, just a hunch, but could have something to do with the soundtrack Deadline being somewhere around October/November, while Shore was rewriting and recording up until literally hours before the premiere in December. Did you also get your knickers in a knot when the LOTR OSTs featured a plethora of alternates because of schedules? Be thankful we got so many alternates on CD, because going by the LOTR CR and Rarities situation, we would never get so many Hobbit alternates any other way.

...

I'll see what I can do!

My cover for Far and Away: Far and Away by John Williams by hahah123 Covers, on Flickr Far And Away by John Williams (without border) by hahah123 Covers, on Flickr

I miss Moffat! 😫

There's some slight electronic signal in the background of Leaving Hogwarts at 0:36 but I crosschecked it with the OST version and it has the same weird sound in the background. Also there's a very faint digital hiccup in Fawkes Heals Harry, checked the alternate cue too and it's in the same place! Seems these were problems with the initial source files from which the set was produced and out of anyone's control. Luckily these are small virtually unnoticeable things so they don't bother me too much, but I can hear them!

Since 2018 they have been using very cheap cases. Someone should inform them about the general discontentment about their new packaging (emphasizing that it is just the packaging).

Why 'modern-classical' composer Thomas Adés was chosen for 'Colette', a 2018 biopic based upon the life of the French novelist Colette (improbable Keira Knightley) becomes not entirely clear. His contribution consists of mainly short miniatures, light chamber-sized music recalling the late Georges Delerue, with waltzes and danses of the period (Debussy, Saint-Saens, Satie) to add authentic flavour. Adés own contributions are in the same vein (though he adds the requisite string section) and occasionally rather effective, but the brevity doesn't help (most cues clock in about or even under a minute). It's far from a disgrace and the orchestration reveals a skillful hand - but probably will not change this year's Best-of lists now it has been released.

Albeit intentionally so; and I'm saying this as someone who isn't necessarily the biggest fan of that film.

Hello everyone! I am new to this community and am thrilled to be here. My short question is, does anyone know if there are plans for an independent release of the score from the short film "Dear Basketball"? Thanks in advance and sorry if this has already been discussed, I did a quick search to see if this has been covered before and found nothing!

Especially for those men who are made to sit through it.

I just bought a ticket for the LSO and Rattle playing Bruckner's 6th in Vienna in February.

Obviously. I quoted the box set for ironic contrast.

As a huge fan of the maestro, you should be able to tell immediately that the trailer music is modern trailer house fare and not Johnny Dubs.

“All music composed by John Williams.”

Train to Hogwarts V1 Dumbledore's Warning Double Trouble March Train to Hogwarts V2 Some trailer house, seguing to the ending of Reunion of Friends from COS

If JW is ever "retiring," it's either from scoring films or conducting concerts (not that the latter has been much of a thing for him for many years anyway). Nothing would stop him from working from home, at his own pace, on new concert pieces, adapting existing works, fulfilling commissions, and supporting Mike Matessino in producing proper expansions of all the scores that haven't received the golden treatment. I indeed imagine he looks forward to doing exactly that after Ep. IX. And, considering how long-lived many of history's great artists are and have been, what would JW do with all his remaining time if he actually were to full-out retire from music? There's only so much golf a man can play.

The Executioner from PoA is such a cool little cue. Love the low harp, drums and contrabassoon. John Williams puts such interesting and subtle detail into even the smallest cue.

Didn’t arrive for Christmas, but the ordeal is over after terrible service from all parties involved. All in all, not a bad holiday haul though, now just need time to listen to it all!

In post-war Yorkshire, food rationing leads a married couple (Michael Palin & Maggie Smith) to become involved in the flourishing bacon black market, to be precise, when the local pillars of society fatten a pig for a secret banquet, Palin steals it and hilarity ensues. It's a piffle but so wicked and unruly it's great fun.

Why...yes. Karol

I found this wonderfully detailed (and sourced) answer about the potential reasons why Williams did not end up scoring Deathly Hallows. It even references JWFan as a source: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/28761 Then there's a quote from Williams himself (in 2007): https://www.chronicle.com/article/Conversations-With-John/4906 he explained: “It was a schedule problem; … of course I would have done it if I could, but it overlapped pretty exactly with Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and War of the Worlds. The Lucas-Spielberg relationship took precedence on my schedule, and I had commitments to both those films earlier on. I must say I miss doing [Potter].” So, straight from the horse's mouth, it was nothing but scheduling conflict for Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. As for Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, director David Yates might also have had a slight bias for Alexandre Desplat, who by 2010 had already scored Half-Blood Prince with Yates, meaning they had a good working relationship going into the final film(s).

Certainly, there is nothing to compare the 9 films too (and the influence on 2 other modern films + the 80's movies + the TV shows + Shadows of the Empire + the games + Disneyland/Disney World + the Radio Shows + audiobooks +....). But really, there have not been many opportunities for such work either. The closest in my mind is the Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner which I love but it's so hard to compare them because JW is such an opposite to Richard Wagner in terms of temperament, world view and personality. Plus of course Williams has composed far more total music than Wagner's 13 operas and handful of concert works. But if we want to compare musical treatment for the same master story arc, it would be The Ring and Star Wars (which crosses art forms). Time-wise it's about 16.5 hours (depending on the conductor) vs. 20+ hours (for SW - assuming 2 hours or so for Ep IX.) Next up is Howard Shore's work on the 6 Hobbit/LoTR films. The movies are longer, so the to the total music time gets close to the same. Yet, to me, they still feel like 2 related but different trilogies - more even than the SW prequel trilogy does to the original trilogy. What makes JW's feat on SW even more amazing is that we also have 4 Indiana Jones films (and maybe 5 + some of one Young Indy episode). Even a 4/5 film franchise with consistent musical language and development is odd in itself. John Barry did 11 James Bond films (not including touching up Dr. No and orchestrating the Bond theme for that outing). So, that's more movies than Star Wars will be (depending on how you count Solo and Rogue One). And Barry does have a few themes that work across many of the films (and even show up in the David Arnold scores). However, there is no consistency of development. Very few characters reappear in any meaningful way, so there is less chance for a musical language to span. Plus John Barry did not really compose that way. He let the songs form the new themes each time out which works for the Bond formula. (From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, Moonraker, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights.) Harry Potter (and Fantastic Beasts) deserves a mention because of the influence of the Hedwig Theme on the other scores, but really, the soundtracks do not hold a consistency across the 8+2 films. And the use of the themes shifts a bit too with Harry linked to Hedwig's music on the later films. What else is there with a lot of entries to even compare? I guess things like the Thin Man series, the Abbot & Costello films, Fast and The Furious, Police Academy. Perhaps things like 30's/40's serials - Buck Rogers, Tarzan, stuff like that - although I have no idea how much was done by the same composer. Finally, maybe in some way the Hammer Films make up some sort of epic scope, but few are in the same fictional universes. Gosh, I know this does not belong in this thread, but there you go!

It was a great year for him! Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, Attack of the Clones...even if you're not a fan of any one of those, it's hard to deny that they feature some top writing from him, with at least a few musical setpieces that sing to even the most jaded listeners.

JW finishing at 8 of 9 Star Wars films is basically my worst nightmare, especially considering his likely successor. Yuck.

Bad ideas are essential to make good ones.

Most humans can't hear frequencies over 20khz anyway, and if you're over 40 you're lucky to hear frequencies over 15khz. The fact that a few minutes out of 8 hours was missing frequencies over 16khz is really and truly irrelevant, especially when all affected passages are on the OST anyway. It would cost LLL thousands of dollars to create, repress, and mail out replacement discs for no audible difference whatsoever. That money is better spent ensuring more Williams soundtracks come our way. I am 100% positive Mike will examine the frequencies of all studio and engineer supplied elements received in the future, and use that information along with everything else determine the right element for every part of the job.

MM must have one of the best and worst jobs for any film score enthuasiast. It must be awesome discovering unreleased music, working with JW etc but I imagine he must be totally sick of Harry Potter by now! If it was me, the mere first few notes of Hedwig’s Theme would make me break into a cold sweat.

Classic Star Wars style for Solo: A Star Wars Story. One with JW credit and one without. Continuing the idea of simplistic covers for Spielberg-Williams films.