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June 2nd, 2020, 6:00 P.M. G.D.: You know why we are here, John. J.W.: Absolutely. G.D.: So tell me John, what are your favorite recordings? J.W.: Well... I've got to tell you, Gustavo, that I never have the time to listen to music. G.D. Oh.

Yes, I expect this to be fluff that’s pleasant to listen to because Williams always is. His voice is like ASMR!

There is this tidbit in an interview he did in 2011 with the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Watching Superman on the big screen right now would be like reading a love letter the first time.

Thanks everyone. Happy you guys enjoyed it. More stuff coming soon.

https://www.kusc.org/radio/programs/announcing-at-home-with-gustavo-dudamel-john-williams/ I will attempt to record this!

Loved the new episode, especially the discussion of TROS theme itself.

Excellent show! Very enjoyable, I re-listened to the Conrad Pope and Sandy De Crescent editions straight afterwards, whilst lying in bed with headphones during the night 🎧 . *apologies for that image!

Another superlative podcast Maurizio! What a great talk and wonderful guests and as they said you are really raising the bar for yourself show after excellent show. Your work is truly appreciated!

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Great talk. I love the little comparative evolution medley in the middle.

Wonderful stuff. It really made my day. Karol

The Really Good Train Robbery

JS, your head would be large, if you hung-out, with John Williams.

Just little things like when Lecter puts on the Southern accent to tease Starling or his line about the man whose head she finds in the car ("Best thing for him, really. His therapy was going nowhere.") that I think are darkly funny. I've no idea what Richard thinks is unintentionally funny, though.

I'm afraid I don't understand what you're asking. Can you reword it?

This was an absolute riot. And their zoom chat reunion afterwards was a real treat too: Hope they get enough buzz for that movie! #sixseasonsandamovie

I heard Justice League once! 2017! Back on Spotify. Had a length on it 27 tracks, beginning to end. Made a sound I would not want to hear twice in my life.

Well I didn't know Music Composed by Random Trailer Guy and Conducted by John Williams

It'd be nice if this conversation went beyond the superficial stuff and got into the meat of musical works that Williams reveres. What musical pieces he enjoys listening to, which performances he likes most, composers he studies, etc. Anything but that Schindler's List anecdote again...

Jay addressed this once upon a time:

Since JW's barely heard Wagner's music, I guess the main reason for his dislike is more due to the personality than the music. As is well documented, Wagner was a total a-hole.

It's hard to believe this video is nearly 7 years old now. JW was barely in his 80s!

Grace presented her interview at a conference a few years ago, which is where I heard about Williams's distaste for Wagner. It hasn't been published yet, to my knowledge. But you can see the basic gist in the abstract to her presentation, available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a3lXQZxAduX_bkm8HtoK6C4yBg7ArvNU/view .

I'm sure @Falstaft will direct you to it.

This was a great episode and it made me go back and listen to Frank Lehman's first appearance on the podcast which is also a terrific listen. There is an interesting distinction made between the more developmental use of themes by Wagner versus the more citational use by Prokofiev and that Williams was closer to the Prokofievien. Lehman mentions Williams candidly saying that he didn't particularly like Wagner's music in an interview with Grace Edgar. I'd love to read the full interview but can't find it anywhere online, does anyone have a copy that they can share here?

Or a much-reviled anomaly

Pretty fast, even for 1000 copies.

Who knows. The good news is, the track as it stands sounds no worse than 99% of other tracks in the show, throughout past seasons. It's just the knowledge/experience hearing that this one also got recorded by a live orchestra, that makes the midi version seem so bad... If there were no live version to compare it to, people would no doubt just think it's a pretty good cue and enjoy it for what it is. For instance, I love a lot of David Glen Russell's stuff in the prior release (episodes 5-8). Of course it's all midi, but that's fine and that's what was expected, since that's what was in the show. The music is still pretty darn good. The problem with this is simply that it's a bit jarring to go from hearing something that is live in the show, to the soundtrack album where it is just computer playback. Still, like @CGCJ points out, we're lucky to even have gotten these albums, considering how much past music in this show went unreleased! It was a nice treat. And it's good that this issue can be put to rest.

It never occurred to me before, but you’re absolutely right! I could listen to him talk forever.

No one asked.

@Bayesian, here are 3 of the 4 you asked about... Filmharmonic II https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001HNOSPW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tau_ZiXZEbXD9XFNS The Disasters! Movie Music Album https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000AFQH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tau_NIXZEbHYGNA03 The Best of John Williams https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002728W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tau_xFXZEb77HCDBD “Irina’s Theme” appears to be from a live concert recording from 2010: http://www.jw-collection.de/compilations/slovak2.htm

Horner's dynamic range returns.

The thing is he didn't say that he thinks it's better, he said that he thinks the fans would like it better.

Yes that is correct. See below @ragoz350: And the attached photo: So it sounds as if they were working on a custom score for the trailer, but eventually WB (rightfully) decided to have Williams do it, but they must've liked that Intro cue, so they kept it and integrated it into the final recording of the cue. I have found zero info on the other trailer cue other than the composer, unfortunately. Speaking of which: As far as I recall, these cues were kind of just there on the hard drive Mike was given is that correct @Jay? It's possible that, for whatever reason, the trailer composers were just not listed on the files. I mean, John Williams is still the main composer of "Teaser", and considering the Magic Box/Brand X Music cue was re-recorded anyways it might have simply been attributed to Williams. It's far more understandable how it might have happened in that case, because while the composers do deserve credit (I've added them in my metadata), their role was very minor. Honestly though, as far "Trailer" is concerned, I am surprised it was included at all on the set. Don't get me wrong, as a bit of a completest myself, it's nice to have (even though it turned out to just be on the guy's website anyways), but it's apparently just original music by Daniel Nielsen, followed by a slightly different mix (but identical recording) of "Reunion of Friends" from COS. Could've just been a lack of info or memory on WB's part, considering it was one trailer from 2004. And again, I just happened to stumble across who composed it while looking for something entirely unrelated to Potter and the Magic Box info itself was quite a chore to dig back up. I'm not surprised they’re not listed.

While I completely disagree that it sounds better, I respect the opinion of those who work on the music as ultimately they decide what gets released and who are we to argue with them. I'm just glad we got as much as we did as I wouldn't have been surprised if all we got was just a few tracks from the composers themselves with no official release like with the earlier series. Honestly, I'm quite embarrassed to be a fan of the music after seeing the reaction on social media of people immediately accepting one fan's ridiculous theory/conclusion that I have no idea how anyone could ever come to over something so simple as 1 track on an album not being the version that got used.

So this is utterly random and I'm not sure if any really care, but I just discovered it today by total accident. I found out the composer of the first minute of "Trailer" from Disc 2 on Prisoner of Azkaban. I was mid-search tracking down a different piece of trailer music and ran across composer Daniel Nielsen's website. And look what is right in his playlist for "Big Orchestral" on his site as "HarryPotter Prisoner": http://daniel-nielsen-j3e2.squarespace.com/new-album-2 So there you have it. We've now ID'd everyone who wrote the additional trailer music that was included on the set in both "Teaser" and "Trailer". John Sponsler & Tom Gire wrote the intro to Teaser under the "Magic Box Music" label. A new version of the intro, on it's own, can now be found titled Anticipation by Brand X Music, and was also used in the logo teaser for Half-Blood Prince. Daniel Nielsen wrote the first minute of Trailer Both intros lead into John Williams compositions

That looks like footage from a video game. Like it would fit right into a modern DOOM game

It came up with a rating in the top left corner, so did it already air on TV at some point? Is it going to? But yeah, seems like the interview is from a number of years ago

I don't know how Doug decides which Horner expansions to do himself, vs which ones he has Matessino do Produced by Doug Fake: Batteries Not Included Balto Clear and Present Danger Cocoon A Far Off Place Gorky Park The Rocketeer Troy Produced by Mike Matessino Apollo 13 An American Tail Legends of the Fall I hope he lets Matessino do Willow but there's no way to predict.

I listened to this album tonight and gosh it’s an enjoyable and fascinating listen. Williams’ sophistication and orchestral technique just a wonder to behold. I love how in places it comes close to sounding like his concert music.

I skipped or condensed sentences here and there to keep my sanity, freeform not word-by-word prerehearsed, studied and memorised speech can be a bit messy anyway. Great concert at the Music Academy, 5 minute applause, fine performance. Double Trouble is indeed impeccable and sections of Quidditch Third Year were on par with the original. I loved the striped breakdown demonstrations.

Brilliant, Maurizio! Some of the best minds in film music right there. Amazing work assembling that group for a roundtable discussion on SW, @TownerFan!!

This is an Indiana Jones Map Room homage I composed during the Corona virus. Hope you enjoy. KELM-Homage.mp3

I find these presumably inconspicuous looking films in Deakins' portfolio very rewarding when re-watching them. Only a few months ago I watched The Big Lebowski for probably about the 10th time and was amazed what a treasure trove of great shots it really is.

Would it have killed Williams to record a new statement of Lando's theme for that?

I still think the film version is getting too much negative criticism. It's obviously a mess from start to finish, but when I watched the movie for the very first time, I hardly noticed any of it because I was too wrapped up in the story and because the sound effects hide everything pretty well. I do have to admit that the live experience sounded chopped up at times. But was there ever any alternative? I mean, would it even be possible to match Horner's original cues to the picture in most cases? I can see things like Relics and Treasures working pretty well, but as I can't find any videos with restored score excerpts that preserve the movie's dialogue and sfx, I can't be sure.