Omen II

I have an ecru coloured polo neck jumper (that’s a beige turtleneck sweater if you’re American) for cold days. My brother told me it makes me look like the U-boat captain in The Land that Time Forgot.

I agree with Karol, this was really fantastic.  I went to the evening performance, which was slightly delayed starting due to a fault with the small screen which displays the punches and streamers in front of conductor Ludwig Wicki.  Luckily, they got it working eventually (if in doubt, switch it off then switch it back on again) but it made me wonder if it would have been even possible to continue without it!  I suspect that for a complex score with lots of action music such as The Force Awakens, it would have been nigh on impossible.  The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra (including eight horns!) did such a great job.
 
I had started my Saturday by taking part in the parkrun at Black Park (next to Pinewood Studios), so it was nice to end the day by seeing bits of it on the big screen from the comfort of a second tier box.
 

 

I agree with Karol, this was really fantastic.  I went to the evening performance, which was slightly delayed starting due to a fault with the small screen which displays the punches and streamers in front of conductor Ludwig Wicki.  Luckily, they got it working eventually (if in doubt, switch it off then switch it back on again) but it made me wonder if it would have been even possible to continue without it!  I suspect that for a complex score with lots of action music such as The Force Awakens, it would have been nigh on impossible.  The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra (including eight horns!) did such a great job.
 
I had started my Saturday by taking part in the parkrun at Black Park (next to Pinewood Studios), so it was nice to end the day by seeing bits of it on the big screen from the comfort of a second tier box.
 

 

Just came back from The Force Awakens. Ludwig Wicki conducted London Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall. It was really good, I am still amazed by how much energy Williams could muster at such his age. It's astonishing, and 10 years later his themes are recognisable. It's also probably the second best Star Wars films in concert. Yes, the score is edited here and there but there is still a great sense of cohesion and flow to the piece that really helps with live performance. As micromanaged as it is, it works really well.

 
Karol
 

I had a bit of a near miss / lucky escape on Saturday.  I had travelled from London to Halifax to watch my team play FC Halifax Town in the first round of the FA Cup - we often seem to struggle against teams from lower divisions, but managed to prevail 2-0 reasonably comfortably (it certainly helped that my team scored in the second minute).
 
The train on the way back from Leeds to London King's Cross was surprisingly quiet, partly due to some planned engineering works further up the East Coast mainline and partly because there were not too many teams playing in that area on Saturday, which means fewer football supporters on the trains on Saturday evening.  The journey had been completely uneventful and I was looking forward to getting back to London at a reasonable time once we had left the last scheduled stop, Peterborough, at about 8 p.m.  However, about ten or fifteen minutes later the train came to a gradual stop - not an unusual occurrence, so I just expected the train to start moving again eventually.  After another ten minutes, the train manager spoke on the tannoy to apologise for the delay, adding that he was trying to find out what was causing the delay and why we had stopped.  I checked on Google Maps and saw that we were just a short distance north of Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire.
 
After another ten or fifteen minutes of waiting, the train manager came back on the tannoy to explain that the train would not continue its journey to London and would be reversed back up the line to Peterborough due to an incident just ahead of us at Huntingdon station.  A few of the passengers were speculating that maybe someone had jumped in front of a train, but a member of LNER staff walking through the carriage said that if there had been a fatality, they would have said so, therefore it must be something else.  Shortly afterwards the driver walked through the carriage towards the other end of the train and we eventually started moving back the way we had just come from towards Peterborough.  A girl in my carriage (coach J) then announced that she had just seen on her phone breaking news on the Sky News website that multiple people had been stabbed on a train at Huntingdon station.
 
It turned out that we were on the LNER train immediately behind the LNER service on which a man had run amok, stabbing ten other passengers a few minutes earlier.  The attacker had boarded that train at Peterborough in coach J.  Had he been a few minutes later and missed that train, he might well have been on the same train as I was and in the same carriage.  I eventually made it home after 1 o'clock in the morning, eight hours after I had left Halifax.
 
It just struck me as one of those 'sliding doors' moments, so I thought I would share here.  Have you had any near misses or lucky escapes?

Well since you asked I did see the urologist today.  While waiting for him to come in I saw this prepared on the table. 
 

 

 
Long story short, no real news. I am scheduled for an MRI in December. That’s kinda cool actually. I’ve never had one and have always wondered what it’s like.  He felt around back there and didn’t feel any bumps so that’s good. 
 
I know even if it is prostate cancer, it’s really treatable and very few people die from it, but it’s still cancer and nothing to get cocky about.  I’ll get a second blood test and the MRI right before Christmas and then I’ll know.
 
Visited my Dad in the nursing home today.  He’s still got double vision and needs assistance moving from wheelchair to bed and whatnot. It’ll be maybe January for him to come home if he’s lucky. But he has a lot of work and physical therapy to do.  I gave him a photo book I made of basically his whole life and he really liked that. 
 
Cheering myself up with childhood comfort food like the music of Battlestar Galactica. 
 
Not a bad day at all really. 

I had a bit of a near miss / lucky escape on Saturday.  I had travelled from London to Halifax to watch my team play FC Halifax Town in the first round of the FA Cup - we often seem to struggle against teams from lower divisions, but managed to prevail 2-0 reasonably comfortably (it certainly helped that my team scored in the second minute).
 
The train on the way back from Leeds to London King's Cross was surprisingly quiet, partly due to some planned engineering works further up the East Coast mainline and partly because there were not too many teams playing in that area on Saturday, which means fewer football supporters on the trains on Saturday evening.  The journey had been completely uneventful and I was looking forward to getting back to London at a reasonable time once we had left the last scheduled stop, Peterborough, at about 8 p.m.  However, about ten or fifteen minutes later the train came to a gradual stop - not an unusual occurrence, so I just expected the train to start moving again eventually.  After another ten minutes, the train manager spoke on the tannoy to apologise for the delay, adding that he was trying to find out what was causing the delay and why we had stopped.  I checked on Google Maps and saw that we were just a short distance north of Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire.
 
After another ten or fifteen minutes of waiting, the train manager came back on the tannoy to explain that the train would not continue its journey to London and would be reversed back up the line to Peterborough due to an incident just ahead of us at Huntingdon station.  A few of the passengers were speculating that maybe someone had jumped in front of a train, but a member of LNER staff walking through the carriage said that if there had been a fatality, they would have said so, therefore it must be something else.  Shortly afterwards the driver walked through the carriage towards the other end of the train and we eventually started moving back the way we had just come from towards Peterborough.  A girl in my carriage (coach J) then announced that she had just seen on her phone breaking news on the Sky News website that multiple people had been stabbed on a train at Huntingdon station.
 
It turned out that we were on the LNER train immediately behind the LNER service on which a man had run amok, stabbing ten other passengers a few minutes earlier.  The attacker had boarded that train at Peterborough in coach J.  Had he been a few minutes later and missed that train, he might well have been on the same train as I was and in the same carriage.  I eventually made it home after 1 o'clock in the morning, eight hours after I had left Halifax.
 
It just struck me as one of those 'sliding doors' moments, so I thought I would share here.  Have you had any near misses or lucky escapes?

Wow! That does sound like a bit of providence, @Omen II.
I'm glad you're safe.

I had a bit of a near miss / lucky escape on Saturday.  I had travelled from London to Halifax to watch my team play FC Halifax Town in the first round of the FA Cup - we often seem to struggle against teams from lower divisions, but managed to prevail 2-0 reasonably comfortably (it certainly helped that my team scored in the second minute).
 
The train on the way back from Leeds to London King's Cross was surprisingly quiet, partly due to some planned engineering works further up the East Coast mainline and partly because there were not too many teams playing in that area on Saturday, which means fewer football supporters on the trains on Saturday evening.  The journey had been completely uneventful and I was looking forward to getting back to London at a reasonable time once we had left the last scheduled stop, Peterborough, at about 8 p.m.  However, about ten or fifteen minutes later the train came to a gradual stop - not an unusual occurrence, so I just expected the train to start moving again eventually.  After another ten minutes, the train manager spoke on the tannoy to apologise for the delay, adding that he was trying to find out what was causing the delay and why we had stopped.  I checked on Google Maps and saw that we were just a short distance north of Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire.
 
After another ten or fifteen minutes of waiting, the train manager came back on the tannoy to explain that the train would not continue its journey to London and would be reversed back up the line to Peterborough due to an incident just ahead of us at Huntingdon station.  A few of the passengers were speculating that maybe someone had jumped in front of a train, but a member of LNER staff walking through the carriage said that if there had been a fatality, they would have said so, therefore it must be something else.  Shortly afterwards the driver walked through the carriage towards the other end of the train and we eventually started moving back the way we had just come from towards Peterborough.  A girl in my carriage (coach J) then announced that she had just seen on her phone breaking news on the Sky News website that multiple people had been stabbed on a train at Huntingdon station.
 
It turned out that we were on the LNER train immediately behind the LNER service on which a man had run amok, stabbing ten other passengers a few minutes earlier.  The attacker had boarded that train at Peterborough in coach J.  Had he been a few minutes later and missed that train, he might well have been on the same train as I was and in the same carriage.  I eventually made it home after 1 o'clock in the morning, eight hours after I had left Halifax.
 
It just struck me as one of those 'sliding doors' moments, so I thought I would share here.  Have you had any near misses or lucky escapes?

John Williams scored Flashing Spikes, a 1962 episode of Alcoa Premiere directed by John Ford, no less.  It starred Jimmy Stewart and was about baseball.  Here it is:
 
 

John Williams scored Flashing Spikes, a 1962 episode of Alcoa Premiere directed by John Ford, no less.  It starred Jimmy Stewart and was about baseball.  Here it is:
 
 

The best year was 2008. We were actively involved with harassing some intern at Concord Records via E-mail about unreleased IJ music. I swear they tossed in that fifth disc because of that.

Hi everyone,
 
I've attached here photos of the program and program notes. The story behind the Serenade is touching. I won't spoil it by trying to summarize it. The music itself is lovely. I'm not very good at describing music, but I will say it's appropriate for the mood it was written for and features some beautiful harmonies and several moments that sound very JW-in-sincere-mode to my ears.
 
The work runs about 8:35 long and is very chamber-like. I wish I took a better look at the time, as I was focusing entirely on the music, but I estimate there were some 8 violins, 4-5 violas, 3-4 cellos, and 2 double basses, plus Jesse Clevenger on horn.
 
 

Thanks guys. Appreciate the support.  I don’t think we have a Rap Music is Better than Everything thread do we?  @Mr. Hooper fear not, nothing can pull me away from my healthy distractions. They’re the core of my DNA. 
 
Today was a good day. We went for a walk to see the fall colors in Letchworth State Park aka the Grand Canyon of the East.  Then we stopped for a pizza at the Drive In movie theater where I proposed to my wife.  After that visited my Dad in the nursing home. 

Went to see Star Wars at Birmingham's Symphony Hall last night with CBSO performing under Anthony Gabriele. Picked a different seat than usual to watch the orchestra and wasn't looking at the screen much. It's one of the best films to experience with live orchestra - mostly untouched by editing and perfectly spotted. To be quite honest, the older I get the more I'm convinced this is the best in the series. Empire is on par musically, and I love it to bits, but the score in the film isn't as well presented.
 
The performance was pretty great, although not quite as magical as LSO in 2018. They are doing the entire trilogy this weekend but I decided just to see only this one as the other ones are bit too butchered in the film. Plus I've seen them already -Empire once and Jedi twice.
 
Looking forward to The Force Awakens in a couple of weeks in London!
 

 
Karol
 
 

Fastest delivery ever!!!

Seven years of The Legacy of John Williams! Today we celebrate the 7th anniversary of this project... Time flies! During all these years, we kept on pushing to give fans and admirers of Maestro Williams a trusted place where to find accurate information and in-depth analysis about his music through articles, interviews, podcast episodes and other materials. The website will keep updating the various sections in order to become the place to stop on the internet for everything about John Williams.
 
A big and heartfelt THANK YOU to all the people who supported the project throughout the years and to all those who contributed to its growth and prestige. And of course to all of our fans and followers, to whom this newly made tribute video is dedicated. John Williams is still the inspiration for all of us to make better work and improve ourselves, hopefully leaving something worthwhile to anyone who spends time reading, listening or watching what we do.
 
Stay tuned for more great things coming soon at thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com
 
 
 

My sixth concert this month, and the fourth at the Brucknerhaus in Linz (and the last one for me this year - I'll be back when they do Walton 1 next spring):
 

 
Herrmann, Rózsa, and Korngold, by the Bruckner Orchester Linz conducted by Markus Poschner, with Giuseppe Albanese on piano in the first half:
 

 
After the Vertigo suite, that first half featured two rarely played highlights: Rózsa's Spellbound concerto for piano and orchestra - with a beautifully played theremin, although I unfortunately couldn't see the player, not even when she was singled out for applause afterwards (she must have been positioned behind the first violins).
 
The second highlight was a major bucket list item of mine: Herrmann's spectacular Concerto macabre, which I never seriously thought I'd ever get to hear live (supposedly this was the first European performance in at least 20 years). A tour de force brilliantly played by Albanese (who apparently said that it was like not all too difficult Rachmaninov). Wonderful to notice how many orchestral colours Herrmann manages to go through during the course of this piece.
 
Albanese performed two solo encores: Hedwig's Theme in a virtuoso arrangement I wasn't familiar with (it might have been this one) and Weber's Perpetuum mobile. Major applause, deservedly so.
 

 
Then after the interval Korngold's symphony, which I had in fact never heard before. At least I was in good company - Poschner mentioned in the pre concert talk that he was completely unfamiliar with it before himself, and presumed that it would be unknown to everyone in the audience as well. Fantastic work (that Adagio!), unbelievable that it's still rarely performed and virtually unknown. Which are the recommended recordings?
 
…speaking of which: Any CD recordings of Rózsa's Spellbound concerto? (Ideally ones that are still available?)

Look what Jazzy received in the post today!  Those proportions are correct.
 
 

Look what Jazzy received in the post today!  Those proportions are correct.
 
 

Look what Jazzy received in the post today!  Those proportions are correct.
 
 

Look what Jazzy received in the post today!  Those proportions are correct.
 
 

PAWS