Omen II

Just a few words on this concert before I turn in for the night, as I know that there are one or two John Williams fans that post here - it was ASTOUNDINGLY good! Yet again, to the LSO, but even by their own high standards the musicians really excelled this evening.
If you fancy a butcher's at the programme, you can download it by clicking on the link in the original post. The suite from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was one of many highlights, for the record consisting of The Adventures of Mutt, Call of the Crystal and A Whirl Through Academe, the latter played live to the film sequence projected on a giant screen behind the orchestra (OMFG!). Yes, you read that right: the London Symphony Orchestra played a complex John Williams action cue from an Indiana Jones movie LIVE to picture in the Barbican Hall.
The orchestra and maestro Strobel quite rightly received a standing ovation at the end, leading to the three encores - A Prayer for Peace from Munich, the March from 1941 (too good for any adjectives I can think of at the moment) and, of course, the main title music from Star Wars. I would love to read what others thought of tonight's concert.

Hey Everyone,
Very funny mockumentary about John Williams just hit the internet!!!!!
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/124d58d022/the-greatest-moments-in-musical-history-episode-one

So, the Atlanta concert happened yesterday! I was sitting in the fourth row, behind the orchestra pit seats, and it was a wonderful evening. To give some background, I attended one of the Film Nights at Tanglewood two years ago, and the 80th birthday concert at Tanglewood this summer. The Film Night I went to was Spielberg themed, although Spielberg wasn't in attendance, so as much as I enjoyed it I missed hearing Star Wars, Harry Potter, or Superman, and was really hoping for some of those last night. I was also hoping for Tintin and War Horse, and maybe Lincoln. Alas, Lincoln was a no-show but otherwise the program was fantastic:
Tribute to the Film Composer - a big montage of film clips, a few seconds each, with accompanying score. Some of the clips included Star Wars, Titanic, Psycho (like Jaws, this got a laugh from the audience), Rocky, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Magnificent Seven, and ET, which segued into Gone with the Wind for the finale. As the concert was held on the same street where Gone with the Wind was written and had its film premiere, this was a great note to end on. The screen went off for the next few pieces, which I was grateful for.
Suite from Far & Away
Hedwig's Theme - At this point Williams addressed the audience, saying this was his first time in Atlanta since the 1996 Olympics. That made me feel awfully lucky to be at this concert. He then announced the next three pieces, all from Harry Potter, meaning all my dreams were about to come true. He described Hedwig in what I'll call a very archetypal sense, as a "great, white bird who delivers the mail."
Fawkes the Phoenix - The highlight for me, as this is one of my favorites and I NEVER would have guessed he'd play it last night. It was also great to hear it the day after listening to the complete Chamber of Secrets score for the first time!
Harry's Wondrous World - Accompanied by some clips from the first four films.
Dartmoor, 1912 - Great to hear in concert. Very lush and sumptuous, and the solos were beautiful
Star Wars Main Title - The main event for me, along with Harry Potter. It was a great reminder that this is why I loved Williams in the first place. The orchestra gave the most powerful performance of the evening; the blasts during the star destroyer attack are so striking, almost primal, compared to the rest of the material in the program. I was also amused to see Williams mouthing the drum hits in the direction of the percussion section in the last few seconds of the piece.
- intermission -
Jaws - As usual, the audience laughed at the opening notes. This piece wasn't listed in the program.
Close Encounters - At last, Spielberg entered, introduced by Williams. He introduced each piece for the rest of the evening, except the final encore, and between each piece he went and sat in a chair on the side of the stage. Most of his introductions didn't give us much info we didn't already know, but of course they were welcome anyway, and it was fun seeing his and Williams' camaraderie. "I love John Williams," quoth he. The Close Encounters piece was played to clips from the end of the film.
Indy's Very First Adventure - I hadn't expected to hear any Indy other than the Raiders March, so this was a really nice surprise. Spielberg and Williams stood and watched the screen as the whole train scene from Last Crusade played, sans music. The audience was very responsive and laughed uproariously at all the gags, with Spielberg himself laughing at all the jokes too. They played the whole scene again with accompaniment from the orchestra; I was struck by how meticulously Williams planned and timed all the little touches in that cue, like the motif for the cross of Coronado, but how quick and effortless he makes it look while conducting.
The Adventure Continues - Introduced as "The Duel" by Spielberg, and presented with a montage of "swashbuckling" film clips. The clips were pretty distracting to be very honest with you. But I was pleased to see one from Muppet Treasure Island.
Theme from Schindler's List
Adventures on Earth - around the end of the piece I could see Spielberg tapping his hand, clenching a fist, etc in time with some of the big orchestral flourishes.
- encore -
Sugarland Express - Haven't heard the score, so I don't know the name of the piece, but it was a nice detour from the rest of the evening and featured a flute solo for pretty much the duration. I thought Lincoln would make a nice bookend with this, but instead we got...
The Raiders March - To thunderous applause. This was the only time throughout the evening where I could find fault with the performance; the tempo was a little slow, although I assume that was Williams' preference. Nevertheless it was a great way to end the evening.
Other details... Star Wars and Schindler's List both got ovations. There was a snobby guy behind me before the show who was asking his friends who would be conducting, and insisted that John Williams "doesn't conduct." I brought my Raiders LP to try for an autograph, but both of the big dudes got in SUVs inside a huge garage in the building, so there was no chance. I did meet some other fans with really impressive and humbling posters covered in Star Wars cast and crew autographs. Someone told me Williams had been in Atlanta all week. According to one of the staff, he was flying out the same night. The highlights of the evening for me were the Harry Potter music, the Star Wars theme, War Horse, and Indy's Very First Adventure. After only seeing Williams conduct once before, and from very far away, and omitting some of my non-Spielberg favorites, this concert was really special!

The Royal Concertgebouw must be well racist against Williams!

Has anyone else noticed that E.T. appears to be missing from the basket in the picture above? The poor thing is probably lying squashed on the ground somewhere.

The John Williams Fan Network is proud to premiere for the first time anywhere on the web, the first samples of the Lincoln soundtrack!
http://www.jwfan.com/?p=4950
Enjoy everyone, and please post your thoughts!

On YouTube:

Thanks for posting this, welshslider. I'd gone up the stairs to Bedfordshire long before Williams received his lifetime achievement award. There is a nice clip on YouTube of Nicola Benedetti playing the theme from Schindler's List earlier in the evening, just before Williams received the award for best composer (for the record, he was up against Ennio Morricone and Paul Mealor). Unfortunately the video stops before the award 'presentation', but it's worth watching anyway.
[media=]
By the way, the whole programme is available to view on ITV Player at http://www.itv.com/i.../?Filter=326279, but I am not sure if viewers outside the British Empire will be able to view it.

Well, what do you know? I checked with Libby, the LSO's archivist, who confirms that John Williams did indeed conduct the LSO in The Planets at the Barbican in 1982. He conducted two concerts in the Barbican's outdoor Sculpture Court as part of the LSO's summer pops series that year. The concerts included Williams's own film music as well as Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra and Gustav Holst's The Planets. I would be very interested to read Richard's recollections of this 'early' Williams concert.
His first concert with the LSO was at the Royal Albert Hall in February 1978 (when C3PO was famously pictured on the podium), but Williams did not conduct the LSO in concert again between 1982 and 1996.
So there!

Have a word with yourself, Richard!
I have attended many film music concerts with Tommy Pearson presenting and he knows his onions when it comes to film music, make no mistake - he will be presenting the RPO's John Williams concert in October at the Royal Albert Hall, for example (completely sold out, by the way, as is the LSO concert to which Tim refers) and has performed similar duties for the LSO, CBSO, etc. Much as I would have loved to hear Williams quizzed about The Plainsman, Images and Heartbeeps, a) the maestro probably would not remember having scored them and b) most of the Classic FM audience would not have had a clue what they were on about.
I enjoyed the interview very much. I felt that there were enough new insights from Johnny to maintain the interest of the hardcore fans such as us while covering the bases for the casual Classic FM listener, familiar with whatever Williams selections the station deigns to air and no more.

Hello again! I'm pleased to announce that the concert went well, and you can find a few highlights from the performance here (the video is 11:30 total, including the encore). Thank you all for your support!