APBez

A little update to the anecdote I heard or read somewhere about JW playing on the piano, semi-publicly, at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London, whenever he was recording in London.   I stayed at the hotel this weekend and the kind concierge staff were able to get in touch with former colleagues (only one member of staff remains who remembers his visits personally) and confirm that Williams was a regular at the hotel whenever he came to London (apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg preferred The Connaught hotel, I was told).   The hotel has undergone extensive recent renovations so the rooms/suites that he would have stayed in no longer exist in their old form so I couldn’t visit those spaces unfortunately.   However, the concierge was able to confirm they rented pianos to his room/suite from Jaques Samuel (https://www.jspianos.com) and he did use the semi-public (i.e. just off publicly accessible corridors) function rooms to meet with colleagues (orchestrators, I assume) and meet and play some of his work on piano there.   So there’s a grain of truth to the originally reported anecdote that I recall - I dearly wish I could remember where from. People in neighbouring function rooms (there are several) would definitely have heard him improvising his new material here.   The documentaries on Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings (so much written, or at least rewritten, at The Dorchester) made me think about how much of the great film music we love would have been written in a hotel room. I’m kind of fascinated by those moments in which Williams (and others) finally “discovers” or “accepts” a theme in its final form after chipping away at it. He says there’s never a “Eureka!” moment but many of the moments of final acceptance would seem to have taken place in hotels! I believe he often stayed at The Blantyre hotel in Massachusetts and composed so much there too. Moreover, I’d love to know what composers, especially Williams, have to say about how *where* they wrote impacted on the end product.   Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable stay and the staff at Four Seasons really seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact JW stayed with them so regularly.  

A little update to the anecdote I heard or read somewhere about JW playing on the piano, semi-publicly, at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London, whenever he was recording in London.   I stayed at the hotel this weekend and the kind concierge staff were able to get in touch with former colleagues (only one member of staff remains who remembers his visits personally) and confirm that Williams was a regular at the hotel whenever he came to London (apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg preferred The Connaught hotel, I was told).   The hotel has undergone extensive recent renovations so the rooms/suites that he would have stayed in no longer exist in their old form so I couldn’t visit those spaces unfortunately.   However, the concierge was able to confirm they rented pianos to his room/suite from Jaques Samuel (https://www.jspianos.com) and he did use the semi-public (i.e. just off publicly accessible corridors) function rooms to meet with colleagues (orchestrators, I assume) and meet and play some of his work on piano there.   So there’s a grain of truth to the originally reported anecdote that I recall - I dearly wish I could remember where from. People in neighbouring function rooms (there are several) would definitely have heard him improvising his new material here.   The documentaries on Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings (so much written, or at least rewritten, at The Dorchester) made me think about how much of the great film music we love would have been written in a hotel room. I’m kind of fascinated by those moments in which Williams (and others) finally “discovers” or “accepts” a theme in its final form after chipping away at it. He says there’s never a “Eureka!” moment but many of the moments of final acceptance would seem to have taken place in hotels! I believe he often stayed at The Blantyre hotel in Massachusetts and composed so much there too. Moreover, I’d love to know what composers, especially Williams, have to say about how *where* they wrote impacted on the end product.   Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable stay and the staff at Four Seasons really seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact JW stayed with them so regularly.  

A little update to the anecdote I heard or read somewhere about JW playing on the piano, semi-publicly, at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London, whenever he was recording in London.   I stayed at the hotel this weekend and the kind concierge staff were able to get in touch with former colleagues (only one member of staff remains who remembers his visits personally) and confirm that Williams was a regular at the hotel whenever he came to London (apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg preferred The Connaught hotel, I was told).   The hotel has undergone extensive recent renovations so the rooms/suites that he would have stayed in no longer exist in their old form so I couldn’t visit those spaces unfortunately.   However, the concierge was able to confirm they rented pianos to his room/suite from Jaques Samuel (https://www.jspianos.com) and he did use the semi-public (i.e. just off publicly accessible corridors) function rooms to meet with colleagues (orchestrators, I assume) and meet and play some of his work on piano there.   So there’s a grain of truth to the originally reported anecdote that I recall - I dearly wish I could remember where from. People in neighbouring function rooms (there are several) would definitely have heard him improvising his new material here.   The documentaries on Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings (so much written, or at least rewritten, at The Dorchester) made me think about how much of the great film music we love would have been written in a hotel room. I’m kind of fascinated by those moments in which Williams (and others) finally “discovers” or “accepts” a theme in its final form after chipping away at it. He says there’s never a “Eureka!” moment but many of the moments of final acceptance would seem to have taken place in hotels! I believe he often stayed at The Blantyre hotel in Massachusetts and composed so much there too. Moreover, I’d love to know what composers, especially Williams, have to say about how *where* they wrote impacted on the end product.   Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable stay and the staff at Four Seasons really seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact JW stayed with them so regularly.  

A little update to the anecdote I heard or read somewhere about JW playing on the piano, semi-publicly, at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London, whenever he was recording in London.   I stayed at the hotel this weekend and the kind concierge staff were able to get in touch with former colleagues (only one member of staff remains who remembers his visits personally) and confirm that Williams was a regular at the hotel whenever he came to London (apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg preferred The Connaught hotel, I was told).   The hotel has undergone extensive recent renovations so the rooms/suites that he would have stayed in no longer exist in their old form so I couldn’t visit those spaces unfortunately.   However, the concierge was able to confirm they rented pianos to his room/suite from Jaques Samuel (https://www.jspianos.com) and he did use the semi-public (i.e. just off publicly accessible corridors) function rooms to meet with colleagues (orchestrators, I assume) and meet and play some of his work on piano there.   So there’s a grain of truth to the originally reported anecdote that I recall - I dearly wish I could remember where from. People in neighbouring function rooms (there are several) would definitely have heard him improvising his new material here.   The documentaries on Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings (so much written, or at least rewritten, at The Dorchester) made me think about how much of the great film music we love would have been written in a hotel room. I’m kind of fascinated by those moments in which Williams (and others) finally “discovers” or “accepts” a theme in its final form after chipping away at it. He says there’s never a “Eureka!” moment but many of the moments of final acceptance would seem to have taken place in hotels! I believe he often stayed at The Blantyre hotel in Massachusetts and composed so much there too. Moreover, I’d love to know what composers, especially Williams, have to say about how *where* they wrote impacted on the end product.   Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable stay and the staff at Four Seasons really seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact JW stayed with them so regularly.  

A little update to the anecdote I heard or read somewhere about JW playing on the piano, semi-publicly, at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London, whenever he was recording in London.   I stayed at the hotel this weekend and the kind concierge staff were able to get in touch with former colleagues (only one member of staff remains who remembers his visits personally) and confirm that Williams was a regular at the hotel whenever he came to London (apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg preferred The Connaught hotel, I was told).   The hotel has undergone extensive recent renovations so the rooms/suites that he would have stayed in no longer exist in their old form so I couldn’t visit those spaces unfortunately.   However, the concierge was able to confirm they rented pianos to his room/suite from Jaques Samuel (https://www.jspianos.com) and he did use the semi-public (i.e. just off publicly accessible corridors) function rooms to meet with colleagues (orchestrators, I assume) and meet and play some of his work on piano there.   So there’s a grain of truth to the originally reported anecdote that I recall - I dearly wish I could remember where from. People in neighbouring function rooms (there are several) would definitely have heard him improvising his new material here.   The documentaries on Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings (so much written, or at least rewritten, at The Dorchester) made me think about how much of the great film music we love would have been written in a hotel room. I’m kind of fascinated by those moments in which Williams (and others) finally “discovers” or “accepts” a theme in its final form after chipping away at it. He says there’s never a “Eureka!” moment but many of the moments of final acceptance would seem to have taken place in hotels! I believe he often stayed at The Blantyre hotel in Massachusetts and composed so much there too. Moreover, I’d love to know what composers, especially Williams, have to say about how *where* they wrote impacted on the end product.   Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable stay and the staff at Four Seasons really seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact JW stayed with them so regularly.  

A little update to the anecdote I heard or read somewhere about JW playing on the piano, semi-publicly, at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London, whenever he was recording in London.   I stayed at the hotel this weekend and the kind concierge staff were able to get in touch with former colleagues (only one member of staff remains who remembers his visits personally) and confirm that Williams was a regular at the hotel whenever he came to London (apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg preferred The Connaught hotel, I was told).   The hotel has undergone extensive recent renovations so the rooms/suites that he would have stayed in no longer exist in their old form so I couldn’t visit those spaces unfortunately.   However, the concierge was able to confirm they rented pianos to his room/suite from Jaques Samuel (https://www.jspianos.com) and he did use the semi-public (i.e. just off publicly accessible corridors) function rooms to meet with colleagues (orchestrators, I assume) and meet and play some of his work on piano there.   So there’s a grain of truth to the originally reported anecdote that I recall - I dearly wish I could remember where from. People in neighbouring function rooms (there are several) would definitely have heard him improvising his new material here.   The documentaries on Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings (so much written, or at least rewritten, at The Dorchester) made me think about how much of the great film music we love would have been written in a hotel room. I’m kind of fascinated by those moments in which Williams (and others) finally “discovers” or “accepts” a theme in its final form after chipping away at it. He says there’s never a “Eureka!” moment but many of the moments of final acceptance would seem to have taken place in hotels! I believe he often stayed at The Blantyre hotel in Massachusetts and composed so much there too. Moreover, I’d love to know what composers, especially Williams, have to say about how *where* they wrote impacted on the end product.   Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable stay and the staff at Four Seasons really seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact JW stayed with them so regularly.  

A little update to the anecdote I heard or read somewhere about JW playing on the piano, semi-publicly, at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London, whenever he was recording in London.   I stayed at the hotel this weekend and the kind concierge staff were able to get in touch with former colleagues (only one member of staff remains who remembers his visits personally) and confirm that Williams was a regular at the hotel whenever he came to London (apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg preferred The Connaught hotel, I was told).   The hotel has undergone extensive recent renovations so the rooms/suites that he would have stayed in no longer exist in their old form so I couldn’t visit those spaces unfortunately.   However, the concierge was able to confirm they rented pianos to his room/suite from Jaques Samuel (https://www.jspianos.com) and he did use the semi-public (i.e. just off publicly accessible corridors) function rooms to meet with colleagues (orchestrators, I assume) and meet and play some of his work on piano there.   So there’s a grain of truth to the originally reported anecdote that I recall - I dearly wish I could remember where from. People in neighbouring function rooms (there are several) would definitely have heard him improvising his new material here.   The documentaries on Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings (so much written, or at least rewritten, at The Dorchester) made me think about how much of the great film music we love would have been written in a hotel room. I’m kind of fascinated by those moments in which Williams (and others) finally “discovers” or “accepts” a theme in its final form after chipping away at it. He says there’s never a “Eureka!” moment but many of the moments of final acceptance would seem to have taken place in hotels! I believe he often stayed at The Blantyre hotel in Massachusetts and composed so much there too. Moreover, I’d love to know what composers, especially Williams, have to say about how *where* they wrote impacted on the end product.   Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable stay and the staff at Four Seasons really seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact JW stayed with them so regularly.  

Thanks for these replies. The more I think about it, I think it was a print or online interview with one of his orchestrators. It was definitely The Four Seasons. Anyway, I'm determined to find out if any staff at the hotel can clarify. Will update you when I visit next month.

This is another one of those "I'm sure I read somewhere..." posts and my memory seeks confirmation - hopefully someone can provide it!
 
I'm sure I read somewhere (or maybe it was mentioned in an interview on a DVD extra or something) that when JW was recording with the LSO in London, possibly during some Star Wars sessions, he would often stay at The Four Seasons Hotel (I assume the Park Lane one) and was known to occasionally play the piano in the hotel lobby and actually played/improvised/tested (?) some of the material he was in the process of writing/recording at this piano, possibly in the presence of the director or orchestrators perhaps. Can anyone shed any light on this? 
 
I'm planning to stay at the hotel in a couple of weeks and wondered about trying to seek out any longer-serving staff members at The Four Seasons to see if they have any recollection of this semi-public playing.
 
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
 
Cheers.

A little update to the anecdote I heard or read somewhere about JW playing on the piano, semi-publicly, at the Four Seasons Hotel at Park Lane, London, whenever he was recording in London.   I stayed at the hotel this weekend and the kind concierge staff were able to get in touch with former colleagues (only one member of staff remains who remembers his visits personally) and confirm that Williams was a regular at the hotel whenever he came to London (apparently George Lucas and Steven Spielberg preferred The Connaught hotel, I was told).   The hotel has undergone extensive recent renovations so the rooms/suites that he would have stayed in no longer exist in their old form so I couldn’t visit those spaces unfortunately.   However, the concierge was able to confirm they rented pianos to his room/suite from Jaques Samuel (https://www.jspianos.com) and he did use the semi-public (i.e. just off publicly accessible corridors) function rooms to meet with colleagues (orchestrators, I assume) and meet and play some of his work on piano there.   So there’s a grain of truth to the originally reported anecdote that I recall - I dearly wish I could remember where from. People in neighbouring function rooms (there are several) would definitely have heard him improvising his new material here.   The documentaries on Howard Shore’s work on Lord of the Rings (so much written, or at least rewritten, at The Dorchester) made me think about how much of the great film music we love would have been written in a hotel room. I’m kind of fascinated by those moments in which Williams (and others) finally “discovers” or “accepts” a theme in its final form after chipping away at it. He says there’s never a “Eureka!” moment but many of the moments of final acceptance would seem to have taken place in hotels! I believe he often stayed at The Blantyre hotel in Massachusetts and composed so much there too. Moreover, I’d love to know what composers, especially Williams, have to say about how *where* they wrote impacted on the end product.   Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable stay and the staff at Four Seasons really seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact JW stayed with them so regularly.  

Thanks for these replies. The more I think about it, I think it was a print or online interview with one of his orchestrators. It was definitely The Four Seasons. Anyway, I'm determined to find out if any staff at the hotel can clarify. Will update you when I visit next month.