ChrisAfonso

Great story! He really did go to some lengths to get a shot and gave it all - the balls to just book an orchestra for the next day, thinking "so, now I have no choice but to write this until tomorrow!". Great demos also. And awesome that he could share the story at all - I'd imagine he had to get an ok first as he had signed an NDA beforehand.

I'd like to come, too!

Other venues are trying out more scalper-proof ticketing systems... I've read that Hamilton London only sells electronic tickets, limited number per person, and the one who bought it must be present for anyone in his group to get in. I'd be interested to read how that is working out - I can image there being difficulties if the buyer gets sick or something, but I guess they have procedures for edge cases...

I was also confused by the waiting queue process, luckily I tried logging into my account first thing 15min before the advertised time and got sent to the queue immediately. Managed to grab two seats in the back half of the arena, should be a reasonable view. This will be an expensive year, but I'm excited Bummer for those who didn't get ticket - let's hope for returns, choir seats (or gallery? standing room gets sold later?), or a second date...

I'll try to get a ticket for this concert on Friday, even though my London travel schedule for this year is already quite packed I hope nothing else comes along that's a must-see... but what could top this concerted trifecta, right? (luckily I've already seen JP live, or I'd have a problem)

I'll be there, too

That's really a shame :/ His score for RN was great.

Aiming for saturday night. A meetup would be fun!

Interesting observation! If I'm thinking of the right part that you mean, he's bringing together several themes/leitmotifs there, stacked in top of each other, and while the faster lines the woodwinds somewhat necessitate the quicker 9/8 bar, I'm guessing he didn't want to subdivide the long held notes in the strings or change the meter of that theme (16ths vs triplets accentuating the coexistence of the themes there rather than making them "work together" by locking up where the short note values are). By the vertical alignment it is clear for the conductor how to organize this with the orchestra (though I'm guessing he'll have to rehearse that specific thing, if the orchestra isn't familiar with it). A Musical intention vs notational practicality thing basically, different composers have very different approaches to things like this.

Another bit of difference in the new recording that I was surprised to notice only recently (I didn't when TFA came out) is the two bars at roughly 0:43 - In the LSO recordings (especially the prequels one) the most prominent thing by far is the same-note "dum dadadadaah" in the trombones, where in the new one, this is barely audible, while instead a short repeated-chord-triplet horn figure is very in-your-face here... would be interesting to know if this is just due to different mikeing setup, Dudamels interpretation, or a deliberate changed detail by Williams...

The christmas special was a very nice episode with a lot of character examination but little plot, which did not really bother me in any significant way. The christmas connection was there at the end with the very poignant inclusion of the 1914 christmas truce, which felt like a welcome uplifting surprise, but fitting conclusion for the captain's part of the storyline. Regarding the music, I did (over one viewing) not really notice any significant new compositions, but many nice and loving tributes to a lot of favorite cues from the who run of New Who - I particularly remember the early low-key woodwind statement of the Doomsday tune, a bit of Vale, of course several (less RC-y than usual) statements of the 12th theme, less expected but welcome: several prominent uses of the original "Doctor's theme" from the 9th/10th Doctor, and, to cap it off, the use of the latter half of the incredible Heaven Sent finale cue (I had the impression it's the exact same recording?) for the 12th Doctor's final speech to his future self. I'm the tiniest bit conflicted about the appropriateness of this placement - one the one hand I would have loved an original cue or arrangement for this scene, similarly to the great orchestral culmination of the Doctor's theme in Vale Decem, and the used cue is still very specifically connected (in my mind) to Heaven Sent; on the other hand it of course has been used several times in different (but always climactic) contexts before, from its origin in the 50th anniversary special to the most recent variant in The Doctor Falls... it definitely does not fail to have an effect. Now on to the long wait...

I have to say, I really enjoy the way 2 1/2 miles down sets the stage for some parts of the score that come later - first the ominous sequence of deep synth chords, then this new theme sung by the voice, and then, while a second vocal enters below and the key shifts, the synth sequence returns as the ostinato the theme is based on... Somehow this buildup is very satisfying to listen to. And of course now the orchestral reprise in Distant Memories leading into the upbeat Keldysh music (which was previously the only occurence of this theme on the ost) feels much more connected and works as a payoff after the development it got in track 2.

I've bought one soundtrack there (Jackman's Uncharted - the Lost Legacy), since I couldn't find it anywhere else in lossless (usually I'm looking at qobuz and hdtracks). Nothing extraordinary - pay, download, listen. Apart from the travesty of "lossless" tracks still being brickwalled to death in places... At least every brick is preserved.

My shipment arrived yesterday! Still not finished listening, but there's already lots of interesting new material to digest

Ordered! (Titanic + CE3K) Hoping it won't take more than a month this time, like JP last year, although that was on the postal service, not LLL (who remain one of the most responsive and uncomplicated shippers I know).

Exactly this was my experience - Took about 6-8 hours in the introductory area, doing the first few side quests, collectible hunts, talking to everyone and just walking around etc. I enjoyed it but found the tutorial a bit long-winded, so I left it there for a few weeks. After I got out into the real outside world, things quickly picked up and I was amazed by the scale of it all. Even then the story takes some time to really get going, but I think this works in its favor - getting immersed in the world at the beginning and getting to know the way of life of the characters does pay off later. Would be interesting to discuss a number of themes it makes you think about, and comparing them to those raised by some other media (mentioning which would be spoilerish, though).

Oh, I didn't know that. Awesome!

Not a typical sunrise perhaps, but a fun piece with a great finish: Drunk musicians, bagpipes, ... this piece has it all.

To address the original post, this seems rather strange to me - violins should be in concert pitch (sounds as written), and contrabassoon sounding an octave lower. As you say the brass is fine as-is, this does not seem to be a case of someone just typing up a transposing score, or you would have these issues only with horns, trumpets, clarinets, and english horn. A violin part sounding a whole step lower doesn't make any immediate sense...

The bass line of the string ostinato near the beginning seems to be a play on the beginning of the imperial march, with a slight variation in pitch and rhythm.

Right from the Tyrion playbook.

Speaking as someone who has supported the Kickstarter, I think it's very worth paying a few bucks for - it's not perfect, but covers a lot of ground and treads a fine line between targeting musical illiterates and hardcore film score nerds. I would be surprised to find a new release immediately on Netflix. Interestingly, none of these topics ended up in the final movie...

This is awesome, great work!

Awesome work, Marc! Also, The White Tree would be incredible

He was awesome in Agents of SHIELD, too. RIP