ChrisAfonso

Very nice! I didn't know about this score at all until the video below, and afterwards was wondering how to get a hold of a copy.
 
 

What about Corigliano's Fox Hunt?
 

The books are here and being packed to go out tomorrow.  So exciting to be able to hold the culmination of all the work!
 
www.chrissiddallmusic.com/independence-day

Forgive me for being so direct but I've got something to get off my chest. Sorry if anyone takes it too personally... Just trying to reframe some things for you.
 
Those labels release what they can and when they can. Sure, I'd like to have my Willows and Indiana Jones out by now. But that's not the reality of it. So expressing displeasure or disappointment publicly on message boards or social media achieves absolutely nothing. They know what everyone wants and would give us just that right now if they could. Because it makes no financial sense for them to withdraw these things. They're not out of touch.
 
If you are not interested, just move along. No point of going public with negativity or letting everyone know how disinterested you are. No value in that. It only reinstates the point that the film music community is immature and spoiled.
 
If there's nothing in the batch then be grateful you get to save up more money for Christmas. Or save up for the upcoming titles you might actually want. Or get the titles you didn't get to buy earlier. Whatever. You're not actually losing anything here. Those "desired" titles will come when they will come.  
 
Karol

I did some consultancy on this project so I will probably come out biased, but the only thing I can say is that this release is worth all the time, money and attention of any serious John Williams fan. It's truly a wonderful presentation.
 
 
Courage's involvement is known since 1971, as he's credited in the main titles.
 
Williams' Oscar is more than deserved. It's a massive work of arranging, orchestration and also composition.

My friend Andrew did this great analysis !
 
 

Maybe 2 CDs, a video Blu-ray, and an Audio Blu-ray?

Just noticed the other day that there's a performance of ROTJ in Nottingham next week. And managed to get perfect seats. 
 
It's funny that the LSO won't be happening until next September. But I don't mind seeing it twice.
 
Karol

New addition to my Prince of Egypt cover series 
 
 

My partner has been buying each edition of this set for me for Christmas and birthdays since we did a Sibelius pilgrimage to Finland a few years ago (for me, rather than him!). Finally got the last box today! Amazingly comprehensive (makes LLL or Intrada look careless ;-) and some very fine performances. Notably excellent set of symphonies and tone poems. I must admit that the masses of short chamber pieces he wrote are perhaps more of academic interest but still an essential set for the hardcore Sibelian!

Take #3 - Bruckner's codas:
 
As far as transcendentalism/spirituality goes, nothing can top the coda to Bruckner's 4th for me. The final outburst (esp. with the schmetternd horns) is certainly also epic/enormous/majestic, but ultimately that's just the destination that everything before transcends to:
 
And while it may seem more like a candiate for the epic/enormous/majestic category, in how it concludes the symphony (and knowing Bruckner's background), I also put the coda to the 8th firmly in the transcendental camp. Plus it has a small interlude of life-affirming melancholy that may be brief, but is one of my favourites (and certainly the first that came to my mind) at 1:26:
 
 
Take #4 (my last one, hopefully)
 
Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. Specifically the Erlösungsmotiv and the coda.
 
The Erlösungsmotiv is first heard during in the final act of Die Walküre (here at 5:05 sung at by the incomparable Gundula Janowitz). It acts as a sort of eucatastrophy theme when Sieglinde learns that she is pregnant (with Siegfried, whose own theme is introduced right before). As such, it seems to me to be the very definition of life-affirming melancholy:
 
And then, the 5 minute instrumental culmination of the 15 hour cycle:
 
It starts when Brünnhilde sacrifices herself on Siegfried's funeral pyre, with chaos in the form of the fire encompassing the entire stage and the Rhine swelling and flooding the pyre. Once the Rhine and the Rhinemaidens have devoured the RIng and Hagen (after his last words at 1:08), the scene clears, and the transcendental coda leads to a new world by stacking various leitmotifs on top of each other, including the Rhinemaiden theme, the Wotan/Valhalla theme that reaches its majestic climax with burning Valhalla's last gleaming at 3:07, and the reappearing melancholic Erlösungsmotiv, all on top of the spiritual Rhine/nature string swirls, until the Erlösungsmotiv takes its final transcendental turn right before the closing chord.

Where's my fellow Attacking a Star Destroyer enthusiasts?

I'd guess it's this one - I remembered her telling the story in the 2020 "May the Fourth" Hangout, and it sounds close:
So she just got her Astronauts mixed up

Pre-orders are now open.  Ships early December - the perfect Christmas gift!!
 
www.chrissiddallmusic.com/independence-day
 

I'd guess it's this one - I remembered her telling the story in the 2020 "May the Fourth" Hangout, and it sounds close:
So she just got her Astronauts mixed up

I'd guess it's this one - I remembered her telling the story in the 2020 "May the Fourth" Hangout, and it sounds close:
So she just got her Astronauts mixed up

I'd guess it's this one - I remembered her telling the story in the 2020 "May the Fourth" Hangout, and it sounds close:
So she just got her Astronauts mixed up

I hate to be this type of guy, but The Sound of Music isn't a Hollywood musical, but Broadway musical theatre first

Tomorrow at 7 PM CEST / 1 PM EST / 10 AM PST:
 
 
 
 
It's going to be a lot of fun! Hope you'll tune in for this. If you can't, don't worry. It'll be available on demand immediately afterwards (also as audio podcast).

"Now, in what time I have left, I really hope I can spend more time in Europe. I want to go to Leipzig, I want to go to Hamburg, I want to go to Berlin, I want to go back to Vienna".
--- at Tanglewood, Summer 2021
 
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/john-williams-anne-sophie-mutter-talk-composing-and-more-azi/13164/ 
(final minute)

An orchestral piece of music I wrote in the "spooky" style of Dukas, Lyadov, Berlioz et al. Enjoy!
 
 

I've listened to this album twice this month now.  This is good stuff.  I can't believe I spent so many years not knowing it at all.  The specialty labels giving new life to scores whose OST albums didn't stay in print, is a wonderful thing!

I ABSOLUTELY agree with you. 
Even though I'm a huge fan of John Williams' film music, I don't particularly like his concert programs (other than, as you say, as a light celebratory occasion). As you say, Williams has the ability to tell a story through music in his film scores, but he rarely does that in concert. 
 
I find that some of my absolute favourite scores (Star Wars, Hook...) are very poorly represented by the standard "highlight" concert pieces. I too wish that Williams would at least play several cues of the same score, creating a coherent suite.
 
My ideal concert program would only include music form three or four film scores, at at least 20-30 minutes of music for each (either as a suite or as a continuous piece). 

Williams saved me from listening to classcal music
 

Not at all, it has been performed here multiple times, and is one of JW's most cherished compositions, same as elsewhere. The film, like others (e.g. Downfall, The Pianist, etc.) that depict this period in a serious way, is well regarded. It's the comedic handling of the subject matter that makes us squirm uncomfortably in our seats, like buddy-Adolf in Jojo Rabbit.
 
And the story made it into the Berlin programme booklet at least, as the final punchline of the text