Joe Brausam

Great write-up! Lincoln and War Horse are still my favorite modern Williams, The Book Thief isn't far behind. I always appreciate seeing these threads bumped up.

The orchestra is indeed having its FIRST rehearsal today.

It's a shame that this is during the school year, I'd have loved to see him conduct the CSO!

Yep, the contents of the book I think k match what’s on the website, but the titles in the book do not. It’s definitely a lot, that 6M2 situation is interesting - so many different versions! Over the next few days I’ll try to put together a full comparison so we can see what we do and don’t have, maybe do a quick mock-up or two.

No problem! 1 - The actual Omni book only has two complete versions of "After Antietam", I see what they show on their site, but this is the breakdown in the book and what it all means: 1M2R Intro (Original) - The "R" leads me to this this is what they meant on their site as "After Antietam (Revised)". This is simply an alternate introduction to the cue "After Antietam" and only lasts for 6 bars. It features the "Reflection Motif" as Omni names it, a rising and falling figure in the strings. This theme itself can be identified at 1:17 in track 2 on the LLL presentation, just for reference. This cue is unused and not in any recording we have. That leads us to the next cue.... 1M2 After Antietam (With Film Intro) - This is the one that lines up with the recording on track 2 of the LLL film presentation. It features a new 6 bar introduction that replaced 1M2R. Those 6 bars feature no melody, but the two chords in it are based on the first two notes of the "Reflection Motif". This 6 bar intro is NOT on the LLL disc, I don't know if it's in the film or not. The LLL presentation (and the OST) start on bar 7 of this cue, when the choir enters. Other than missing the 6 bar intro, the LLL matches this cue exactly. 1M2ALT After Antietam - This is a shortened version of 1M2, which is 52 bars. 1M2ALT is only 13 bars and would have faded out earlier. Its instrumentation is different - pulled back and scored for a smaller ensemble, 2 clarinets, trumpet solo, timpani, percussion, boys and men's choir. The trumpet/bugle calls in this version different from the ones we hear in 1M2. It is also worth noting that the OST version of "After Antietam" does not appear in the Omni book, so there is indeed another version yet. The OST features different trumpet calls that don't appear in any version in the book and different rhythms in the melody. 2 - The Omni book has "1M4R Flashback (Film Version)" and "1M4 Flashback Version 2". "1M4R Flashback (Film Version)" - This is written as the first 12 bars of "Drei Klavierstücke" (disc 1, track 21). The cue we hear on track 3 of the album overlays for 3 bars starting in bar 10 before continuing along on its own, the source music fading out. The source music returns during the final bar of the chorus, so it overlays with the last bar of the track. "1M4 Flashback Version 2" - This matches Disc 2, Track 14 "Flashback Alternate 1". The other alternate is not featured in the book. 3 - You are correct on how that lines up, yes. The only difference is the Film Mix in LLL 1-24 does not include the orchestra entrance, and gradually fades out the field drums. 4 - Okay, so "54th Regiment" is partially source music and partially "Worth a Life". "Hoist the Flag", LLL 1-25, is present throughout the cue, albeit with repeated phrases that are not represented in the written music for "54th Regiment". "Worth a Life" overlays with the "Hoist the Flag" tune, and so it actually shares slate numbers. The contents on the Omni website are listed differently than they are in the book, "Worth a Life" is actually the "Parade Overlays" listed on the site. This is complicated and a bit of a mess...so I'm going to just explain what we have on the CD first then follow up with what's in the book: LLL 1-10 "Worth a Life" - This appears in the Omni book as "6M2 Worth a Life Version 2". LLL 2-15 "Worth a Life (Alternate 1)" - This appears in the Omni book as "6M2 Worth a Life Version 1 (Parade Overlay)" LLL 2-17 "Worth a Life (Alternate 2)" - This appears in the Omni book as "6M2 Worth a Life Version 2". It seems to be musically the same as LLL 1-10, so any differences must be only slight instrumentation changes or the pacing of the take. For example, at the climax in bar 12 the alternate takes a brisker tempo and the fadeout at the end takes longer. But musically everything seems the same. Now here's some fun stuff from the Omni book to make things more complicated: "6M2/6M3 Hoist the Flag" - This matches LLL 1-25 "Hoist the Flag". "6M2/6M3RA 54th Regiment (Film Version)" - "Hoist the Flag" beings the cue, with orchestra beginning at bar 53. The structure of "Hoist the Flag" differs from any recording we have. When the orchestra begins it starts similarly to "6M2 Worth a Life Version 2", however the melody at the beginning is elongated. Structurally it features the same themes in the same sequence, again just elongated. We do not have a recording of this as far as I can tell. "6M2/6M3R 54th Regiment" - Again starts with a version of "Hoist the Flag", followed by an orchestra entrance at bar 57. Again, basically structured the same but with different variations of the themes presented in all versions of "Worth a Life". Again, we do not have a recording of this as far as I can tell. "6M2 Worth a Life Version 1 (Parade Overlay)" - As said above, matches LLL 2-15 "Worth a Life (Alternate 1)". "6M2 Worth a Life Version 2" - As said above, this seems to match BOTH LLL 1-10 "Worth a Life" AND LLL 2-17 "Worth a Life (Alternate 2)". So...there is a lot going on with that cue. Hope that all helps @Jay, and doesn't complicate things further! 🤣

Murphy.

This is a fantastic release, and I’ve enjoyed listening while reading along with Omni’s publication as well! The film version cues are interesting as well - with the inclusion of them there really is a lot of new music on this release. Very well done. And the sound quality of the film score truly adds a lot of clarity to the individual colors in the music. The OST presentation definitely sounds restored but it steers closer to the mixing of the original album, which is appropriate.

2nd update from MV On FSM: Edit: Didn’t realize this was posted over in the Hook thread!

Every time this thread bumps I get my hopes up. I'm sure Hunchback will be great, it's fantastic music!

Got a shipping notice as well.

Thanks! I met him the first time he conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, a friend of mine is in the orchestra and helped me out a bit

Hm. Interestingly "Sarah's Theme" in this new edition is completely missing the vocal part. It's completely made up of the orchestra accompaniment. I like having this as an alternate but it shouldn't be completely missing the vocal on the album. "Garden of Magic" is also missing the Sarah's theme piano overlay. The only time that theme - by Horner - appears is when it is completely integrated with the orchestra rather than overlaid. I think there must be a rights issue at work here? I can't imaging preferring this version with that theme missing from it.

I'm glad we didn't miss it. I'm in the queue. Edit: Got tickets for Both July 23rd and the premiere on the 24th!

Any luck with tickets guys...?

This makes me feel good about getting my AirBnb as soon as they announced the dates. I'm a little stressed over tickets though, I'm teaching a class when they go up so I hope lawn seats stay available for a while. I wonder if as the summer goes on more tickets will be released too as audience capacity limits are lifted.