tannhauser

I thought as much! I was hoping someone here, better informed than myself, could enlighten me?

Would it be similar to his role on Fiddler on the Roof? I've never seen that film, nor am I familiar with the original musical. What did Williams do on it? I think he at least wrote the violin cadenza for the introduction, for Isaac Stern. I guess he could conduct the sessions for West Side Story, along with whatever tweaking/transitions need to be done. Possibly arranging a new suite for the end credits!

WSS is light-years ahead of anything else written for the musical stage. To me, Bernstein is the greatest composer America ever produced, narrowly ahead of Gershwin and Copland, at least to my sensibilities.

Also - it's not a remake of the movie - it's a second adaptation of the musical. To many people's thinking, West Side Story is a film that was made in 1961 - but in fact this is equivalent to considering The Magic Flute as a 2006 film directed by Kenneth Branagh. Therefore, much like Mozart's opera, Bernstein and Sondheim's piece is one which can be endlessly interpreted by stage directors and adapted by filmmakers, such as Robert Wise, or Steven Spielberg, or anyone else.

My main gripes are with the music - the whole thing is horribly over-orchestrated (Bernstein hated it) and it's horribly micro-edited all over the place, particularly in the prologue. I'm also not at all convinced by the re-ordering of the songs and the changes to the lyrics (America in particular).

This could be great if handled with care. The originally conceived West Side Story, as a piece of musical theatre, is as fresh as a daisy, and sounds as if it was written yesterday. The film adaptation on the other hand is horribly dated, and crying out for a remake. I just hope whoever has the job of adapting the music (Williams would be great, if he's still around) has more respect for Bernstein's score than the producers of the original movie did.

He can call it West Bank Story!

Is it really that bad? Supply and demand and all that. It's an investment where you buy something that increases in value dramatically when it becomes more scarce.

http://www.mapaplan.com/seating-plan/royal-albert-hall-seat-numbers-chart/high-resolution/royal-albert-hall-seating-plan-01-seat-row-numbers-arena-stalls-circle-loggia-grand-second-tier-boxes-detailed-chart-high-resolution.htm Try this!

2 tickets booked! Anyone else joining me in Loggia box 33?

Caught bits and pieces of this both video and audio. I've been to one of these "greatest hits of Williams" concerts - and really enjoyed it, but not sure if I'd go again. The music is great obviously, but having a program packed with little excerpts from as many films as possible doesn't make a great concert for me. I prefer something I can concentrate on and become involved in, instead of being pulled in and out of different musical worlds every five minutes. I'm glad the BBC chose Williams this year as one of their "popular" concerts, designed for an audience less familiar to classical music. It certainly beats the Radio 6 Prom and such rubbish as has appeared in the past. But I don't like the idea of Williams music staying in that comfort zone, and would like to see his work getting a look in in the more conventional concerts. In order to have that however, more substantial concert reworkings need to get more of a look in. Suites from his films, like Bernstein's Symphonic Dances, need to become more established in the repertory. I'd love to hear a complete performance of the Memoirs of a Geisha suite, all three movements of Escapades, and the neglected Children's Suite from Harry Potter - many more there are too. Going back to Thursday would have been nice to hear the whole Force Awakens suite without Katie Derham's interruptions. So, mixed feelings about this. Glad Williams was featured in the season, but he deserves better.

I'd like to go again, but not enough to fork out 70/80 quid + getting to Wembley. The show was great in Birmingham, but too loud.

With the greatest respect to Doug, I personally feel like it's a bit of a stretch

The extended bass solo in "Reflections" from CMIYC quotes Beethoven's 9th Symphony verbatim.

This tragedy has already been discussed Still looking forward to the film though, and I hope the Kluge's come up with something great!

Thanks for this recommendation, Alex. I hadn't come across this one before, but enjoyed it very much. The Saturn book-ends work well too

What is the actual pronunciation?

*facepalm

Can you point me to where it sounds like Bach? I haven't listened to all of it, but anything I've heard is nothing like.

Sorry you didn't enjoy it. This is pure Shore, with no Pope, after all! And Palace is a song-cycle (and a fine one at that) not an opera. Or are you saying you don't like music sung by just one voice? The choral works and Catania are nice, but the outstanding works for me are the song cycle and Six Pieces. Listened yesterday while walking through a beautiful forest. There's certainly as much if not more to enjoy here than on any of the Hobbit albums. Bravo Howard!

I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but the thought of Shore doing a period piece with Scorsese set in 17th century Japan is tremendously exciting!

It wouldn't be the first time that a composer has been announced at short notice (think Williams with Book Thief). Besides, the press on this one seems to have been quite hushed - still not even a teaser!

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/silence-martin-scorsese-1201870272/ Silence finally has a release date. I know Shore's been attached to this, and I hope it's true! Does anyone have any solid information on whether or not he's scored it?

It's Lang Lang, and it's Ting Ting!

Here it is: (Source: Press release http://howerecords.com/a-palace-upon-the-ruins-selected-works/) A Palace Upon the Ruins – album track list 1-6: A Palace Upon the Ruins – lyrics by Elizabeth Cotnoir Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano; players of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival 7: Peace – text by Eleanor Roosevelt Essential Voices USA Youth Workshop; Benjamin Hutto, organ; Judith Clurman, conductor 8: The Garden – text by Robert Penn Warren 21st Century Chamber Choir; Ludwig Wicki, conductor 9-14: Six Pieces I. Pianoforte, Strings – Howard Shore, conductor II. Quartet – Kronos Quartet III. 10 Celli – RTÉ Concert Orchestra; Ludwig Wicki, conductor IV. Strings – RTÉ Concert Orchestra; Ludwig Wicki, conductor V. Mezzo-soprano, 10 Celli – RTÉ Concert Orchestra; Ludwig Wicki, conductor; Clara Sanabras, mezzo-soprano VI. Strings – RTÉ Concert Orchestra; Ludwig Wicki, conductor 15: Catania Lang Lang, piano