TJH132

Yes, I went down that particular rabbit hole... I procured a supported blu-ray player, bought an aging MacMini and read thousands of posts until I was able to get my first SACD to rip properly. And it seems to work just fine! Files are saved as .dsf which I convert (losslessly) to .FLAC for storage on my server. I mostly went through all this trouble to get to the multichannel programs on certain SACDs I've taken advantage of the new-ish Vocalion re-releases of the Charles Gerhardt discs to get hi-res and multichannel rips of some of the best film music collections ever released!

JW did get a shout out from a winner. Better than nothing.

I gave the new performance a listen and it's definitely a sonic improvement over the old recording. The orchestra and soloist perform admirably for the first two movements, but seem to struggle with the proper tempo on the third. Some of the extra eight minutes must come from the much slower tempo.

Nope, that wasn't the one. Like I said, I'm not sure how old the article is because Google will frequently serve up old stuff as new. Well... I did try that on my laptop (Chrome being synched and all) but it didn't show up. Of course, I found it on my phone once I turned it back on. Thanks for the (obvious) tip! Here's the article: https://jarijuhanikallio.wordpress.com/2023/09/07/in-the-manner-of-genuine-classic-john-williamss-violin-concerto-no-2-with-anne-sophie-mutter-the-bso-and-andris-nelsons-at-elbphilharmonie/

My Google news feed serves up all sorts of stories. Last night during a break in TV, I scrolled through and saw one about Williams' Violin Concerto No. 2. I clicked on it and read the first few sentences. It seemed like a good read, but I put my phone down and went back to watching TV. Of course, I shut the phone off at the end of the night and now I can't find the article ANYWHERE! It's like Google doesn't want me to read it. I don't know how recent the story was, but I think it indicated Andris Nelsons and Mutter had given the German premiere of the piece, if that narrows it down. The review seemed very complementary, as far as I got. Does anyone know the article I'm talking about?

After a couple days of no tracking information, it has finally starting moving through the USPS system and it shows delivery on Thursday, November 2nd!

Shipped here, too. I'll believe it when I see it!

Presumably the second this is released, audio software experts will be ripping, slicing and dicing the score into a more listenable format. Can someone here describe what would be the steps to take this 7.1 soundtrack and properly mix it to stereo. How do you know it's how it is supposed to sound?

Now says the 11th.

Pushed yet again: 4 October 2023!

Anyone get shipping notification? The date has slipped.

Of all the revisions, I like the one performed with Ma and the Houston Symphony some years ago. Better opening and stronger ending, in my opinion.

I hear a bit of Bassoon Concerto in the Prelude. Quite a nice introduction to the Scherzo.

Waiting for some quality album art for this audio...

The guitarist Christopher Parkening was to premiere Elmer Bernstein's Guitar Concerto with the Oregon Symphony but it wasn't finished yet. He asked Williams if he could play "The Days Between" from STEPMOM instead, so we got to hear it early. At least it was before the soundtrack was released; not sure how much before the film.

Waiting is half the fun...

Just received my vinyl copy of the album. Can't wait to give it a thorough listen at an appropriate volume (when the wife is not home!). Edit: The vinyl edition sounds fantastic! Everything is well-balanced and the dynamic range is nice and wide. I made a hi-res digital recording of the LP and it, too, sounds really good!

I noticed this immediately! Very nice tie-in.

Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase. The album art is fantastic; it's so nice to see something other than just a re-hash of the original art. The notes are good, but not really detailed -- more like a love letter to the score. While I like having the extra music from the expanded release, the generous original soundtrack presentation has always been a favorite of mine, so this is perfect. The sound "seems" to be good, too. There are a lot of variables that go into how "good" the vinyl sound really is (turntable, pre-amp, stylus, speakers...). On my system, it generally sounds fantastic, save one rather large issue: The overall level seems lower than many other albums I own (classical, soundtrack or otherwise), meaning I have to turn it up a bit louder than usual. This makes the noise floor of the vinyl more apparent than some other LPs. Still, I like the sound of it, especially the low end, that really rumbles in all the right spots!

The Houston Revision is still my favorite of the three I have heard. I think he gets the opening and finale right, while mostly leaving the center alone (I think).

I have the Varese CD, but not the Deluxe version that came out later, so this will be a good purchase for me. Although I think "The Cowboys Overture" is one of Williams' best pieces of film-to-concert music, the score itself isn't among my favorites.

I've been buying new releases on vinyl more and more recently and just using the streaming services to listen casually. I like to make my own recordings from the LP, which usually sound VERY good on my set-up. One downside: Several recent new releases have had manufacturing flaws that cause recurring pops in some cues. My Mondo JAWS copy has one ruined cue; "Princess Leia's Theme" from the Record Store Day release has a flaw. Even the last cut from Lindsay Buckingham's newest album is marred. Makes me a bit hesitant to plunk down MORE money for LESS music.

Hey, thanks! I happened to be checking around JWFan.com and saw that "Markings" is listed as "unreleased," when we all know it was released with the deluxe "Across the Stars" album. I even have it on vinyl! About the album cover I made: I do believe my creation pre-dates the piano solos disc with a very similar concept by a little bit, or at least I hadn't seen it before making mine. That close up photo of Williams had been circulating around the time and I liked how it really showed off his facial features. I used an Android app that was also popular at the time (though I can't remember the name of it) to juice up the image. Offsetting the picture to allow for text was really my only "creative" decision. Anyway, I'm glad someone liked it. I know I always appreciate when more talented folks on here make album art for all the concert rips we've been getting.

Am I listening to a different score/watching a different movie, because the end credits I remember seeing in the theater and have on Blu-Ray finish with the big "Dorinda Solo Flight" music (right up through the Amblin logo), not either of the two "End Credits" on the album.

Just coincidentally I've been listening to ALWAYS quite a bit lately. All this talk about how some of the cues are cut and pasted from other bits has be worried that the presentation of "Among the Clouds" will be ruined, as in, IF A SINGLE NOTE IS CHANGED, it will be ruined! It is easily one of my top ten favorite pieces of John Williams music! The suite from Spielberg/Williams Collaboration is too cobbled together, seemingly from the best bits, but with none of the structure and breadth. Also, were Spielberg and Williams not on the same page when it came to spotting this film? The talk from this thread makes it sound as though there are edits, re-tracked bits and alternates all over the place. For a movie as uncomplicated as ALWAYS, this seems odd.