Incanus

I just came back from the 1st concert and it was as excellent as I expected it to be. The orchestra was in great form and performed with enthusiasm and energy. And indeed as with any Williams concert, the whole orchestra (and especially the brass section) get a proper workout and it is always a delight to see the intricacies of Williams' orchestrations when watching the orchestra live. What a terrific night!

Well there was an update on the orchestra's site about the 3rd concert and the choir will be the Helsinki Philharmonic Choir. The Vantaa Orchestra's own site lists a shorter program for the 3rd concert with less Star Wars music for the second half and no Immolation or Stolen Memories from Schindler's List for the 1st half: OHJELMA / PROGRAM 1.Dartmoor 1912 / War Horse 2. March from 1941 3. Swing Swing Swing from 1941 4. Schindler’s List Main Theme 5. Hymn to the Fallen* 6. Dry Your Tears, Afrika - Amistad* 7. Home Alone Somewhere in My Memory 8. Suite from Close Encounters of the Third Kind —väliaika— 1. The Jedi Steps and Finale 2. Across the Stars 3. Parade of the Ewoks 4. Princess Leia 5. Here They Come 6. Battle of the Heroes 7. Luke and Leia 8. Duel of the Fates

They were very good indeed.

@Joni Wiljami can you say, what choir or choirs will be performing in the 1st of April concert?

This is fantastic news! I have never heard of any orchestra performing those. Such a shame I can't make it to the last concert. I am certainly attending the first two concerts but alas I can't make it to the last one as I am away from Helsinki that weekend. If only I had heard about this festival sooner I might have changed my plans. I was at the previous John Williams concert this orchestra gave in 2021 and it was fantastic. Seven Years in Tibet was one of the highlights then but the whole concert programme and performances were excellent (some of the pieces are repeated in these concerts as well). Looking forward to hearing you play Pasi!

Happy Birthday Maestro Williams!

I have been listening to this set almost daily since I got my copy. Such a great score and release. While reading the booklet I noticed that both the women's and children's choirs are listed in the performers list but the male singers are not listed. I wonder if this is an oversight or is there a specific reason why they are not similarly listed?

Well I finally received my copy and have given it a couple of spins. This new magnificent release sort of opens up the score in a completely different way compared to the OST or even to how the music is heard in the film. Every aspect of the score receives a more extensive and satisfying arc on this release. You can now hear clearly the different thematic threads from start to finish the way Williams conceived them, which is usually the highlight of many of Williams' expanded scores, the strong arc of the musical storytelling. Cinque's theme is now clearly shown to be the central theme of the work through numerous new variations from the beginning of the score to the final notes but various other musical ideas are now much clearer in the overall musical story. The unreleased and unused music is a revelation and further increases my already considerable appreciation of this music and especially Williams' skills at adapting like a chameleon to these different musical worlds in various films he has scored with such seeming ease. There are too many highlights to mention here, from the African vocal and percussion work to the intimate moments for solo instruments and vocalists. Just fantastic and the album flows wonderfully from start to finish. And then there are those nearly 50 minutes of alternates and extra music on disc 2. I never expected that this score would have so many alternates but they do in addition to being more great music give those wonderful behind-the-scenes glimpses of how the film scoring process works and the different compositions evolve (a special thank you to Mike and Jay for providing nice, concise and clear write-up on what these pieces are and how they differ from the finished film versions). The excellent liner notes by Jeff Bond (and Mike and Jay) and the great art direction by Jim Titus round out the whole package, which is fantastic! As a Williams fan one could not wish for a better Christmas gift.

RIP

Oooh sounds promising and oh so very Howard Shore.

I ordered this release last Friday (along with the new Godfather release) from the Music Box Records so it will probably be quite a wait before I get my copy. But I am so excited that we got an expanded release of Amistad, which has for a long time been on my personal grail list.

Wow the samples sounded great! I can't wait to hear the whole thing! There will be such a wealth of new music to explore here and for the fan of this score it is an absolute joy.

Excellent news! As some of have expressed above, it is about time we got a complete film score release of this classic score.

Spielberg is quite right in his original note for the OST album when he says John Williams great gift has always been to be able to produce the "unprecedented sounds" which applies especially to this score's African sections. I remember being amazed and impressed back when this film and score came out, how different much of this music was to all that I had heard from Williams up to that point. A musical "character actor" indeed.

That is undeniably a pretty egregious moment in the film.