Hedwig

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gustavo-dudamel-conduct-score-west-side-story-1211638 Pretty weird that John Williams appears to be having zero involvement with this project?

So there doesn't seem to be any clear sources (just mentions in a couple of newspaper articles about the tour) but it would appear the 'Novello Orchestra' has been confirmed to be performing for the other dates outside of London... Does anyone know about the quality of this ensemble? I was hoping for maybe regional orchestras to do each of the other dates in the UK as I've had experiences of LTP concerts with a 'freelance' commercial ensemble (Harry Potter) but have also seen E.T and Raiders of the Lost Ark with the RSNO and the difference in quality was astounding! Not just the playing but also the mixing- I think it could have something to do with the fact that it is probably more important for an established orchestras' reputation to have the event be up to a certain 'standard' whilst the company that are doing the Harry Potter shows seemed to be a little more sloppy... Obviously this 'Novello Orchestra' have their work cut out for them doing Star Wars and it would be pretty rubbish if they weren't up for the job!

Where would everyone say is the best/clearest rendition of Rose's theme on the album?

Thanks @Joe Brausam! Would be interested as to what your thoughts are about it, cause even if it sounded unusual for Williams I'm sure it was still delivered with the 'sophistication' Williams always brings? (I hope)

@Joe Brausam is this one of the moments you mentioned before where you thought it was as close as Williams has got to modern action scoring? Wondering if you thought it worked or you didn't like it... So interesting to see how Williams adapts his style for modern cinema!

Can anyone who has seen the film, maybe ( @Joe Brausam?), elaborate on what Empire magazine mentions in their review of the film in relation to the music; https://www.empireonline.com/movies/star-wars-last-jedi/review/ They say that Johnson has brought a new cinematic grammar to Star Wars including moments of "pulling out in-world sound, leaving just music and image." Sounds like a great cinematic language for amazing Williams moments!

Thanks for all the information @Joe Brausam! Do you feel like there's any particular musical theme/idea that came across as sort of the 'heart' of the score? With the Force Awakens I feel like not only was 'Rey's Theme' a great character theme, but its use, whether through full statements or just moments that highlighted its harmonic progression, sort of came to define the sound of the film, obviously emphasised by its prominent use in the end credits suite. By the sounds of things this score is going to be a really thematically heavy one, with a huge number of themes playing a prominent role. But did something in there stand out as the core musical idea? Really intrigued as to how the approach to this score is going to compare to Williams' previous approaches to sequels- I must say I'm really surprised that all the TFA themes are back, and I think it's great! Just hoping that it really is overall new takes on this material (which sounds incredible) rather than much of the same-ey kinda stuff as we've heard before (which I'm sure will still be good but not quite as exciting). Also learning of the two new main themes and then looking at the track titles, it seems as if the album may not include any specific concert suite tracks- certainly would be a first for a Star Wars score right?

Do we know when exactly the sessions for TLJ began? I seem to remember being pleasantly surprised when reading that they had started because the Variety article from June 2016 seemed to reveal that he would begin work on RPO first... It's a shame that Spielberg had to make The Papers so abruptly as it seems to have made the schedule unworkable for Williams, understandably. Though if The Papers was filmed and scheduled for release one year forward from now then it would probably clash with the episode 9 sessions so I suppose there's just not very much luck with Williams' schedule at the moment!

Anyone hear any comments about the score at any of the panels from celebration?

Wondering if anyone has any thoughts regarding the very consistent sound Williams manages to create amongst his OST recordings? Not his very precise orchestration/melodic or harmonic tendencies, which are obviously very consistent, but more so how the orchestra is captured and the amazing performances he always seems to get. It was mentioned by a couple of people in the recent thread about the main theme from Jurassic Park, that the OST version was the only version which captured it exactly right- I completely agree with this and feel it could be due to several things. The pacing and performance seems to be how the melody is truly intended to be performed which is a part of it. But I feel it is also due to how the individual sections of the orchestra are placed within the recording and how prominently they individually feature in the tutti sections of the piece. I also find, particularly with his woodwind performances, that even the sound of the instruments, or how certain doublings work together, is always so precise and has a quality to it which can never seem to be replicated live. A good example of this is the first statement of the B theme in Hedwig's Theme performed by the woodwind section- bassoons, clarinets and oboes I think? I've never heard a live performance or any other recording which captures the same texture as the OST recording. I was at the recent LSO concert at the Barbican and although a really amazing performance was given, I still felt the same texture was not achieved. I'm aware that a live performance will always be different to a recording but I'm just interested as to whether anyone else also feels Williams has some secret tricks up his sleeve when it comes to balancing sections of the orchestra within the studio? Obviously he is not doing the actual recording or mixing technical stuff but considering the consistency of the sound across his output- particularly noticeable in the digital recording era- I feel he must be responsible for the sound achieved? A really good recent example is Rey's Theme- I've heard it live a couple of times now and have watched videos of performances on youtube and such and none of them seem to come close to the sound captured on the album! I find it most noticeable at places like 0.14 secs when the percussion and harp are isolated or the section at 1.10 secs when such a cool balance is captured between the upper woodwinds and the bass. Does John Williams just have a really incredible recording team which work extremely consistently on all his recordings? Or is there something more? (Disclaimer- obviously not all Williams scores have the exact same sound and the quality can differ score to score- but even within these different sounds, i.e prequels vs TFA, there is still a consistent Williams quality to how the instruments sound)

Wow thanks for the info! That's crazy about Williams being given the wrong cut... Thank goodness for the filmmaking team that he's so capable as to re-write music of such complexity at such short notice- and still make it work so well! This does make it a little clearer as to why he was maybe not so keen to return to Potter, though of course that's a whole other story with many different factors involved! Would imagine he could have felt as though his talents/general effort that he obviously puts into his scores wasn't really appreciated by the potter team. It really is such a shame we never got to hear anymore Williams music for the rest of the franchise... Was just listening to the first score the other day and was reminded again at how annoying it is that the themes for Voldemort weren't continued throughout the series! Such awesome themes (both the three note motif and the two direct A/B themes for the character) so memorable too, think most general movie goers would have recognised them if they had been used appropriately!

could you enlighten further about the re-writing of a 'chunk of the score' during the sessions for azkaban? always so frustrated at the lack of information and mystery surrounding the writing/sessions for all the potter scores...

Aw thanks! That makes sense! Very cool sound from the pizz there

Wondering if anyone can help identify a percussion instrument described in the sheet music for "Harry's Wondrous World'. It is listed as "w/Wws." Have always been intrigued as to what is going on in the orchestration of this particular moment and have just had a first look at the orchestral score to find this mystery percussion abbreviation which I can't find anything about online. I've always found it sounds very 'oaky' almost as if some kind of woodblocks were being used. But I don't think that's an abbreviation for them- although I could be wrong? It give quite a childish quality to the music which is obviously very fitting for the piece. The timestamp for this moment is 0.19 seconds in,

Hmm so is this generally a good sign that John Williams could be doing episode 8 or?