handz

you must be fun at parties...
 
JW has so many awesome pieces that it is not possible to please everyone during one concert. With the encores - it was nearly perfect

Personally, I think these were probably the most important concerts in the history of film music. I really mean it. Why the most important? Because John Williams was conducting the Vienna Philharmonic playing his music in Musikverein. And it was filmed.

Really, I mean really? Basically everything you wrote!? 
 
Ok I would personally loved more rare selection of music but this was an amazing concert!! 

I'm glad I didn't waste money on attending the concert then!

Front seat gives, front seat takes. Not a good angle fora a top secret filming (unless the dirigent is a hot woman in mini skirt) but the force was strong there. 

I absolutely agree with you that if someone holding his phone up in the air its super annoying, but on the first concert I was standing and nobody was behind me and they still keep coming to our crowd telling us to stop filming (there was like 20 people making short videos all the time of course on the balcony...) 

I know that there should be a blue ray... but its like going to vacation and not take any pictures as some professional photographer made them already before and released in a book - I know, but my photos and recording has a much bigger value to me.  And - I am photographer, and it was so painful to not have a camera there, being able to make some wonderful photos

I was on the right hand side, front row on the balcony. I've seen Williams twice before (both Hollywood Bowl 2014/16 I think), but neither of those even remotely compared to yesterday. The intimacy of the venue, the sense of complete harmony of the audience to JW and of course the complete and utter respect of the musicians for someone whom even a decade or so ago they may have regarded with some disdain. The concert met and exceeded my expectations really beyond what I had hoped for - even the presence of ASM and the numerous revised arrangements seemed somehow befitting of the venue and atmosphere.

I felt as if the hall, as grand as it is, did suffer from some excess reverb (somebody mentioned earlier that this is more pronounced in the higher balcony seats as opposed to the stalls), however it's such a minor complaint and didn't in any way spoil the occasion nor mar the tremendous musicianship on display. One can only hope that this is a wake-up call for Williams to realise how appreciated he is in Europe - very strange not to see the 2018 LSO concert rescheduled but perhaps this makes that more likely?

Yeah they were quite annoying  - at some places it was almost impossible to record, on some it was easy.  I have some vids where you can actually just see JWs butt  so it is not very flattering angle (it was impossible to film there otherwise) but I have 3 or 4 full pieces recorded... and of corse apple making me crazy - transffering from phone keeps on crashing...

 

Cool. I can see myself there 😅

Sadly, I have used just audio recording and it seems that apple is now using much larger compression on them  (videos has much better audio quality) I think it sounded pretty good though, loved the tempo which was very close to the original and it had a nice flow....
Karlsplatz.m4a

The one thing that was the biggest revelation to me personally, and after 25+ years of listening to his music elevated my esteem of Williams as a composer and conductor even further:
 
Having lived in Vienna my whole life, I've heard the Philharmoniker and other orchestras play at the Musikverein numerous times. Occasionally on parterre seats (mostly when I got cheap tickets for dress rehearsals), more often from the balcony. I've always had the impression that 1) the Golden Hall can indeed sound great if played right, but can also be overly reverb-y and intransparent when played too loud, or without the right balance and 2) that the balcony seats seemed to suffer from that problem much more than the parterre seats. I've heard big name conductors with big name orchestras play massive symphonies by master composers like Mahler, Strauss, and Bruckner and regret only having a balcony seat because I could barely hear many of the details in these works I knew so well from various recordings - including the Philharmoniker, who've been at home in that hall for 150 years.
 
The Williams concerts marked the first time that I heard the same concert on two successive days, once from a parterre seat and once from the balcony. And the balcony sound was fantastic - slightly more reverb than below, but never at the expense of clarity. I didn't feel I missed a single detail, and in fact heard a few new ones I'd never been aware of. I could swear I could actually hear the piano in the Imperial March. In short, I've rarely heard such a powerful and yet transparent performance at the Musikverein - a testament to Williams as a conductor and an orchestrator, and with music that was originally written for a single studio recording.

I am not surprised. Can anyone really imagine JW to be not a nice person to work with? He always shows a generous amount of humility, kindness and modesty. 

Holy crap, those Vienna horns on the theme at 0:12... Nice to hear it played so powerfully. I love other renditions where it's played more lyrically, but there's a certain guilty pleasure to be had with Vienna horns!

Cool. I can see myself there 😅

Cool. I can see myself there 😅

Sadly, I have used just audio recording and it seems that apple is now using much larger compression on them  (videos has much better audio quality) I think it sounded pretty good though, loved the tempo which was very close to the original and it had a nice flow....
Karlsplatz.m4a

I have just a small bit from the 18th 

He is Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd of orchestral music. There is nobody else like him on this planet and the fact that he is performing in Europe is a historical moment. People are excited. A lot. 🙌🏻

And I second that the last concert was better from a musical standpoint. Much cleaner performances, no desync in E.T., no bad notes in Jurassic Park, etc. That additional time for practice clearly helps.

He is Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd of orchestral music. There is nobody else like him on this planet and the fact that he is performing in Europe is a historical moment. People are excited. A lot. 🙌🏻

When he conducts he is very vital but otherwise - he really is not a youngster, It must have been extremely hard for him to travel to Europe and have two concerts in a row here.
 
Seeing him conducting Star Wars and Indiana Jones themes from first row was a experience of a lifetime, magical🙏

Well, to be fair that's why a lot of classical concertos/transcriptions exist—to serve as showpieces for a particular soloist who the composer had some relationship with. 😛

He is Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd of orchestral music. There is nobody else like him on this planet and the fact that he is performing in Europe is a historical moment. People are excited. A lot. 🙌🏻

You mean this part? It almost killed me - but it was for me the only “big thing” otherwise it was just great. Brass was powerful and quite tight. I hope that tomorrow everything is going to be perfect. Anyway, It was a IMG_1319.MOV historical moment and absolutely stunning experience ✨

He is Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd of orchestral music. There is nobody else like him on this planet and the fact that he is performing in Europe is a historical moment. People are excited. A lot. 🙌🏻