Jean-Baptiste Martin

Slowly but surely reconstituing the last part of Horner's legendary career.
 

I also like them where they are. It serves the same purpose as the Shire music, in a sense that it portrays simple ordinary folk, and feels more impactful when gets reprised at the end.
 
Karol

Filling a hole with "The New World", Apocalypto and The Spiderwick Chronicles.
 

I love this score, and this album of this score. 
 
Personally I take out the two Newlyn tracks and "Willow's Theme", and what's left is an incredibly well-paced album that flows well and gets me hooked into wanting to hear the whole thing every time.  I'm so happy the 1988 stereo mixes were preserved and we can finally hear all this after all these years! 
 
 

My collection ( not pictured BRAINSTORM- LP)
 
 
 

Yes we managed to get the authorizations with the intention to publish this video on June 22.
Unlike the concert which remained online only 24 hours. This video will stay.

This week I took the shrinkwrap off my physical copy and listened to my physical discs.  Hoo boy, I had somehow forgotten how much of an impact this score has on me.

That main emotional theme is so, well, emotional, it gets me every time.  At some point listening to this I realized what one of my favorite niches of film scores.  That is scores like this, that have this big strong emotional hook, but its only part of a larger score with a lot of other aspects.  What I mean is this score has all the action music, the militaristic stuff, the Americana stuff, etc etc, and having all that makes the emotional statements stand out even more.  This is as opposed to a score that sort of stays in one mode for most of it.  It's the "sneaking in" of emotional stuff among other stuff that really works for me a lot.

I love this score!  I also realized when I opened it up that I hadn't actually seen the booklet yet, so I'm looking forward to reading that this weekend!

I am not massively bothered about minor differences like this. To be perfectly honest, I am still struggling to hear the difference between the two The Land Before Time opening tracks that caused such a stir not long ago. Sure, I do appreciate throughness of any assembly but as far as casual listening goes this is completely irrelevant. I am excited to hear the extra 35 minutes on this release. This is a huge title, this one. It has been a tough couple of years, let's try to focus on the positives.
 
Karol

My modest contribution: http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/willow-expanded-edition-our-exclusive-review/

My modest contribution: http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/willow-expanded-edition-our-exclusive-review/

My modest contribution: http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/willow-expanded-edition-our-exclusive-review/

Yes I had fun putting the music back on the film and it works perfectly.

My modest contribution: http://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/willow-expanded-edition-our-exclusive-review/

Roger says:
 
"
INTRADA Presents



WILLOW
Composed and Conducted by JAMES HORNER
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
KING'S COLLEGE CHOIR
INTRADA ISC 476

Following quickly on the heels of Intrada's release of James Horner's Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Intrada presents one of the most sought-after soundtrack expansions – Horner's epic fantasy score to the 1988 film Willow. With the cooperation of Disney and Lucasfilm, Intrada has prepared a 2-CD set featuring a greatly expanded program of Horner's score. Up to that point, it was probably Horner's most complex work. The score features at least five themes, including a noble theme for Willow, a heroic theme filled with adventure and triumph, a beautiful love theme, a simple theme for the baby Elora and a serpentine motif for the evil Queen. It's a score that runs over 100 minutes, making it one of his longest works, featuring some of the longest and most cohesive cues of his career. It's no wonder such a massive, colorful and passionate work has been in demand for so long.

While the original album featured a generous 73-minute program, Horner had chosen a larger selection of cues to possibly include, including significant and lengthy cues such as "The Enchanted Forest" and "The Sled Ride." This release is mastered from the original stereo sessions mixes made by Shawn Murphy and recorded at Abbey Road and Air Studios.

Willow is a traditional fairy tale quest that blends elements from many sources, including J.R.R. Tolkien, the Brothers Grimm—and even the Bible. The eponymous character is Willow Ufgood, an aspiring sorcerer (Warwick Davis). Willow is a Nelwyn, a race of small folk that farms and mines peacefully in a land surrounded by Daikinis, “tall folk” engaged in a bitter war against the evil sorceress Bavmorda (Jean Marsh) and her daughter, Sorsha (Joanne Whalley). An infant princess who is destined to overpower Bavmorda and restore peace to the world is entrusted to Willow, who must deliver her safely to her faraway kingdom. To do that, he must conquer daunting terrain, fight terrifying trolls, ruthless warriors, a two-headed dragon and all the magical powers Bavmorda can summon against him.

Intrada Special Collection Vol. 476
Retail Price: $30.99
Barcode: 720258547606
Shipping Now
For track listing and sound samples, please visit https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12619/.f
"
 
http://www.intrada.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8938
 
 
Doug says:
 
"At last! Magnum opus fantasy score by James Horner receives expanded 2-CD set! A LucasFilm Production, Ron Howard directs, scripted by Bob Dolman, story by George Lucas who also executive produces with Val Kilmer, Warwick Davis sharing majority of the screen time with Joanne Whalley, Billy Barty, Jean Marsh all nearby. Evil sorceress Bavmorda imprisons all pregnant women in her domain to prevent birth of a baby prophesied to bring about the end of her reign. Said baby is born and cast adrift, with Bavmorda, her vicious Nockmaar Hounds and her army in pursuit. Enter Willow Ufgood and the Nelwyns, who find the infant. A perilous adventure ensues that involves the Brownies, a fairy queen, an aging enchantress… and flamboyant rogue and expert  swordsman Madmartigan.
 
James Horner took inspiration from rousing action and swordplay as well as fantastic special effects made by ILM, including landmark early use of digital morphing technology, a CGI breakthrough. Film unfolds with generous amount of dazzle dazzle and derring-do but also offers darker side to fantastic tale, especially in latter battle and climactic duel sequence. Horner showcases his energetic youthful big-orchestra vernacular on one hand while balancing with his newly-maturing severe, intense musical vocabulary, resulting in incredibly wide-ranging score. Richly drawn main theme anchors, makes key appearances, shares time with exhilarating theme for Madmartigan, takes back seat to ferocious sequences, then ultimately brings score home. Besides colorful array of material, score is also notable for several lengthy cues, amongst the longest of the composer’s career.
 
Massive pieces often play as movements of a symphony, developing ideas with cohesion, complexity, generating considerable tension, then relief - no easy feat: “Canyon Of Mazes” (7 minutes), “Tir Asleen” (10 minutes), “Bavmorda’s Spell Is Cast” (18 minutes), “Willow The Sorcerer” (12 minutes) are massive, masterful works for large symphony orchestra. Generous original 1988 album featured over 70 minutes of music but film’s wall-to-wall scoring included over 100 minutes of music! Finally, on this Intrada 2-CD presentation, some 107 minutes of music by Horner appears, with a wealth of previously unavailable cues, including aggressive, fierce “Death Dogs”, colorful and fantastic “Enchanted Forest”, and riveting and florid “Sled Ride”, all courtesy LucasFilm and Disney, mastered from original digital stereo mixes made by Shawn Murphy at the scoring sessions and beautifully preserved by engineer Simon Rhodes.
 
Front cover art by John Alvin, package design by Kay Marshall, booklet notes by Frank DeWald. Score recorded in January & February 1988 at Abbey Road Studios. Greig McRitchie orchestrates, James Horner composes, conducts. Intrada Special Collection 2-CD available while quantities and interest remain!"
 
CD 1
01. Elora Danan (9:45)
02. The Nelwyns (2:41)
03. The Nelwyns No. 2 (2:35)
04. Death Dogs (2:26)
05. Willow’s Journey Begins (5:26)
06. Bavmorda’s Castle (1:21)
07. Airk’s Army (3:26)
08. The Enchanted Forest (5:31)
09. Escape From The Tavern (5:04)
10. The Island (5:10)
11. Willow Captured (1:59)
12. Arrival At Snow Camp (1:17)
13. The Sled Ride (7:56)
CD 1 Total Time: 55:16
 
CD 2
01. Willow’s Theme (3:54)
02. Canyon Of Mazes (7:52)
03. Tir Asleen (10:47)
04. Bavmorda’s Spell Is Cast (18:11)
05. Willow The Sorcerer (11:55)
CD 2 Total Time: 52:58
 

 

 

Promise me you won't call the insane asylum if I tell you that one of the chapters of the book lists the 1187 appearances of the motif, with timecode in the films and albums, and also a description of the scenes and orchestrations.

Here’s the link to Doug, Roger and Chris Malone talking up the new Willow release ICYMI:

Information about the elements they had to work with, details of the 2CD contents, Frank KDW’s superb booklet notes and the history of James Horner & Shawn Murphy’s collaboration in LA & London.

James Horner Willow Intrada Premiere

Yes we managed to get the authorizations with the intention to publish this video on June 22.
Unlike the concert which remained online only 24 hours. This video will stay.

Here is the full performance of A Forest Passage from the concert in Szczecin, Poland, on 13th May 2022.
Thank you to Sara and Emily Horner, and the Szczecin Philharmonic for granting permission to publish the recording.
Enjoy!
 

Promise me you won't call the insane asylum if I tell you that one of the chapters of the book lists the 1187 appearances of the motif, with timecode in the films and albums, and also a description of the scenes and orchestrations.

As usual just after the appearance of the Willow page on the Intrada website, I will publish a review of this new edition on James Horner Film Music.

Promise me you won't call the insane asylum if I tell you that one of the chapters of the book lists the 1187 appearances of the motif, with timecode in the films and albums, and also a description of the scenes and orchestrations.

Promise me you won't call the insane asylum if I tell you that one of the chapters of the book lists the 1187 appearances of the motif, with timecode in the films and albums, and also a description of the scenes and orchestrations.

Promise me you won't call the insane asylum if I tell you that one of the chapters of the book lists the 1187 appearances of the motif, with timecode in the films and albums, and also a description of the scenes and orchestrations.

Promise me you won't call the insane asylum if I tell you that one of the chapters of the book lists the 1187 appearances of the motif, with timecode in the films and albums, and also a description of the scenes and orchestrations.

As usual just after the appearance of the Willow page on the Intrada website, I will publish a review of this new edition on James Horner Film Music.