Beowulf

Hunsberger is retiring? He will be missed as a conductor...he was awesome! :cry: I had a great time performing under his baton. BTW saxman...are you at Eastman, and if not, what wind-ensemble are you in?

Way to go Morn! I actually think he wanted the medley of John William's themes, but i've also been looking for the oscar medley. Thanks! I guess that sitting inconspicuously on a bar stool for hours on end does really pay off!

Alright, I tried to reply to most of you, in chronological order, so this is gonna be long! Ok...first of all, while I admit that TPM and "Hook" (not AOTC, which I consider to be a great film) are not exquisite palattes for the film enthusiasts out there, I do know that they are fun films that are not meant to be taken seriously! What happened to the little kid in you guys? = little kid in all of us...remember this little fellow? Second, my icon is indicative of my view to the score of "Hook", which I attest to be my favorite score ever written. Thanks for your long reply Joe, I read all of it. BTW...I used to live in Maumelle...ever heard of it? Anyways...what I am trying to say is that some of us who post here are in the midst of our youthfull optimism, and dang it, sometimes you realist "old guys" bring us down. You're like the "man" or the "institution", sayings you old folks should be familiar with. . But seriously, I do respect the viewpoints that you and your fellow jaded posters have, but come on, do ya have to be so be so voiciferous about it? We youthfull optimists are very sensitve and highly impressionable you know! btw...should I start replying to you old fogeys by addressing "care of the old folks home"? No, no, no Ren! I don't think of you as a pompous ass! I said that some people on these boards were said asses, but not all, and definitely not you! I consider you one of the "good guys". Good god man! I hope you're not in the same retirement home as Abe Simpson! Don't worry about it Ocelot...you're not too bad. Besides, you're an insider in the business, so I suppose you do have a reason to be adamant about your opinions. And no....you've never appeared arrogant Ocelot! Finally! Another youthfull optimist! Good to see there are at least some others here.

I loved it too! Definitely one of the most effective scores i've ever heard.

Definitly the*best* scene to me is the Redemption of Vader. To me, that scene sums up the whole Star Wars series. And dare I say it without getting flamed, but I also liked a scene from AOTC, which by the way I thought to be a great film. I liked the confession scene, where for the first time, we start to get overt hints at the "dark side" of one Anakin Skywalker.

I swear! If it isn't bashing a film every 5 seconds or so (mostly AOTC), it's nitpicking at little grammatical mistakes and the like. I mean, what's up with that? Is this forum full of cranky old men and self-absorbed pompous asses?!?! First of all, some of the people here seem to have the "Rose-Colored Glasses" syndrome, whereas anything that they have seen or experienced when they were younger is a masterpeice, and anything that comes out today is a peice of garbage. I hate to tell it to most of you, but as far as films go, sure "A New Hope" is great, and is definitly one of my favorites, but if you're going to nit-pick and degrade AOTC, then please, also point out the faults of ANH, of which there are many. This biased attitude really does get tiring. And about the grammar situation...take a chill pill. Some people who post here aren't even from english-speaking countries. Beowulf - Who thinks that people should be doing this: beerchug and NOT this: Unless your father happens to be a maniacal and evil henchman, that is.

Top 5 films: 1. Schindler's List 2. The Godfather 3. Shawshank Redemption 4. Raiders of the Lost Ark 5. Signs Top 5 scores: 1. E.T. 2. Hook 3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 4. Star Trek: The Motion Picture 5. Edward Scissorhands Top 5 themes: 1. Indiana Jones' theme ("Raider's Theme) 2. Force theme from Star Wars series 3. The Neverland Theme from "Hook" 4. Parade of the Slave Children from Indiana Jones and the TOD 5. The Ice Dance from "Edward Scissorhands"

Wow Chris!!! Are you sure that it's authentic?

Most assuredly not, and I hope that I didn't give the impression that I was trying to side-step your remarkable post! The fact of the matter is that I posted my topic independently of yours, and actually before I had even read it. This post is more of a questionaire or "how to" type post and I hope that there is more input.

How many of you have mailed John Williams (or his agent) in the hopes of receiving an authentic autographed picture or other such item, AND actually received it? I am asking because I am thinking of trying this, and thought it would be good to know if it is at all possible. And also, if you were successfull, which address did you use to mail the maestro? Sorry for the 20 questions, but having a real, signed ANYTHING from John Williams would bring me great happiness.

Redemption of Vader - Return of the Jedi The Ice Dance sequence - Edward Scissorhands Last scene in Shawshank Redemption Man....I am all about redemptions! :)

I have to agree with Merkel here, the Theme to "Schindler's List" takes the cake for saddest music. The final parts in A.I. are also sad, but that's only because I know what is happening in the film, and not as an independent peice of music.

Heresy! eek2 Burn him!!!

Yup...it's actually a favorite anecdote of both Williams and Spielberg. Also, Spielberg has said he picked up his clarinet and played in the extremely catchy march from "1941".

Nope...just a dumb choice that the programmers made. They only had an hour alloted for the time slot, and about an hour and a half of music. Instead of the two peices you mentioned, they opted to show Josh Groban for 15 minutes, and for the most part he was not even singing John William's music! "Evening of John William's Music" indeed...Bah!

That would be due to the fact that the Post Subject is Who is the greatest conductor in your opinion. For the most part, I would have to disagree with your acessments [and praise] of the older generation of conductors. I don't know whether it is the inferior recordings due to poor sound quality or poor performances on the part of the musicians that put me off. Some of the interpretations of these older conductors just seem to be off the mark in more ways than one, usually ending in rushed phrasing or under-representation of certain voices at certain cues. To me, the one thing that defines a fine conductor is if he can bring out the right voices in the orchestra at the right time. More times than none have I heard Solti do this, particularly with his Brahms, Richard Strauss', and Beethoven interpretations. However, I do respect the opinions of others, and I will admit that even I have much more to learn in this huge field. Thanks for the input!

Well, I suppose I didn't consider Fennell...I think him more of a "concert band" or "wind ensemble" conductor, and that's an entirely different topic altogher. However, I have been under his baton and I would have to say that he interpreted the peices that he conducted very well. Concert band conductors are a little more tough to tell though. I have been conducted by Alfred Reed, Donald Hunsburger, David Holsinger, and Robert Jager before too, in addition to Fennell, and I can't tell which one is "better".

Personally, I would have to say Sir George Solti while he was with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I have too many recordings with him that are just absolutely amazing for it to be a coincidence. I have listened to many interpretations of my favorite peices, and always Solti seems to bring the peices to life just the way I envision it. Indeed, he truly mastered both the opera and orchestra and he also infused the music with a sense of energy that I hardly hear in others. I just wish that he would have tried some more 20th century material while he was still alive. Well that's my opinion...what are yours and why?

Ok...so luckily my local PBS station actually did air the show, even though it was not listed in any TV guide or the website. All in all, I was happy with the concert, and it would have been extremely awesome to have been there in in person - did anyone get to be there in person???. From what I could tell, the musicianship was superb, especially in the brass sections ("Call of the Champions" and "Quidditch" especially were outstanding!), and for a change, the Bostonians actually seemed to be enjoying the music and having a good time. For the televised portion of the concert, the music that was played was, in order: Call of the Champions "Days Between" from Stepmom Salute to Film Composers - Medley Selections from Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone | > Useless and irrelevant non-John Williams music (about 20 minutes of it) | "For Always" from A.I. "Flying Theme" from E.T. I might add that I was pleasantly surprised at how young and healthy JW was looking! He actually looked better than some 45 year olds I know. The concert was also rather cool because during the whole time, there was a little gleam in Johnnie's eyes, as if he knew that he is the absolute s#*%. My only gripe with the programming of the concert would have to be that almost all of the last half of the televised concert consisted of non-john williams music! I mean for god's sake, instead of 20 minutes of Josh Groban, they should have shown the excerpts from Close Encounters and the Flight to Neverland from Hook that I was looking so forward to. Oh well...I can't complain too much. I did get to see the maestro in action and listen to some of his great music (albeit via TV and not in person) What are the views and thoughts of those of you who had a chance to see the concert?

Cool! Thanks for the input guys...I think I have found one of my new favorite websites.

I loved the movie, but only was able to hear fleeting glimpses of the music when I saw it (because the audio at the theatre was on crack :evil: ). Anyways, I liked what I heard (what little I could hear), but I don't know enough about the music to see if its worth it. I would appreciate any opinions/comments.

Curses! I would give my right leg to be able to see this! Why in the hiz-ell aren't they showing it in the majority of the country anyways? I mean, it is the maestro afterall!!!

What!?!? Surely you jest! Don't get me wrongo, I love DS9, but nothing tops the true perfection that is TNG. TNG always had that sense of adventure and whimsicality that elevates it as the best series in the franchise. And the last few seasons of TNG actually delt with some "deep" issues. Also, I always found DS9 to be sort of depressing, because I mean they were stuck out there in the middle of nowhere on some outpost. Things always had to come and happen to them, unlike TNG, where they went out and made things happen to them. Basically: TNG = Character-driven DS9 = Situation-driven By the way, TNG was soooo good, that DS9 was served some hearty helpings of "leftover" characters from it (O' Brien and Worf).

Most beautiful song = John Lennon's "Imagine" Most beautiful peice of music = Claude Debussy's "Prelude on the Afternoon of a Faun"

hehehe....that was great!