BobaMike

Most of the time I've gotten a program that has a composer bio and a conductor bio. The Kennedy Center ones and Wolf Trap ones all do, at least.

I caught this last night in DC: here is my quick writeup: Batman (1989) Live in Concert The Warner Theater in DC had a one night only showing of Tim Burton's Batman with Danny Elfman's score performed live to picture. It was fun time, and the crowd was very excited to see the film. I walked in behind someone in full Batman costume, which had to have been uncomfortable sitting the tiny seats they have there. Warner theater was built in 1924, and is stunningly gorgeous inside, but man the seats are tiny. The film still holds up- and looked great on a big screen. Thoughts on the concert: I've been to many live to picture concerts (A Warner bros cartoon one, all the Star Wars films, Jaws, Casino Royale, and a few others- all played by the National Symphony Orchestra). This was the first one that was played by an un-named group, the conductor not introduced, and no mention of the composer (other than the on- screen credit). I guess with Danny Elfman's recent troubles he might be "cancelled" or whatever. I know the Batman score well- it's been a favorite since 1989, so I knew I would notice any differences. The orchestra played fairly well. The brass seemed to struggle at times and didn't seem loud enough- the woodwinds were very loud in comparison. The percussion was almost inaudible- I could see the guy playing the timpani but it didn't register. I don't know of i the acoustics in the theater are meant for an orchestra. On the plus, everyone hit all their marks, which is extra important with the amount of action and "mickey-mousing" in the score. The audience did not applaud Elfman's name in the credits, but went wild at Prince's...which was extra funny later, during the art gallery scene, where Joker comes in with a goon playing Prince on a boombox....except maybe WB didn't pay for rights to that song, because the scene was completely silent. No music- just the grunts and SFX of the actors. Some in the audience laughed, others were upset. During the parade scene later, they did use Prince's song. I think a lot of people expected there to be more than 2 min of Prince music. The end credits was the real end credits, but not Prince's song. They did some more action music that I couldn't place (a new arrangement?) and then the Into the Batcave track again.

I got to see Giacchino's Marvel short film "Werewolf by Night" performed at the Kennedy Center with the NSO last night. It was a really fun concert, a Halloween/Spooky movie themed one. He was there, along with Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige, and they introduced many of the pieces. Giacchino was very funny and personable, and my son enjoyed it all. The first half of the concert was various scary/fun movie pieces. 1) Hans Salter's "The Incredible Shrinking Man"- the Jazzy/pop version of the music. 2) Tchaikovsky's music used in the “Phantom of the Opera” Unmasking Scene (live to picture) 3) Franz Waxman's Creation of the Female Monster from Bride of Frankenstein (short version of it) 4) Bernard Herrmann's 3 part suite from Psycho. Audience laughed at the shower music (that always annoys me) 5) Giacchino's suite from Batman (which I like the middle section of, but the repeating beginning and end are just loud and dull. Giacchino, has a tendancy to write repeating phrases that just get louder and louder, without much variation. 6) Giacchino's suite from Super 8 (live to some of his old films he made as a kid. Fun, but distracting from the music, which is one of my favorite's of his. 7) After the intermission, they did his score to Werewolf by Night. It was in color, but the film is so dark, much of it was hard to make out. They played the marvel special presentation theme, and the horror version of the Marvel them, which I love. The guitar version on the soundtrack of the main theme was sadly not played. The audience cheered and clapped at the huge brass outbursts/ jump scares. 8) for an encore, they played the theme from Coco. Fun, but I would have preferred the Incredibles or Ratatouille instead:) Everything was performed very well, the place was packed with people of all ages (some in costume). I've been a Giacchino fan since I first got his Medal of Honor soundtrack (my very first purchase on Amazon years ago). side note: The gentleman next to me recorded the entire concert from his bookbag. So it's out there somewhere!

Don't forget their summer Wolf Trap concerts as well- they did Jurassic Park and Return of the Jedi this past summer I think. I remember because I was out of town for both :-/ They also did a Studio Ghibli concert. If you are near DC like I am, Elfman's Batman is being played in Jan 2024..at the Warner Theater I think? I got tickets

I have my tickets to this- I'm curious about the 'other' horror movie scores that will be performed. NSO has really been doing a great job with film music concerts lately. The Star Wars saga one was amazing.

Mine arrived today! I wasn't sure if I had ordered it- I thought I had when it first went on sale, yet when I looked because it ended up being sold out, I couldn't find any email confirmation..and then I went and sent a polite but irritated email to Disney about not being able to buy it. Oh well!

This is a wonderful article! I expected another run of the mill Williams article that we always get when he has a new movie, but the look at the less known aspects of his scores was a surprise! Excellent use of video/sound to prove your points, which is almost demanded when writing about music in this way. You should be proud of this article!

Not sure else where to post this so: I just attended the NSO's "Music of Star Wars" at the Kennedy Center in DC. Steven Reinke conducted, and everyone sounded almost "soundtrack perfect". Reinke introduced each piece well. He said that the snare drums were the ones used in the recording of the Empire Strikes Back, and that the trumpets were on loan from London and had played on the original Star Wars soundtrack! Quite a nice selection of music from all 9 films plus the 2 side-stories. This was the DC premiere of the Rise of Skywalker concert suite. My only wish was that the Obi-wan theme had been featured. The ending with the Rise of Skywalker theme meant it went out kind of with a whimper, as it ends so softly. The ROS suite is a bit unusual compared to all the other tracks, since a lot of it seems to be actual underscore, instead of a concert version. I enjoyed it, but my wife and son liked the earlier stuff more. 1) The Flag Parade 2) Across the Stars (long version!) 3) Battle of the Heroes (no chorus) 4) Adventures of Han 5) Imperial suite (from Rogue One) 6) Leia's Theme 7) Star Wars main theme 8) Yoda's Theme 9) Imperial March --intermission 10) Luke and Leia 11) The Forest Battle (only time I noticed a horn flub) 12) Rey's theme 13) March of the Resistance 14) The Rebellion is Reborn 15) Rise of Skywalker suite: -Psalm of the Sith -Speeder Chase -Rey and Ben -The Rise of Skywalker Encore: Cantina Band Over all, an excellent concert, well performed, with a good selection!

Holko, Thanks for your insight! I'm a bit confused- where do we patch in the OST track to fix track 18 on the Legacy? I love the OST version.

I watched some of this with my 8 year old, it's perfect for families. maybe this is common knowledge, but it was interesting to hear about Williams recording without a click track on the recent Star Wars films.

Interesting tracklist. Nice to get new versions of Lost in Space themes!

Does anyone know if this will be performed anywhere else (like DC, hopefully?). I want to see Empire Strikes back, but don't know if I can swing the 2 days off it will take for a visit. Too bad it isn't on a weekend like Star Wars is....

I bought a BPO/ John Williams cd that I can't seem to find listed anywhere on this list, entitled "Music for America". Not the 3 CD set entitled "Music OF America", this is a cd from 1996, released by Polygram. It has the exact same cover painting as "Salute to America", but a different track listing. I found a cassette version of it online, but no mention of the cd. Here is the cover from the cassette. I guess it doesn't have anything previously unreleased on it, but found no mention of it anywhere online.

Anyone have a way to save this? I want to listen to it on a car trip this weekend

fyi: this is available on amazon for 21 bucks, new, from screen archives. http://www.amazon.com/The-Shadow-CD-Complete-Score/dp/B008PFWPAA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1343417158&sr=8-3&keywords=the+shadow+intrada Probably a pricing error?