ricsim88

I’m mostly mad the Oscars hasn’t recognized him as a lifetime achievement award. But as an aside, why the hell doesn’t he have a star on the walk of fame? Other than because he doesn’t want one.

Guys, it’s obviously Williams. Not AI. Either the movie AI or the other crap Ai that we’re stuck dealing with these days. Enjoy the music for what it is. We’re beyond lucky to have JW’s new music in 2026, it’s insane. I’ve owned JW’s albums since 1977…. He has his own style, so obviously you’ll hear similarities with other works. I had a over 30 years career in orchestral music. Every single classical composer is recognizable within a few bars. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, etc… Stop comparing a few notes of his stuff with other of his pieces. Just enjoy it. I couldn’t be more grateful to have new music by Williams at this point in my life. Completely crazy. He actually outlived me, even if I was born 38 years after him…

I’m 100% sure the 30th and very last score from JW for a Spielberg movie is going to use a string quartet and 2 singers. Mark my words.

Interesting topic. I’m a retired trumpet player who went into music because of JW. But while studying music seriously I actually didn’t listen to his music a whole lot. The classical world is a big one and there was a lot to discover. I did however listen to a lot of his stuff from 1977 to 1990. While playing professionally I listened mostly to his stuff in a casual way, in the car on the way to work. My orchestra was small and didn’t play much film music, so it was a bit frustrating. Now that I’m retired I listen to 1-2 hours of music in the morning with headphones and I’m enjoying it immensely. 95% of my library is Williams, the rest is some Horner, Powell and Goldsmith. I can’t imagine that there’s going to be many days I won’t listen to Williams’s stuff. Unless I’m travelling.

That’s what I do every morning while having coffee. On rare occasions I’ll listen to a whole album. I listened to the Deluxe version of HTTYD 2 a few weeks ago and it was very enjoyable. I think the last full JW score I listened to was Hook expanded, that was quite a while ago.

Never mind

I believe it’s David Newman you’re referring to.

I also played on Les Troyens. Lots of brass 😃 Thanks for confirming!

I was there 😃 And also played on the recording that was made a few days after the concerts. Sure was a fun program. It was indeed the 94-95 season. Time flies…

I really wish I had more evidence of Williams being in Montreal. But I think my old teacher who played with them for over 50 years, told me about it. I also played a season in Montreal in 1994-95, but back then JW’s music didn’t seem to be played as much outside of Boston and L.A.

I totally agree that areas where the maestro hasn’t been, or his music hasn’t been performed a lot will probably be attracting more people. I sure tried my best to have my orchestra performed an all JW program, but management didn’t seem to think it was a good idea…. Regarding Williams in Montreal, I do believe he went, but that would have been in the 80s. If memory serves me correctly, his horn concerto has also been performed there. I guess covid didn’t help. But I would say that the worst decline happened over the past 2 years. I fear for my old colleagues, especially the younger ones who can’t afford to buy a house these days. And also weren’t able to accumulate much pension. It’s going to be extremely hard for the organization to bounce back and thrive ever again. Their deficit is big, and growing exponentially. And unfortunately the state of the economy is not going to be on their side. I’m definitely hoping it’s going to be fine. But I guess I’m lucky I reached pension age this year. But if it hadn’t been for jaw injury, I would have kept playing as long as possible.

I agree with Maurizio that it’s not selling as well because Williams is not conducting anymore. He definitely has the star power that orchestras benefited from. Unfortunately it definitely seems to be the new norm when it comes to ticket sales for symphony orchestra concerts. I just retired from my job as principal trumpet player in a full time, medium size orchestra in Canada, and I can tell you that we’ve seen a very substantial decline in attendance over the past few years. Which in turn affects what you can afford to program to attract people. Time will tell, but I suspect the future is going to get very difficult for many orchestras.

When I saw SW live to picture in Tanglewood in 2019, a lot of people left while the end credits were being performed…if they had stayed, they would have seen JW come on stage with Lockhart to take a bow and acknowledge the audience. They must have wondered what that massive cheering was for 🤣

My orchestra played his piece ‘Fate now conquers” last season. Hard trumpet parts…

I purchased it on Apple yesterday, I’m in Canada. But also getting a hard copy to put beside my autographed SW signature score. Started to read it today. Going to take my time and savour it.