Will

I have to say, this is really growing on me! It's enjoyable to me from start to finish now (though "Rounds" is still my favorite movement by far). One thing that is taking me a while to get used, though (I had the same problem w/ the first violin concerto, which I still have mixed feelings about): The screechy sound of the high notes on the violin is really grating to me, although the grating effect dissipates after many listens. Is that a normal reaction? I did used to play the violin myself and didn't particularly enjoy it, so it is possible that my instinctive dislike of the sou

My thoughts after listening several times: JNH is an immensely talented composer and this score contains some wonderful moments. I'm not sure there's anything here quite as spectacular as "Jim Saves the Crew," "The Submarine," "Newt Releases the Thunderbird," etc. But it is a true joy to hear classic orchestral writing like this in a modern film score. My single favorite moment in the score is this beautiful soaring theme: Yet JNH sadly never repeats that theme, aside from this lovely moment in the suite: I kep

Not really - my list of masterpieces actually isn't all that long! (particularly as to recent scores) It's just that most of my list is JW scores.

I think virtually all his scores are masterpieces, so...

Kinda hilarious mess-up on NBC tonight -- coming back from a commercial break, they seemed not to be sure what music to play! First we heard the opening to the alternate Summon the Heroes variation. Then that cut off and we heard the beginning of a Summon the Heroes bumper. Then that cut off and we heard another, different Summon the Heroes bumper. Then it was silent. Clearly someone in the control room was having difficulties!

Interesting that many of you heard "In the Moonlight" from Sabrina in this concerto. A.I. is actually what strongly came to mind for me when I first heard that melody. But now I can hear what you mean about the Sabrina connection.

Well, I really liked Rounds! Not such a huge fan of Prologue, though. I'm reserving judgment on the other two movements until I hear them more. EDIT: They're doing "Across the Stars" as an encore! Williams gets some laughs saying he hasn't "the vaguest memory which" Star Wars film it's from -- "one of the nine," he says.

So what's the deal with the Arte.tv link @Steve identified above? https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/104491-000-A/anne-sophie-mutter-und-john-williams-mit-einer-urauffuehrung/ Is that a paid subscription service or something?

I'm not sure if a replay stream will be available online. NBC makes Olympic sport replays available here for people with a cable TV login (https://www.nbcolympics.com/replays), but I'm not sure if they'll do the same for the ceremony.

Supposedly this is the list of pieces that played during the Opening Ceremony!

Wow NBC almost exclusively used JW's 1984 theme today for the Opening Ceremony! I think I only heard Arnaud's "Bugler's Dream" once (IIRC NBC used to use the Arnaud piece more frequently but in recent years seems to have further increased the prominence of JW's own compositions).

This sentence is beautifully crafted: "One man’s sunken cathedral might be another woman’s mist at the dawning."

Yeah the variations are excellent. This one is probably my favorite: https://www.networknewsmusic.com/today-2004-bumper/.

Here is the first one heard in the above video: It's amazing. Probably one of the most outwardly exuberant pieces JW ever composed. I don't think the second one is on YouTube, unfortunately.