Not bad. Definitely hear the Dune influences. Once you fix the obvious midi issues should be quite interesting to see how she sets imagery to it. There is quite a bit of mid range "mud" needing EQ fixing and obscuring some of the ideas. You should have scored a 1980's film like Flash Gordon.
So as I said, I wasn't too sure I was going to be able to go to this on Friday but last minute I was able to free up my day, grab a cheap seat, and make the 3.5 hour trek to the Hilbert Circle Theatre to see the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra perform one of my absolute favorite Williams scores!
Even though I arrived 30 minutes early, downtown Indianapolis proved a little hard to navigate and so I ended up making it to the theater with "Aunt Marge's Waltz" just starting to get underway. Got to see and hear most of it, lots of great energy. I figured I'd have a chance to listen again too during the end credits. Otherwise I'll run through the film / cue list and scrape together brief thoughts on what I can remember. If anybody has any specific questions about anything I don't address, I'll try to answer.
By the way, my seat was in the back corner of the upper mezzanine so I suppose not the most ideal. Only other seats still available were either out of my price range or had an obstructed view, but as I mentioned, it also meant that since I was back in a corner with no ushers around and no one sitting immediately next to me that would be bothered, I could sneak a fair bit of video of various things I thought people might be interested in.
Anyway, I'll start off with...
The Knight Bus
Sooo yeah, I actually didn't know how to feel about this one! Great bass clarinet solo to begin with, but something about the jazz performance was a little off to me. Too rhythmically straight, maybe? All the bells and whistles (literally!) were there from what I could tell but it almost just seemed like they didn't have the chops for it or something. Also this probably had more to do with where I was sitting, but the balance didn't quite gel. Couldn't hear the sax solos very well for example. Still fun enough but just didn't blow me away. Luckily this is really the only issue I ended up having with the orchestra's performance.
The Leaky Cauldron
Source music! I wasn't too sure how they were going to handle this, but yes they performed ALL of it! Well, everything Williams which means no "Hot Liquorice" (I did wonder if they would, though haha) but man, there was even a little more than I realized. Anyway, cool to hear that witch's fiddle as Tom the bartender walked Harry through the pub.
Then came the Monster's Book of Monsters, great percussion! Plus another source cue, this time the English horn (?) playing underneath Harry's reunion with Hermione and the Weasleys. I stopped recording before the score cue started, but what was actually neat about this was that the source player did continue for a bit (as in the film) alongside the grinding low strings/winds accompanying Mr. Weasley's warning. It actually sounded really cool hearing the two against each other like that! Never would have taken notice of that before since the source is obviously mixed so much lower in the film, but I wonder if one might have been composed to suit the other harmonically.
Dementor and Hogwarts
The Dementor's introduction is a great suspense piece from JW and the shrieking percussion hits probably stood out to me most in this performance. Nice power overall from the orchestra and a live women's chorus! More on them later.
No kiddies for "Double Trouble", instead the aforementioned women's chorus took over and made a splendid substitute. Nicely in sync too from what I remember (though I wasn't looking that carefully.)
Of course the enjoyable medieval color starts coming into the score at this point, definitely sounded like they had a lot of the antique instruments represented like recorders, crotales, and harpsichord. Caught a few small samples of that stuff from Dumbledore's Warning / Double Trouble March and the Hogwarts knights parading around the Great Hall.
Also I did find the flautist for the memorably virtuosic bird solo a little hard to hear from my vantage point, but he/she nailed it performance-wise from what I can tell. But I dunno, listening back the balance seems fine so I may have just been imagining things.
And "Buckbeak's Flight"...what can I say, a lovely performance of a fabulous piece! Worth the price of admission. This one did feel extra special considering I don't think Williams ever performed it live in any of his concerts? It was inexplicably left out of the Hal Leonard suite.
By the way, I did record the entire end credits posted below so you can hear how they fared with "Buckbeak's Flight" as well as "Knight Bus," "Double Trouble" and the rest in that clip.
Boggarts, Bridges, Break-Ins
Not too much to say about the Boggart sequence, but as I mentioned before, "Hot Liquorice" was just left in the film as is, so we had the orchestra entertaining us otherwise with Williams's hodge-podge of horror tropes (along with that fun little scherzo as the kids jostle into line.)
First performance of "A Window to the Past" comes in for Lupin and Harry's scene on the bridge. Every single performance of this theme was beautifully performed, I thought, and I didn't really have any problems hearing the recorder or later clarinet and oboe solos like I did with the flute. Maybe they're just more resonant instruments.
Sirius's break-in is among my favorite stretches of music in the film, just because it really runs the gamut between the jaunty mischief of the portrait gallery, the heavy low brass chords for the locking of the gates, and the lyricism that follows in the Great Hall. They did a fab job with all of it, the oboe solo for the seasonal change in particular was beautifully controlled. Also that was quite a refreshing moment being one of the few instances in the film completely devoid of sound effects or dialogue.
Quidditch 2004
Snagged this one to share. I think they did pretty well with it! I don't have too much to say, I was just stoked to get to hear this. Wasn't disappointed.
Winter
Very nice performance of the "Hedwig's Theme" to "A Window to the Past" transition and the little flute solo as Fred and George tackle Harry in the Invisibility Cloak. Then yet another source piece, the tinkly little jingle inside Honeydukes. I don't think I even realized that was written by Williams, but I guess it is?
The snowball fight was great fun, well synced! Not much else to say about it but again, you can hear them go at it for yourself in the end credits suite.
More source music! The ladies came on out again for "A Winter's Spell" and then somewhat unexpectedly (to me at least) the music continued on as Hermione and Ron peeped into the Hog's Head with yet another source piece! You can hear it in the same video there. It's mixed so low in the film that I had never really noticed it before, but it's some little pub tune....do we know anything about this one? Is it Williams? I figure it must be...anyway, cool surprise for me.
I recorded "Brief Snow Scene" and the Patronus lesson just because I think this is a really nice stretch of music and it was lovely to hear it performed. The women's chorus just adds something special. Finishes with another lovely "Window to the Past" statement, which then segued into intermission with a rendition of "Journey to Hogwarts" from the first film. Then came "Escape from the Dursleys" from COS for the Entr'acte. Fun to hear, I assume that's what they use for the first two films' LTP concerts as well.
Peter Pettigrew and Crystal Ball
A final little live source piece here, the boy playing recorder. Nothing to say about this one but I was really just fascinated to see how much of this stuff they actually performed! Williams really went to town on all this source music, assuming it is all his.
One small moment I was looking forward to was the "religioso" strings when Hagrid announces Buckbeak's execution, always found this a really lovely and somewhat surprising texture for the haunting little montage through Hogwarts at night up to Harry's dorm. Also a solid job with the extended suspense cue for the Marauder's Map hunt for Pettigrew. Fun to hear the harpsichord getting some time in the spotlight, good stuff.
There was a really surprising moment in the scene where Hermione storms out of Trelawney's class...as Trelawney was talking to Hermione, all of a sudden this rumbling percussive instrument started to grow louder and louder until it was completely overwhelming the dialogue! Obviously must have been more subtly mixed in the film, but I couldn't quite tell what it actually was...a gong? Rolling cymbal? Some sort of "sssshhhhhHHHHHHH" sound. Anyway, pretty jarring haha but interesting to note.
Recorded the crystal ball scene here, just thought it was an interesting cue, neat musical effects. Carrying on through the cool "funeral march" for the executioner, one of my favorite little cues.
The Whomping Willow and The Shrieking Shack
Buckbeak's execution, chasing Scabbers, and the Willow attack was another stretch that I thought people would find fun to hear. Another fine performance!
Didn't really have any big revelations about the Shrieking Shack underscore, but it remains pretty compelling stuff. I've always found it interesting how loud and aggressive it actually gets at times yet somehow is kind of invisible next to Gary Oldman really supports the performances and drama well.
Lupin's Transformation and The Dementors Converge
Following a beautifully muted "Window to the Past" variation on horn/strings for Sirius and Harry's moment of bonding, the first of the film's many action climaxes arrive with knockout performances of Lupin's werewolf transformation and the first Dementor attack by the lake. I have to say the latter in particular was probably my favorite moment of the concert with the orchestra and the women's chorus bringing the house down. I think you can get some sense of it in my little iPhone recording, but it really did feel pretty amazing in that theatre, filling the entire room with glorious John Williams sound.
Time Travel
So here's "Forward to Time Past" (sorry for the auto-focus ). I enjoy all the Time-Turner stuff, that pulse on the vibes is a great, hypnotizing color and adds a lot of tension, and it was fun hearing them hit all those sync points (like the woodwind flurries when Hermione throws the pebbles.)
One moment that really stood out to me in this sequence was the transition cue after they've saved Buckbeak, as the bats are flying through the forest and he catches one. I've always found it pleasant, but somehow it just really sang out to me this time, particularly the strings which can't really be heard as well in the film mix, I don't think. Also, because they had removed all sound for LTP purposes except dialogue and essential foreground sound effects, a lot of the fluttering of the bats, rustling of the leaves, and other miscellaneous forest sounds were dialed out, which left mostly just the music. Such a nice little section.
Werewolf chase was cool, it's never been one of my absolute favorite bits of the score but it certainly gave the timpani player a workout! Good stuff.
Revisiting the lake attack gave the women's chorus one last chance to shine. These gals were great! The horns blasted their heroic line out confidently as Harry ran out to cast his Patronus, but I felt like the cut-off was a tad late. I think they barely overlapped Harry's exclamation, not too bad but I guess just cause it's so precise in the film, I'm used to that exact punch of silence. Powerful spotting!
Rescuing Sirius and Finale
Everybody's favorite! Only problem was the audience cheering over the "Buckbeak's Flight" reprisal. I appreciated the enthusiasm but I was a little disappointed haha. I decided not to record the "Window to the Past" finale because my battery was starting to run low and I wanted to make sure I had enough for the credits and the drive home, plus I figured the audience was just gonna cheer again over the final statement when Sirius took off....but they didn't! Yay! A strong performance.
Nice little cues to finish when Harry/Hermione return to Ron in the hospital, and when Harry says goodbye to Lupin. Another lovely oboe solo in the latter. I've always been aware of how solo-centric this score is but it really did strike me as something special in this concert hearing all these players. Wonderful.
End Credits
So, is it pretty normal at these LTP concerts for people to just get up and immediately walk out, talking over the orchestra as soon as the film's over, like a normal movie? Maybe I'm naive or looking at it the wrong way, but that felt so disrespectful! Kinda sank my heart a little to see so many just ignoring the orchestra's final performance like that. Not to say that the majority didn't stick around but loads of folks around me didn't even think twice. But a nice performance of all the highlights, again aside from "Knight Bus" which unfortunately just didn't work for me. Also kind of oddly timed cymbal hits toward the end of "Aunt Marge's Waltz" there?
Anyway, a pretty splendid concert all-around and such a treat to hear all this stuff. Hats off to the ISO!
True! As already stated the theory cannot be blanket applied to the entire medium but it is a potent lens through which you can explore the work of some film-makers including many working in Europe today.
Think about it, it is not that much different from books written by any artist in a way. It just seeks to see the artist as the author of his works and identify his signature and worldview.
Zimmer is the first composer to truly give film music its own unique voice, distinct from quite anything else. His place in the history books is secure.
Classic bullshitology at JWFan.
For all we know Williams divines the cracks in his constipated dumps into notes on the page, and Zimmer uses the blood of his first born child to get his music written. But the black box nature of composers' process sure won't stop us arguing about who put the most amount of effort into their music, and what this speculative effort means for the art!
Here is what has been said by an orchestra member from the sessions:
"After 37 film scores he still blows me away!!... always throws something we haven't heard! " Let that be absorbed in good light. December is yet so far away!
The past few weeks I've been working on a transcription of Williams' "Hello" as performed on the "The John Towner Touch" album. Here's my attempt at performing it:
It's not as 'slick' as Williams' playing obviously... Nevetheless, I hope you enjoy listening!
I actually do NOT want Williams for this. Because we will all start second guessing ourselves. Han Solo is one the main character's in Star Wars who Williams chose not to grace with an identity. There is a motif/theme for Luke, Leia, Ben, Vader, Emperor, Rey, Ren, Anakin, Poe, Finn - basically all the main characters have identities except Han Solo.
Now we have three classic scores, 4 actually from movies which feature Solo. It would start all kinds of speculation as to which scene in the old trilogy and TFA might Williams have scored with Han Solo's theme etc. and on and on and it might cast those scores in a strange light knowing that in this universe there is a John Williams Han Solo theme but not in those films.
I think this Han Solo thing should remain a stand along thing with a stand alone score by some other composer.
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