Matt S.

Of course they hired him for his popularity (or at least the music's popularity... I don't know how much of a household name JW was at that point...), but there still needed to be a balance. He does manage to include one or two of his own pieces on most albums (with exceptions of course, like the all-Bernstein, all-Gershwin albums, or the showtunes ones). Wasn't part of the cause for the rift between him and the orchestra in 1983 that they were upset about having to play so much of his music? (I could easily be wrong about that, but I thought I read that somewhere...)

I always thought of this album as a sort-of transition from Arthur Fiedler to John Williams, the way it includes a number of marches from classical music, before moving to more contemporary selections. It is sort of weird, though, that it doesn't include ANY John Philip Sousa (The March King). Several of the pieces on this album are recorded again for Sony Classical, for the I Love a Parade album (and those performances are much better, or at least better-recorded). I'm sure you're aware of this, but the Fiddler on the Roof suite IS his own adaptation, so he does get a credit on

It's hard to find, but there's also this CD: It's full of arrangements of JW's music for oboe and chamber ensemble, played by his former principal Oboist with the Boston Pops, Keisuke Wakao (for whom he also composed his Oboe Concerto). This CD also includes Williams himself playing piano alongside Keisuke in The Days Between, from Stepmom. Here's an Amazon link, but like I said, it's pricey: https://www.amazon.com/Keisuke-Wakao-Plays-Music-Williams/dp/B00018H0KO

The Man Who Loved Car Dancing

Dude, Where's My Cat?

The Living Gaylights

Angela's Asses Hairy Potter

You can skip the City of Prague recordings. There are some decent tracks on them, but on the whole. you really need an A-list orchestra like London, Boston, or LA to perform JW's music. Same for the Evan Christ album (it's decent, but no LSO...). The Sony albums are largely repackaged material from the Boston Pops recordings, but there are a few unique tracks. The Music of America 3-disc set has "Air and Simple Gifts," as well as the 5-movement suite for cello and orchestra from "Memoirs of a Geisha" that isn't available anywhere else. That's not too expensive (15.98 on Amazon

John Goldfart, Please Come Home

Paws

Tell me, Doctor, where are we going this time? Is this the 50's, or 1999?

Locksley!! I’m going to cut your heart out with a spoon!!

Some people wait a lifetime For a moment like this

It still sounds better than the godawful Vienna Philharmonic, with all of their endless flubs and timing issues.... But seriously, that is an interesting arrangement, I remember playing that in my college wind ensemble! It's relatively faithful to the original, but there are some weird transitions and modulations here and there, so certain sections are played in different keys than we're used to. I also have an orchestral performance of that same arrangement; it was released by the Orchestra of the Americas, conducted by Bill Broughton (Bruce's brother).

I asked you to kill Superman, and you're telling me you couldn't do that one, simple thing. *drops phone*