Nils

It's been great reading about how people had such a wonderful time in Vienna. Congratulations to eveyone who attended!
 
Also, it's heartening to see that Williams apparently is in great shape. I had assumed he no longer conducts whole concerts, as he's mostly done only second halves lately. And here he conducts for two and a half hours straight, two days in a row! Amazing and very uplifting!

yes, that was great! I managed to record the last second of it.
 
 
2020-01-19_14-48-22.M4V

Interesting to note that the photo posted by Nationalbibliothek credits "📸 Terry Linke / @dgclassics", meaning that Deutsche Grammophon had a photographer tagging along on their outings. No doubt for use in either a promotional ad for the upcoming CD/DVD, or perhaps as part of a "John Williams in Vienna" documentary feature on the DVD. But it would seem that DG has been very involved, which bodes well. It was also a great move to feature ASM in these concerts since she is one of DG's star artists; she no doubt had a significant role in making this CD/DVD happen.
 
EDIT: Also, the fact that DG is willing to put out another JW album so soon after two albums last year, is definitely an indicator that those previous albums did at least okay, sales-wise. Which means that we could be hopefully looking forward to DG taking a more active role in putting out CDs of his music, in the coming years! They are a very high-profile label, so this would be great for further cementing his place in the pantheon of great classical composers.

One funny detail from the Sunday concert. After all these encores, Johnny made his usual go-to-sleep-gesture!!  This concert started 11 a.m.😜😜😜

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WARNING: Essay inbound.
 
It's interesting, the more that I think about it all; I didn't even attend the concerts and yet I have been practically glued to my screen, constantly refreshing this thread to see updates/photos/videos/reviews.
 
These concerts mean a lot more (imo) for the legacy of John Williams (as well as the acceptance of film music) than any other event I can really think of in recent history. The Vienna Philharmonic has a bit of a reputation of being thought of as perhaps the most elitist/snobbiest orchestra (no offense to Austrian forum users!), the pinnacle of "proper" classical music-making—so to see John Williams ascend this seemingly insurmountable feat of getting this orchestra to play two concerts of nothing but his film music, and having the musicians standing there clapping wildly for him with smiles on their faces... It's a pretty breathtaking accomplishment. It feels like the world is different today than it was two days ago.
 
I've always thought that Williams' music deserves to be held in the same high regard as many of the Romantic masters, and as a classical music fan (and musician) I've longed to see some of his film music pieces start to seep into the concert hall and gradually become mainstays of the repertoire. These concerts are a titanic step in the right direction. It feels in a way that with these concerts, Williams has finally conquered the classical world—after all, if your music is "good enough" for the VPO to play it, then who else could possibly ever deem it unworthy?! The critics? Who cares about them.
 
Audiences pay (and pay handsomely) to see Williams' compositions, and orchestras are starting to figure that out with the advent of live-to-picture concerts. These Vienna concerts show that even in the heart of the classical music world—in the "City of Music", with all its historicity and traditions and its famous-composer graves—that John Williams sells. And I'd wager that even if Williams himself wasn't conducting (he won't be around forever), the concerts would have still made a respectable sum and sold well.
 
It is always so ironic to me that the people crying from the rooftops that "Classical music is dying, what ever are we going to do?!" are the same ones who want to incessantly program postmodernist trash as their only idea of "new music"—and yet it's been shown time and time again that film music (at least great film music, like JW's), sells, and is a great way to introduce people to the orchestra and to classical music.
 
There is a clear antidote to the prospect of classical music "dying"—program stuff that people actually want to hear! Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky's ballet works were not always accepted in the concert hall, and yet nowadays you can't go a season without seeing a "Nutcracker" or a "Rite of Spring" or "Firebird Suite". History repeats itself; what we are facing today in regards to film music is little more the same aversion to change, all over again. The irony being that this sort of concert hall gatekeeping is being done nowadays by the very people who like to claim how "new" and inventive their music is, when in reality it's the same tired mix of atonal crowd-killers we've been hearing for decades now.
 
Opera and ballet were once "popular" art forms, and their staples eventually made their way onto the concert hall stage in the form of overtures and suites, respectively. So too will (I hope) film music like JW's. One day I hope it is commonplace to see an orchestra concert that has (for example) the STAR WARS "Main Title" as its "overture", and then a concerto followed by a symphony after intermission. If orchestras truly want to bring people into classical music, then give them a taste of something familiar/popular, and maybe they'll stick around for the classics. Rather than scare them out of the building by intermission, never to come back, because their idea of "classical music" is now either super-light cliche classical, or downright atonality, with no middle ground.
 
Annnyways, these concerts mean a lot to me and I think, hopefully, a lot in regards to the overall acceptance of Williams' music in the hall. Last year's double DG releases (Dudamel's all-JW live concert program with the LA Phil, and then the violin arrangements album with ASM) certainly helped, as well; they are probably the "gold standard" classical music label, so for them to be willing to put out multiple albums of his music in a year is not a bad sign at all. And hopefully 2020 will see a DG release of this Vienna program. 
 
And back on the concert hall front, Stephane Deneve (a good friend of JW's) is the new Music Director of St. Louis, and he just did a regular subscription program which featured "Hedwig's Theme" alongside other classical staples, a program which he is taking to Philly in the coming months if I recall correctly! He's got the right idea; hopefully others will be moved/relieved at the sight of the VPO applauding and respecting Williams, and will start to follow suit in their programming. But things are looking up, and I couldn't be happier. I hope I'm not just going crazy/I hope some others here share my views on this(?).

He's fleeing from the Austrian critics.
 
And he forgot to feed his cat, Geörge Lücas.

Wörk wörk wörk gölf wörk

Some fact snippets I gathered from people who talked to people (in the orchestra etc.):
 
- The Philharmoniker were big fans of Williams as a conductor and specifically pointed out his sensible and no-nonsense style as opposed to exaggerated theatrics by many of their regular famous big name conductors. They also supposedly said that such an enormous audience reaction and general atmosphere is unprecedented, even considering the New Year's Concerts.
 
- Originally, three encores (i.e. a "usual" number) were planned: The Duel, Remembrances, and Raiders' March. It was the Philharmoniker who had their go between ask Williams if they couldn't do the Imperial March as well. When he heard the request, Williams was worried that it would be too hard on the horns after such a long and difficult concert - until they told him that it was in fact the special wish of the horn section. My own guess is that ASM requested to also add Nice to Be Around, based on her often citing it as one of her favourites in interviews.
 
- I spotted Austrian ex-president Heinz Fischer and his wife, as well as ex-chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, at the Saturday concert. Fischer left before the final encore (Imperial March).
 
- The Imperial March was a fitting encore, give that Williams was staying at the Hotel Imperial (right next to the Musikverein).

He is Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd of orchestral music. There is nobody else like him on this planet and the fact that he is performing in Europe is a historical moment. People are excited. A lot. 🙌🏻

Cameraman confirmed to me that the concert isn't only broadcasted later on some local channel, but there's also going to be Blu-ray release of it.

Just wow!!!

Hi Guys, it was incredible !
 
i was in row 3 so some good pictures ! 
 
 

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I generally detest it when something is labeled «Politically Correct», because usually that’s just a cheap way of denigrating an opinion that happens to be more liberal than your own. But jeez...  if something ever deserved the label, it’s got to be that article.
I’m astonished at how badly researched it is (as others here have pointed out through plenty of examples).

This article is an example of someone coming to and running with a conclusion before they have all the evidence. What the author failed to miss are all the non-European influences that have been used for "good guys." What about the horn the Gungans use in TPM? I don't know what country the actual instrument played originated in, but I'm fairly certain it was a country where the majority of the population wasn't white Europeans. What about all the music for the Ewoks? It sounds African or Caribbean to me. I'm making big generalizations here, but my point is that there are plenty of examples of JW writing music for "good guys" that wasn't influenced by European music.
 
That being said, otherism does harm the world, but I don't think Williams has contributed anything toward continuing otherism. Obviously I'm biased because I'm a fan of his, but I also consider myself a liberal. The author of the article needs to spend more time going through all of Williams' work on Star Wars--and I'd like to see if their conclusion changed then.

https://estonianworld.com/culture/arvo-part-was-the-worlds-second-most-performed-living-composer-in-2019/

How many times? Lots! And I don’t think I’m done yet. 
It’s definitely my favorite track on the album - and possibly of the entire sequel trilogy. For me, it’s a much more fitting farewell to 42 years of Williams’ Star Wars music than the somewhat disappointing Finale.

Exactly. He might be 87, but he's a sprightly 87-year-old (my own granddad passed at 86, in considerable worse shape the last couple of years of his life). More like 77 in 'physical age' if judging by his appearances lately. So I'm optimistic and hoping for another whole decade of new Williams music in some form or another. He'll be like Mozart, composing on his death bed and relating his notes to some Salieri (William Ross?).
 
Let's hope he'll be like Portuguese film director Manuel de Oliveira, who directed films untill the very end, at age 106(!).

JW's mom lived to be 97 without "being sick a day in her life", dad lived to be 80.  By all accounts, he will never retire because he is doing what he would do if he retired which is compose.  So as long as he is physically able to, we will get new music from him and that could be for a few more years.  Sure his pace has slowed and maybe he would prefer to do more personal projects but I still think we'll have a few more years of new music from our Maestro.  I heard from many in the SWIX session that his mind, aptitude, endurance was the same as its been for decades.

I’d be surprised if we don’t get at least a couple more Spielberg/Williams collaborations. And hopefully other film scores as well.

Yeah, I'm so looking forward to playing those (though as these are basically big band numbers and I play the clarinet, I probably won't get the coolest parts )
We wanted to cover some of the lesser known, early part of Williams career, and as these are two of my favorite tracks from that period, I suggested them, and the rest of the band's music committee agreed that these were good choices. Norwegian film composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen is currently working on the arrangements. 
 
(sorry to have derailed the thread's topic a bit, so with that in mind: I wish everyone going to the Vienna concert a terrific experience! Would have loved to be there, too. )

Yeah, I'm so looking forward to playing those (though as these are basically big band numbers and I play the clarinet, I probably won't get the coolest parts )
We wanted to cover some of the lesser known, early part of Williams career, and as these are two of my favorite tracks from that period, I suggested them, and the rest of the band's music committee agreed that these were good choices. Norwegian film composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen is currently working on the arrangements. 
 
(sorry to have derailed the thread's topic a bit, so with that in mind: I wish everyone going to the Vienna concert a terrific experience! Would have loved to be there, too. )

That should be really fun to hear

Hello folks - my first post here
 
 
Yeah well, Thor, I actually feel a little bad now for asking you to host our concert, as it turns out it collides with other things for you left and right - not only the Vienna Williams concert, but also the Tromsø International Film Festival, which you graciously agreed to leave early to host our show. And I would probably have gone to Vienna too, if I hadn’t been performing Williams’ music myself at exactly the same time. 
 
But we’re really grateful for having Norway’s foremost Williams’ expert as our host! And I hope you are as excited as I am to have stuff like “Hassle in the Castle” from Checkmate and “Mambone” from Bachelor Flat performed live.
 
(By the way, we haven’t actually ever won the Norwegian Championships - maybe you’re confusing us with Lillestrøm, only a few miles away, who win every other year or so. But we do participate in the upper divisions, so on a good day, we sound decent, too! And we like to call ourselves a concert band, not a marching band – we usually march only once a year, on National Day).