karelm

Wow, that was a great interview with lots of new stories (his first performances) and many great quotes! I loved these: On Star Wars blast: "One thing I can tell you about it is the nature of the attack. It was originally preceded by a scale run-up to the top C in the trumpets, but I removed that, and the result was a chord that required a certain kind of attack from everybody in the top register without having followed some preparatory scale up to it. Maurice Murphy, the principal trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra, who recorded the original soundtrack, was a great trumpeter. When he hit the top C, it shook the whole world. He just grabbed it without any preparation or pickup for a big sound. It’s like interrupting the swell of a rubato and attacking without any kind of precedent. It was a shock to hear Maurice play that so brilliantly, so in tune, so confidently, at the extreme altissimo end of the trumpet range. It had a resonance. That may explain it or it may not, I don’t know." and "I can only put dots on a paper; it doesn’t become music until it’s interpreted by a great orchestra and has an audience to hear it. Then what’s written on the paper becomes music, becomes a communal act."

I bought Lineage Percussion. Sounds great but I hate the instruments are not in concert pitch. That's fine for unpitched instruments to be middle C but I hate that timpani you have to hit middle C for it to sound two octaves lower. I hope they include a way to turn this auto-transposition of pitched instruments off or something.

Ahh, a real question finally. The general rule of thumb is his facial hair grew indirectly proportional to his receding hairline. More hair on his head, less facial hair. When half a head of hair, he had a mustache.

I'll be there a that time too!!!! Do you know if there will be a preconcert talk?

"she would like to sell her arrangement on online platforms." She will not be able to legally sell the arrangement because it is based on a copyright arrangement. It isn't just about financial benefit but there are many, MANY arrangements of varying quality and legal ownership. I don't know if the song is public domain but the arrangement she is arranging is certainly not and that arrangement, might not be owned by Williams but the producers who paid for the score. Sort of like how John Williams technically only owns the writers share of Star Wars but not the score itself, that is Disney (after Lucasfilm) and they are very litigious because their property is highly demanded and frequently stolen. If I was a gambling man, I would say the odds that she would be able to sell her arrangement legally is zero. She might be able to give it away to schools for free claiming fair use for educational purposes but even this is risky. It might fall more in to a class that it's not worth legally pursuing since she doesn't financially profit from it but that is not the scenario you are describing.

"AI-Generated George Carlin is great!" - A.I.

Does this topic need its own thread? Our Johnny has added another accolade to the list - he's the top performed living classical composer of 2023 beating out Arvo Part! Movie maestro John Williams named 2023’s most-performed living composer - Classic FM The report is based on the performances listed on its website last year, which numbered over 30,000. Annual classical music statistics 2023 vx (bachtrack.com)

I was thinking it should because it features him (he's talking at the event between the music) and some of his music is in the program.

What about this one on Feb 2- 4? A Century of Film Music | Walt Disney Concert Hall (laphil.com)

Then read this one. Also good and newer. Burlingame's is more about history which is actually very interesting and Scoring the Screen is more about how various impactful composers approach the craft. Scoring the Screen: The Secret Language of Film Music (Music Pro Guides): Hill, Andy: 9781495073731: Amazon.com: Books The Score. What I don't like about it is hearing what composers do is very uninteresting for lots of reasons. Some of them won the lottery to do what they do an that's very much not transferrable to anyone else. For example, Danny Elfman never sought to be a film composer. It was Tim Burton who was a fan of Oingo Boingo who pushed Elfman to score his Pee Wee film. How many people are in a very unique collage band that combines elements of art, punk, rock, pop, jazz, and world, amongst other genres in their sound and gets someone who will become a very significant director pushing you to score their films? So hearing personal testimonies is far less valuable to working professionals but might be more interesting to fans. The Score: SCORE: A Film Music Documentary — The Interviews: Schrader, Matt, Thompson, Trevor: 9780692827079: Books - Amazon.ca

https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Vision-Motion-Picture-Soundtracks/dp/0823084272/

It's an underrated film and score. The anguish of the mom is heartfelt because of her loss. I think this film is a nice bookend to CEOTTK with its Pinocchio overtones. In that film, Roy wished to be an eternal child despite his adult responsibilities. Here, David is literally an eternal child because he was built that way though wished to be real and grow. I thought the score was a real departure and full of unrequited longing.

No. So I bought this Prince of Persia release and absolutely love it! It's super fun! Great score and art direction too! They should make it in to a movie. Oh wait...nevermind.

Yeah, I think that's the one. I remember wondering why they stuck with a clearly inferior rerecorded version of what was better in 1977. I'm going a bit off memory but remember thinking, damn this is subpar. Is there a fan edit that uses the best recordings from all possible sources? I've owned every album except the awful remaster but always got rid of prior ones when getting the latest thinking the newer version improves but it seems its a very mixed bag of which release is better for any track.

Me too! I've got my eye on this. It looks super fun.

I have the 1997 SE and find the sound very inconsistent. Some tracks sound fantastic others sound terrible. It was recorded in multiple venues and I heard that at Olympic Studios, the band was too large for the venue so they were sitting on top of each (figuratively) and had difficulty hearing each other. I understood some of that is heard in the recording too. Probably the Abbey Road recordings are the better sounding ones like Darth Vader arrives, Emperor's Death, Sail Barge sound fantastic but some of the battle of Endor doesn't.

Wonderful analysis! I remember seeing E.T. in the theater when I was the age of Elliot. It was such a big deal and really blew my mind. In my mind, Spielberg was known for these grand balletic endings like in Jaws, Close Encounters, and E.T. where the score does the heavy lifting of the drama and cast pretty much is struck in awe/longing/etc. By this point, I was a humungous fan of JW always anticipating the final moments to be the grand statements the rest of the score builds towards. Anway, I enjoy your detailed musings on great scoring moments and find it very informative.

I really love the personal recollections and thorough footnotes. Interesting that James loved “imitating English accents”. Clearly what I gleamed from the few pages released was of a more rounded, human person than I had previously known. Like the humor as kids of imitating scenes from films with his friend. Something I did as a kid with my friends and on similar films. I didn’t realize he almost scored 1983’s Wargames. That film I think is perfect and has a fantastic score so interesting to imagine it could have had a different great score. Personal computers were brand new at that time and I recall as a grade school kid dreaming of being able to log in to my school and change my grades. Overall, I enjoyed the excerpt and am looking forward to owning all four volumes. I got the impression this project was a true labor of love from all who contributed. From the excerpts I would definitely wish for more details. For example, Goldsmith’s score to Patton was one of Horner’s favorites, would love to understand why – what he thought of that score and Jerry’s other scores especially on franchises he would inherit from him like Star Trek and Alien. Did you happen to get in touch with Armin Ksajikian? He has lots of stories as a session musician who played on almost every Horner score in LA.

I couldn't find a discussion of this but anyone planning to go to this concert event in a few weeks? Though the prices are high, there are still some seats available and like a unique event. https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/2449/2024-02-02/a-century-of-film-music I've seen about a dozen concerts of JW conducting or rehearsing and never heard of an event where he's the curator throughout the concert.

I have a group of composers that I love now that used to dismiss outright. Sad to say Horner was in that list. I completely love his music and sound world but in the 1990's-2000's, felt he was phoning in a lot of his scores. I was wrong.

Another unretirement article. John Williams: Legendary film composer not retiring, says he likes to ‘keep an... - Classic FM

The guy is only 21 years old...give him some time. He's very talented!

The trombone and double bass are the only major symphonic instrument left for him to write a concerto for. Yes, he hasn't written concerti for auxiliary winds such as piccolo, cor anglais, etc., but one can argue those aren't major instruments but doublers/auxiliary support instruments. He's been asked and showed interest, but it takes a lot of people to have interest to pull off a major commission. Having a major talent attached like Emmanual Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Itzhak Perlman, Anne-Sophie Mutter helps get the commission secured but you also need the orchestra and music director/conductor attached. There are definitely performers wishing for this but not sure all the other elements have lined up. I would love a percussion concerto where a movement is focused on timpani and another movement for the section. Perhaps we just need a Concerto for Orchestra where movements are dedicated to each orchestral group.

...so the trombone is not a major instrument?

Don't forget Gordy Haab.