["Violin Concerto No. 2 and Selected Film Themes" Williams / Mutter album coming June 3rd from DG - Blu Ray Video coming August 19]

A cover so nice, it ought well be posted twice.  

[What pieces of music would you have liked JW to have recorded with the Boston Pops?]

Esplanade Overture.  3 movement ET suite that he did in Tanglewood 10 or so years ago.  

 

I don't mind the lack of classical pieces.  I find his BPO Planets album underwhelming, like the orchestra was too small or something.  I heard him do the Planets with Pittsburgh in the 90s, and it was sublime--don't get the discrepancy.  

 

Yes, I agree on the SW album.  Though I would have liked the LSO, and I continue to hope for a "definitive" 2-3 CD Williams conducted LSO album of the SW pieces.   Conduct it via Zoom, I don't care--just get it done.  

[Eddie Karam on Williams]

Seems like every 6-12 months there is some debate about whether orchestrators substantively write JW's music.  Given the overwhelming evidence that they do not, I must ask, why does the topic consistently reappear so often?  

[Overture to the Oscars (new JW composition)]

Just gave this piece a fresh listen (Tanglewood performance) after several months.  It is a special little piece--a nice hybrid of 80's and contemporary Williams, much like the aforementioned Galaxy's Edge.  Way more class than any of the recent Oscar ceremonies deserve--like Williams reminding the audience of what he remembers from his younger days.  

[Eddie Karam on Williams]

I heard the Karam composed and orchestrated the first several measures of Soundings himself.  

[John Williams returns to Vienna! March 12/13 2022]

13 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I've never understood why conductors have to shake hanks like that.

To keep from grabbing one another's batons.  

[Unexpected random encounters with the music of John Williams]

That is the sort of thing I would imagine Williams would enjoy watching.  

[Which score is more evocative of childhood: ET or Hook? Or another score?]

23 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Stepmom.

Daddy-O

[Which score is more evocative of childhood: ET or Hook? Or another score?]

14 hours ago, Groovygoth666 said:

That's interesting, after listening through Williams works for Spielberg recently I found BFG to honestly be quite bland, nothing about it really screamed childhood. It felt underwhelming for the content, what tracks would you say stood out and captured that kind of spirit?

Fun and a sense of childlike wonder, with a touch of fear here and there. 

 

 

[Which score is more evocative of childhood: ET or Hook? Or another score?]

If we take our own experiences as children out the equation (which i think we should, given the question), I honestly think it is either Home Alone or BFG, if we are talking just Williams.  

[John Williams returns to Vienna! March 12/13 2022]

45 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I don't want to crash the party, but this concert will probably be postponed...

Mainland Europe is not immediately threatened, so life goes on.  Williams is not going to let Putin dictate terms at this point in his life.  

[Richard Kaufman Conducts 2 John Williams Tribute Concerts in Dublin]

18 hours ago, igger6 said:

Wow, for all the Geisha recordings I thought I was aware of, I’m not super-familiar with this arrangement. Does anyone know a recorded version of this concert suite?

 

I could be mistaken, but I think this was the first "concert" piece from the movie Williams would perform.  Once he put together the full Cello suite, the first movement of that become the standard.  I do not believe that it has been recorded.  

[THE LAST JEDI - OST Album MUSIC Discussion (No Movie Spoilers)]

Part of why I like it so much is that is feels different from other SW concert pieces.  It connects well to the established sound of the SW universe but goes it a different, almost truly classical direction.  But, yes, the Fathiers deserves a concert edition, inclusive the spellbindingly perfect statement of Rose's theme within it.  

[The Patriot or War Horse?]

They are both good, though War Horse touches upon (but does not dwell long) greatness.  A little too indebted to RVW for my tastes.

 

The Patriot's main theme is just a bit too on the nose for me.  Its good and rousing, but it is missing something that keeps it from being a true classic for me.  I don't know music well enough to articulate way, but it seems like a melody of a just mostly quarter notes in standard time, whereas his other big pieces do not.  But, again, I don't know music well enough--perhaps it is no different from others.  

[THE LAST JEDI - OST Album MUSIC Discussion (No Movie Spoilers)]

A very good performance of Rebellion Reborn, a piece that continues to rank very high for me on occasion of the Vienna performance. 

 

 

[Richard Kaufman Conducts 2 John Williams Tribute Concerts in Dublin]

From what I could tell, ROS was unchanged from the OST.  It was performed much more slowly.  I prefer the faster tempo, but the piece allows for either approach.  

[JWFan EXCLUSIVE: The Rise of Skywalker Partial Cue List Revealed]

44 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

John Williams and his team if they had announced JJ was directing Indy 5:

 

Mutt goes evil, and Indy and Marion break up.  Indy goes back to the only thing he ever knew.  Marion tells Indy to confront Mutt, who in turn kills him. Oh, and Sallah lives on a deserted island for no good reason.  Iris out.  

[Razzie Founders Say They Would ‘Take Back’ Shelley Duvall’s Worst Actress Nomination for ‘The Shining’]

These people are literally jerks for a living.  Is there really a sizeable segment of society that really give a damn what they think one way or the other?  

["The Ugly Truth of How Movie Scores Are Made" - Vanity Fair article 2/21/22]

5 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

What does the music librarian do?

See the real answer above:

 

["The Ugly Truth of How Movie Scores Are Made" - Vanity Fair article 2/21/22]

There seems to be two big questions: Are composers getting appropriate credit/pay for their work under the main composer?  Secondly, from the perspective of art evaluation, does the main composer get artistic credit for a piece he/she only sketched?  On the second question, it would be bizarre to find out that Da Vinci or Picasso only sketched the big idea of a painting, while "assistants" did most of the painting.  Same with novels and such.  "Hey, I have an idea of a guy who murders someone and then feels guilty."  "Okay, Mr. Dostoevsky, let me help you realize your vision--what's your deadline?"  

[John Williams returns to Vienna! March 12/13 2022]

No, it was this year.  Vienna figured with the remake of WSS, they would have Bernstein conduct--you know, to commemorate the resurrection of his career.

[American Collection Theme]

I love the little bass string thump at 2:17.  With Williams you get the excellent "big" picture stuff but also the little moments of gratuitous genius-ness.  

[American Collection Theme]

All this talk of Williams doing TV series themes, I felt we should showcase his best (in my opinion, and, well, in fact).  How a gorgeous little piece like this is a tiny footnote to Williams' career shows, yet again, his brilliance. 

 

 

[John Williams Caption Competition!]

I may be bald, but I am going to outlive every last one of you bastards.   

[John Williams Returns to ‘Star Wars’ Universe with ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Theme - Jon Burlingame Variety article]

21 minutes ago, Drew said:

 

That's always the excuse made by composers in justifying their rationale for making something bad on purpose.

My life is a gig.