jw_researcher

I have seen PDF's of parts of the Superman IV score. Some cues are in Alexander Courage's hand, and are *very* detailed. Jeremy's Theme is in JW's hand, and on that familiar 8-staff layout he uses so often in his sketches. The cue is called "Flying With Jeremy". Unusually for JW, it has virtually no instrumental detail marked and is largely in two or three staff layout (albeit on his usual 8-staff Pacific Manuscript paper).

Offended? Thought it was funny? JW's score for "Jaws" is getting a lot of attention online today....

According to the the score, there are women's voices and a synthesizer which start on a "C" and slowly build a cluster across several measures. Against these helds notes, the score indicates another snyth part with a "wind" effect (probably the sound you are referring to). There are also string tremolos against the held notes as well.

#3 is The Sea Hawk by Korngold... #3 is from the bottom left of page #7 in the Sea Hawk suite.

For me, I have a letter JW wrote to me back in 1987. Since that's one of a kind, that's rare. On the CD front, I have the dometic CD release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Not the Japanese, but the U.S. Polydor release. It was really hard to find way back when I got it. The track titles aren't even listed on the back; there is a picture of Pankot Palace and the movie credits superimposed over it. I don't recall seeing it on eBay; am curious as to what its value is.

Herbert Spencer full responsible for Williams' golden age? Not likely. Most of the scores Herbert worked on involved other orchestrators as well, he wasn't the sole orchestrator utilized during the so-called Williams "golden age".

There is also nothing "historically accurate" about film editing, closeups, and long shots. I am reminded of a famous quote David Raksin made when Alfred Hitchcock "where does the music come from" when he was scoring lifeboat. "You tell me where the camera comes from, and I'll tell you where the music comes from".

That was definitely one of his most criticized conducting experiences that has been recorded. I've not heard the performance, but I've read it was quite slow and plodding. There's a funny anecdote that Herrmann asked for the record in a London store, and the clerk said "we don't recommend it", to which Herrmann apparently reacted badly to the clerk.... Well, before 1951, he was a well regarded conductor and championed 20th century and other obscure composers, during his years at CBS. He also enjoyed many guest engagements at orchestras in the U.S. and Britian. I'm not sure I can agree he was a poor conductor, but his later performances I do find rather slow and plodding. His Phase 4 albums from his later years suffered from slower tempi as well. His conducting of his hallmark scores I find breathtaking, so I can't agree that he "wasn't much". I do find his conducting of Holst's The Planets quite scary... Actually the worst performance I have memory of listening to.

Well, before 1951, he was a well regarded conductor and championed 20th century and other obscure composers, during his years at CBS. He also enjoyed many guest engagements at orchestras in the U.S. and Britian. I'm not sure I can agree he was a poor conductor, but his later performances I do find rather slow and plodding. His Phase 4 albums from his later years suffered from slower tempi as well. His conducting of his hallmark scores I find breathtaking, so I can't agree that he "wasn't much".

Easy one for me: from JURASSIC PARK, "Journey to the Island": there is this happy-go-lucky theme played by the violins in C major, with trills and the horns doing this back and forth "g-c-g-c-g-c" with tambourine accompaniment. Very sprightly and uplifting.

Herrmann conducted most of his film score recordings. I can recall Vertigo as an exception, and also Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (again, strike issue). I've heard rumors he did conduct SINBAD, but most accounts say it was Kurt Graunke conducting a German orchestra. I think in the case of TAXI DRIVER, he sat out the last sessions and had someone else fill in for him as conductor and he listened from the booth (I forgot the name of the conductor who stepped in). I've always liked the Muir Mathieson conducting, despite Herrmann's objections to it (there are some wrong notes and incorrect entrances, but those don't take away from the overall performance in my opinion). The re-recording closest to Mathieson's, in my opinion, is the re-recording done for the book Feature Film, in a performance remarkably close to the Mathieson tempi and performance (it was done in France, and the CD annoyingly has the entire score on one track on the CD!)

Well, there is a percussion only cue in Herrmann's 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD called "The Fight" which is exclusively percussion. Several players, plus two sets of timpani (it's during the mutiny on the ship before they get to the island). There is an unusual cue in Alfred Newman's THE ROBE (1953), at the end, where Marcellus is being pursued by chariots, and it's a several drums and two pianos (the pianos play basically the same notes in differing rhythms).

The Rhino 2CD set doesn't contain everything that was recorded. It does have everything heard in the film except the opening two bars of the Mugger cue. There are some alternate cues in the earlier part of the film which are not on the CD. Funny enough, you hear shortened versions of them in Superman II (during the attack on the astronauts and the battle in the streets of Manhattan). There are alternate cues for Baby's Trip to Earth, The Dome Rises, and the rising of the Fortress of Solitude.

Search with the terms "John Williams BBC" and you'll find it. Amazing footage. First time I've seen footage of JW and Herb Spencer together, and hearing Herb talking (I recall he was from Chile, and he has a slight accent to that affect). Some interesting footage of JW driving up to his house too. Don't miss this.

Researcher Bill Wrobel has written a paper on the first two Harry Potter scores, having seen the written scores for both films. His paper is at this site: http://www.filmmusic.cjb.net/ Go to "Williams" and then "Harry Potter". On page 3 of the paper, he mentions a copy of the sketches was laid in with the COS score and all the cues are in JW's hand. This seems to suggest JW wrote all of the cues for the film in sketch form. In any event, this paper is valuable because it's from someone who physically handled the actual score and saw what's in it (apparently the sketches and full scores for the first two films were made available to Bill).