zoltan_902

Warm congratulation to Kathleen Kennedy. Remember also that Steven Spielberg wears an honourary KBE. He should apply for Canadian or British citizenship to make full use of the title *wink wink*.

You might actually be correct with the score, but I've listened on repeat to the Dudamel recording (the recent one with the LAP), and I don't hear the mistake; considering how extremely tonal the section is, a wrong note would stick out painfully, so I assume this has either been corrected by the musicians, or they've got a different copy of the music.

Considering how much of it was produced, I'm surprised that the series isn't still in syndication, especially with the specialty arts channels that have come about in recent years. That fact that we don't see the old episodes broadcast anymore makes me suspect (and I hope I'm wrong) that original masters of the show have been lost or destroyed. Personally I've been looking for 10 years for the episode where JW conducts the suite from the Phantom Menace. Last year we found out that WGBH has an online 'vault' or archive content, where some miscellaneous content is accessible. I did write them an email about certain episodes of EAP, but I was given a spiel about uncertainty of the rights to the episodes. Even at Pops is the best show I've ever seen as far as television coverage for orchestral performances - as someone who works in film and television production, I'm in constant admiration of the shows consistently high technical production, which allows the viewers to appreciate the full orchestra, and (to me particularly) getting to see John Williams as a conductor - I could watch him conduct music all day.

Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Hmmm. I'm very interested to hear the other tracks. Impressionistic interpretations like this can be very hit-and-miss. Duel of the Fates sounded the most appealing from the samples.

https://www.abc.net.au/classic/classic-100/composer/ Beethoven came in at #1.

Yes, Ch7's been using 'The Mission Theme' for many years now, though it's gone through its own tangential evolution. Most Aussies here would instantly recognise the melody, but almost no one is aware of John Williams having written it. Being the JW super-geek that I am, I never fail to point out to my parents when they hear the theme at 6pm that it's a JW piece. Incidentally, our Ch9 news uses music from 'Cool Hand Luke', composed by Lalo Schifrin. The music itself was never intended to have a life beyond its use in 'The Tar Sequence', but indeed it became immortalised when the Nine Network decided to use it. I'm assuming Ch7 keeps a (regularly updated) video obituary of JW, with specific mention that he composed the networks news theme. As much as I'd be gratified to see JW finally get that final acknowledgement, I'll be very happy to see his obituary put off for as absolutely long time as possible.

ABC Classic FM are doing a "Composer Countdown" this month and next. Each presenter on the station has been given the opportunity to present a program of the composer of their choice. Dan Golding, who presents the "Screen Sounds" program on Saturday nights chose to do a feature on the great Maestro himself. Not sure if it's accessible from outside of Australia, but if it is, then to those who are curious, enjoy! https://www.abc.net.au/classic/abc-classic-specials/presenter-favourite-dan-golding-john-williams/11103476

Speculating on his illness is neither helpful nor warranted. I for one will assume it has nothing to do with the travel. I'm not aware that long-haul flying is inherently unhealthy on elderly people, especially if it's as comfortable an on-board accommodation as one would expect for JW. The pace-maker might be a different issue, but for a journey as high stakes as this, his health would have been under enormous scrutiny from his insurers and management, so I cannot fathom that they'd write-off on this if there was such a huge inherent risk.

People are entitled to be upset at this not because John Williams is ill (we're all extremely worried), but because they are investors into a product whose nature and value has now intrinsically changed (most would argue for the worse). Many would spend hundreds (if not thousands) to attend a concert conducted by John Williams. For a concert conducted by Dirk Brosse on the other hand....

For many many ticket holders this was a high-stakes investment. They are not pissed off because John Williams is ill; they are pissed off because the purpose of their travel time and costs (many from great distances) has been defeated, in a manner which makes it difficult to recoup those expenses.

Maybe JW can persuade Steven Spielberg to hop on a plane and compere the concert with Brosse as a slightly heftier consolation to ticket holders. I know it sounds facetious, but Spielberg might feel sympathy for the audience.

On the bright side, I no longer feel so compelled to wake up at 5:30am on Saturday for the broadcast.

People in London might not attend because hey have far less to lose in not attending. People traveling abroad will probably cancel because they have far more to lose IN attending.

Of course we're all worried about his health. But 5000 people are entitled to be angry about their plans being ruined by a last minute compromise.

Not withstanding our collective and wholehearted wish for his well-being and speedy recovery, the concert was supposed to be about John Williams. People have paid to see him conduct and be entertain by his participation. A John Williams concert conducted by someone else can be done anywhere at anytime. I'd blame no one for suddenly not wanted to attend at all. All respect to Dirk Brosse, but him replacing the Maestro effectively defeats the purpose of the concert. If I had a ticket, I'd personally rather take a rain check, expensive and inconvenient as it may be in the short term.

In my very humble (and fairly ignorant) opinion, I've come to revere his conducting style such that I compare every other conductor I see to him. I know very little about conducting besides what I observe at concerts. But I've come to like JW's style because it looks so effortless, functional, unpretentious, and not so flamboyant that it makes a mockery or steals attention from the musicians. Three of my favourite examples: Soundings (especially the last two notes!). See 4:08 in this! And him loving the choir at 2:40 here: I would say in polar opposite is Keith Lockhart, whom I don't hate, but he really exemplifies how different one can be to JW. He doesn't use a baton, and he feels the need to almost 'dance' to get the message across. It's unfortunate, that since his pace-maker operation a few years ago, his shoulder movement seems to have become somewhat inhibited, and he seems to have become less animated in his public conducting. I look forward to seeing (if, indeed, it gets video-taped) how he gets on at the LSO concert next month.

I wish all the best for this project's fruition; BUT; I don't understand how all the musicians and the studio, not the mention John Williams (whether or not he's doing it for free), could all claim to be 'booked' onto a project that ostensibly still has a funding gap.

Yeah. How the f*ck do I edit the thread title?

Not really digging the maestro's see-thru top.

The final section of Soundings ("The Hall Rejoices") is a rhythmic wonder. Easily my favourite JW concert piece. We did have to wait 10 years for it to get a decent, commercially available recording when the LA Phil John Williams tribute gala was released on blu-ray disc. It was worth the wait.

I did just that, but, nah, I still managed to get booed at.

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