aviazn

I'm no audio engineer, but I would think the problem is in the Fourier transform. Audio processing depends on being able to go back and forth between time domain and frequency domain (e.g. taking a waveform, converting it to frequency space so you can isolate certain frequencies and remove artifacts, then reconverting to a waveform).
 
If you represent a waveform as a superposition of frequencies, and then throw away some of those frequencies—even if they're inaudible ones—you're throwing away information you need to reconstruct the waveform and losing some fine detail that you'll never get back.

I'm no audio engineer, but I would think the problem is in the Fourier transform. Audio processing depends on being able to go back and forth between time domain and frequency domain (e.g. taking a waveform, converting it to frequency space so you can isolate certain frequencies and remove artifacts, then reconverting to a waveform).
 
If you represent a waveform as a superposition of frequencies, and then throw away some of those frequencies—even if they're inaudible ones—you're throwing away information you need to reconstruct the waveform and losing some fine detail that you'll never get back.

I'm no audio engineer, but I would think the problem is in the Fourier transform. Audio processing depends on being able to go back and forth between time domain and frequency domain (e.g. taking a waveform, converting it to frequency space so you can isolate certain frequencies and remove artifacts, then reconverting to a waveform).
 
If you represent a waveform as a superposition of frequencies, and then throw away some of those frequencies—even if they're inaudible ones—you're throwing away information you need to reconstruct the waveform and losing some fine detail that you'll never get back.

I'm no audio engineer, but I would think the problem is in the Fourier transform. Audio processing depends on being able to go back and forth between time domain and frequency domain (e.g. taking a waveform, converting it to frequency space so you can isolate certain frequencies and remove artifacts, then reconverting to a waveform).
 
If you represent a waveform as a superposition of frequencies, and then throw away some of those frequencies—even if they're inaudible ones—you're throwing away information you need to reconstruct the waveform and losing some fine detail that you'll never get back.

For someone who seems rather out of his usual element, the interviewer is asking some rather good questions. And Williams is opening up, at least a bit, with a couple of half statements that elaborate on his standard responses. For example, I wasn't aware that he was already craving "more" during his time as (mainly) a jazz musician.

I think we've kind of established that there are harmonic and structural commonalities even in the most stylistically varied works in Williams's oeuvre, the use of a unique harmonic system that bridges jazz and classical languages, for example.  I wish more people were aware that there is a definite singular style to John's music, that is more subtle than surface style and thus all the more remarkable. 

https://imgur.com/LxuCF3khttps://imgur.com/LxuCF3k

I am more surprised how Alex Ross have seemingly turned around his opinion about John Williams - he dismissed Williams as an "accomplished pasticheur" in the late 1990s I believe.
 
I don't see why Ross stating that Herrmann is the greatest American film composer is a problem. There are also other American film composers other than Herrmann who are also more imaginative/progressive than Williams and therefore for some better composers.
 
Sure, that is Ross opinion, but Herrmann was a true original and was often innovative in terms of how he treated the orchestra. Many thoughtful listeners would agree with him.
 
Ross has said that he is a "big fan" of Herrmann in the past and even wrote the liner notes to a Herrmann anthology back in the 1990s, where he stated that Herrmann was "certainly the greatest Hollywood film composer", then a decade or so later when he reviewed a concert of film music, he wrote that Herrmann was "probably the greatest American film composer", now it is apparently "perhaps the greatest American film composer" that he choose to use in the article. I wonder what changed in 20-some years from "certainly" to "perhaps" in regards to Herrmann being the greatest American film composer. 
 
In 2007, Ross listed his top 10 Hollywood film scores on his blog:
 
Vertigo - Bernard Herrmann
Chinatown - Jerry Goldsmith
The Adventures of Robin Hood - Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Laura - David Raksin
On the Waterfront - Leonard Bernstein
Of Mice and Men - Aaron Copland
Anatomy of a Murder - Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn
Touch of Evil - Henry Mancini
The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore
Star Wars - John Williams
 
And out of those 10, Vertigo was considered a great musical work of the 20th century. At another occasion, Ross has said that "Vertigo may be the greatest of all film scores".
 
Ross also stated that he would be tempted to include 3 or 4 more Herrmann scores if he hadn't limited himself to one film per composer.
 
Ross considers Close Encounters of the Third Kind to be Williams' best score, even if he picked Star Wars back in 2007 when he made the list.
 
Personally, I totally understand why Herrmann is singled out, because he was such an original pathbreaker for American film music.

New profile of John Williams from Alex Ross in The New Yorker today: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-force-is-still-strong-with-john-williams?curator=MusicREDEF
 
Williams was able to pinpoint the exact date he started composing the music for Star Wars to January 10th, 1977 thanks to an old diary. I hope these diaries will be part of the future collection at Juilliard!

I desperately want to read the complete correspondence between Williams and Milton Babbitt.  The writer of Star Wars exchanging ideas with the writer of "Who Cares If You Listen?" My god.

I'm as floored as the rest of you! I knew from social media that Alex Ross had chatted w/ JW back in February, but had no idea about the content of their interview, or that the maestro himself apparently leafed through my catalogue. 
 
I can't imagine the "online fan sites" Ross says Williams is "delighted" by could be anything other than JWfan. It means a lot, even in just this small way, to know that JW is aware of all the passion and interest his music has inspired in this little community.
 

To me, those trumpet lines in the hyperspace cue always sounded too…busy, for lack of a better word, to be Williams. Seemed more like Powell to me—especially the second one, and the way it modulates. But the more pared down version from the Flying with Chewie cue that @crocodile posted sounds more like Williams to me—maybe the hyperspace version was Powell's variation on it.
 
 
 

I think this notion that drums are like some kind of makeup used by composers to camoflauge weaknesses is fundamentally flawed, gross, and frankly, it feels kind of Eurocentric to me.

No. Scherzo for X-Wings on the TFA soundtrack album is the example that comes to mind right away (but this is getting a bit off-topic).

It’s not so much about tempo choices, it’s about tempo inconsistency within pieces. But people call me crazy when I dare mention that, so I’ll stop saying it I guess.
 
Btw, this Imperial March is fantastic indeed. No complaints from me about that performance.

I prefer the faster tempo. JW's conducting style is a recurring problem for me. William Ross breathed life into HP2, Keith Lockhart did the same with the TFA suite and Brosssé's preference for stacato and fast-paced performances are much more thrilling to listen to. He also seems to have been the only one who understood how to perform the new Han Solo and the Princess arrangement. All the others just don't give a shit and want to get it over with.

If we’re including clips of JW playing music that is not his own, at Tanglewood in 2013 (I think?) he accompanied Audra MacDonald, just the two of them, on As Time Goes By.
 
This is the only YouTube clip I can find, and it’s not great quality, but it was electric live (I was there ).
 
 

I saw him there too! Great concert, a perfect evening at Tanglewod. Took this picture while lying on the lawn that night.
 

If we’re including clips of JW playing music that is not his own, at Tanglewood in 2013 (I think?) he accompanied Audra MacDonald, just the two of them, on As Time Goes By.
 
This is the only YouTube clip I can find, and it’s not great quality, but it was electric live (I was there ).
 
 

Holy cow this is the coolest video I've seen in a long time!  John Williams talking directly to the camera for something to be broadcast on the internet, what a time to be alive!

Awesome!

 
Awww, Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes right on his shelf, what a nerd!

Oh come on, I love Williams to death and I only want him to do well. The concerts were fantastic, yes. But I’m just being realistic, he’s just not as good as a conductor as he was before. It’s not strange that at 88 your body can’t quite communicate your inner feelings as well anymore. 
 
 

I can imagine why, but that doesn’t make him a technically perfect conductor.

No, the orchestra plays exactly the tempo that Williams gives them in the opening bar yet he doesn’t keep up with his own tempo and then is late in giving his cue to the horns.
 
Regardless, it’s no secret that Williams tempo stability has become worse in recent years (when he’s not conducting to picture).

While I loved the concert I attended I must admit it pains me a bit to see Williams – despite the tremendous energy for his age – conducting in the clip above. He already can’t keep his tempo at the opening bars of Hook and that’s why the horns are late. No wonder the concert master looked stressed like hell. I hope they can stitch together a polished product from the two concerts.