Falstaft

Both themes in that concert arrangement have a lot of emotional weight.  The "We Go Together" portion is one of JW's most heartstring-tugging cues of the last few years for me.  

I second that. Easily the best score of 2019, IMHO.

Sorry, Rise of Skywalker is great.  
 
I also think TV scoring by its sheer number of minutes is too much to get a tight, cohesive score that tells a musical story from start to finish.  There's an averaging effect when effort is spread out over hours of content.  I enjoyed the novelty of Goransson's music for the Mandoverse for a while, but now it has been spread over several hours of content, and has been diluted and diminished in its ability to dazzle or delight.

Assuming the rumor is true, I think she will do well.  She has shown great potential.  She has the theme/s by Williams (and probably some general guidance from him as well--he seems to genuinely like to mentor).  While her resume is good, this could be a transformative assignment.  

The Force Awakens.
 
Couldn't resist the temptation to make mockup of 8M74Alt The Mountain. Basically, it's an alternate version of The Jedi Steps, written at about the same time as the original one. It was also recorded, but not used.

 

John Williams: "Yo-Yo Ma is many things. He is one of the world’s greatest cellist; he is a wonderful father; he brings honour to his country. But one thing he is not is Anne-Sophie Mutter".

Ah, I've been looking for this suite for a long time, having heard it live way way back when at Tanglewood and only vaguely remembering what was included (the Mynock sequence most vividly). Quite a hodgepodge of ANH and ESB music. Thanks for posting this. Time to update its entry in my catalogue!

Hello Star Wars experts out there,
Am wondering if anyone can help identify the cues at 1:09 and 4:58? I know I must be missing something, but did not happen across those themes while browsing the original three soundtracks. 
Furthermore, is this the Boston Pops?
 
 
 

Sure this has been mentioned elsewhere, but I'm listening to Ready Player One , enjoying all the musical easter eggs, and I was struck by "Arty on the 'Inside'" -- Silvestri really places a great new spin on "Everybody Runs" from Minority Report 
 
 
 
 
 
Only fitting, since Williams clearly borrowed a page from Silvestri's Death Becomes Her in "Eye-Dentiscan" from Minority Report.
 
 
 

Did I miss a discussion somewhere, or has Williams written another surprise piece?
 

Dobby the House Elf is such a great piece! The music captures perfectly Dobby's nervousness and hesitancy. It has fun, dancing woodwinds and warm, low strings and everything in between. The main melody has a slight languid quality to it. It's a piece with a ton of personality. The orchestration is so bright, I imagine it would sound great live.
 
What are your thoughts? What do you think of this secondary theme from the second Harry Potter film?
 
https://youtu.be/t0Qn2HQUSQE

I agree it’s a fantastic theme and a top-notch concert arrangement. We’re extraordinarily lucky that JW managed to produce three great concert arrangements with his much-abbreviated schedule for the second Harry Potter film! This one apparently drew the short straw, as it’s the only one of the three not to be used for the film’s end credits sequence.
 
I can’t help but wonder if he devoted so much time to the theme for this character because he figures so much more in the books than he’d end up figuring in the films, since his appearances in this film are rather limited. However, Williams certainly makes the most of them, with variations on the theme that are by turns, charming, threatening, and almost regal.

Have no fear!
 
 

Just had to do that one too 
 
 

To celebrate the 90th birthday of John Williams, I composed an overture in his honor, called Golden Hall Overture. It was inspired by his European concerts of the last years.
 
When I became a John Williams fan 13 years ago, I made the decision to become a composer myself one day. Since then I've had a degree as a piano player, as well as a few orchestral jobs and many wonderful memories. And in the last few years I was even able to get my first filmmusic jobs for german television.
 
But in all these years nothing has motivated me more than the music of John Williams. His scores are truly fascinating, and the more you study them, the more reverent you become of the maestro's legacy. To this day he continues to amaze me and the fact that he is still full of creative energy is just incredibly inspiring. Although I was never lucky enough to meet him, I believe he was my greatest teacher! I am deeply grateful for all the wonderful music he gave us!
 
In my Golden Hall Overture, I tried to translate into music the feelings I felt at his concerts. I deliberately used his orchestral stylistic devices, and I'm sure some of you will notice a few connections to the Williams scores. It’s a work to celebrate his legacy and in a certain way my birthday present to him..

 
With this piece I want to say THANK YOU and congratulate the maestro on his 90th birthday!
 
 

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/william-hurt-dead-kiss-of-the-spider-woman-1235203576

It got a big applause, though not quite as big as Throne Room, Flying and Imp March.
My favourite quip was when ASM came back for the encore, JW started the sentence "So Ms. Mutter", a "whoo" came from the audience, he looked at them, said "I agree!" and continued.

Not just nominated, but on the official list. Partly for the view in the background of this photo: 
 
 
 
I assume Berlin's camera setup is a permanent fixture of the hall, as are the dangling micorphones at the Musikverein. But there are no permanent cameras there (remember it was built about 100 years before the Berliner Philharmonie).
 
 
Last time the video recording was done by Servus TV (a local TV station). They're probably not involved this time, and I have no idea what it would take for DG to film the whole thing themselves.
 
 
Viennese horns are notoriously hard to play, and the soloist was clearly nervous. Let's hope he gets it right tomorrow.
 
He's been doing it with various SW pieces. My theory is that he was made aware that he kept claiming the themes were from the wrong films, so he switched to this meme.
 
 
They were rather strict this time and stopped people from even taking photos before the concert. The house in fact has a strict no-photo policy, not just during the concerts but at all times. It used to not be strongly observed though, so I'm not sure if it is new (I wasn't aware of it until November). I don't think they mind if people take shots of the hall with their programme (like I like to do), or of the final applause, but they certainly won't let you film the concert if they spot you.
 
 
The two main houses are the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus. The Musikverein is the home of the Wiener Philharmoniker and has the famous "Golden Hall", which is the venue of the Neujahrskonzert and John Williams's Viennese concerts. The Konzerthaus's great hall has very different acoustics with a much drier sound. It also has Europe's largest concert organ. That's where Hollywood in Vienna's concerts take place.

Did he say ”I’d never written a love theme for Star Wars before Across The Stars…”?

I. HAVE. CONFIRMATION. 🤓 
 
Just talked to a recording engineer backstage. The concert is being (audio-)recorded, they hope to have it released by DG!

here's a fresh one from yesterday at the Musikverein here in Vienna..😉 looking good Mr Williams!

On the eve of John Williams' concerts in Vienna, here's a short musing on a dazzling early work of the Maestro and its surprising connection to his more recent music, including the Violin Concerto No.2 that is being performed this weekend in Vienna.

https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2022/03/11/hollywood-1961

So we got:
 
Duel of the Fates
Battle of the Heroes
The Force Theme
The Mystery Motif from Attack of the Clones 
And the end brass from "It Can't Be" from ROTS
 
All in all, nice selection! 

The Violin concertos, like most of JW's concertos, are not strictly tonal (although there are some tonal centers, but not in the classical sense), so they have no key signatures. Key signatures almost never occur even in his most tonal film cues. One of the reasons is that he often modulates and uses chromatic harmonies that require many accidentals outside the main key, so he just writes all accidentals close to the notes as needed. Another reason, I guess, is that it might be easier for the session musicians to read accidentals close to the notes, rather than in key signatures. Even in the most diatonic passages - e.g., some parts of Schindler's List in D minor, G minor, C minor, G sharp minor - there are no key signatures. He used key signatures, however, in some pieces such as the Superman March, the Raiders' March, the first part of Princess Leia's Theme, the second part of The Throne Room and Finale, the End Credits from A.I., Exsultate Justi from Empire of the Sun, and a few others (really not many).
 
 

Hi everyone. I thought it might be useful to put together a listening guide of sorts for Williams's second violin concerto. This struck me as appropriate given how it's going to be heard in performance again fairly soon. Also, the piece, particularly its first movement, is fairly difficult to grasp on first listen!
 
I've only put together a guide to the first movement (by far the most challenging), but if this is indeed helpful I'll consider doing the other three--or maybe someone else would like to. It's quite difficult to do this without a score, to put it mildly, so take everything here as provisional. I'm surely missing quite a lot of important details...
 
 
Listening Guide for John Williams, Violin Concerto 2
 
MOVEMENT 1: "PROLOGUE" 
Overall, the most formally loose and spontaneous-seeming movement, fitting given Williams's striving for a "quasi-improvisatory" character. Not a truly non-repetitive piece, however: there are both aspects of inner-movement unity and some subtle prefiguring of material to come, particularly the concerto's principle "leitmotif" introduced in the 2nd Movement. The unpredictability of the music on a measure-to-measure level is compensated by an extremely clear division of 6 large-scale sections, summarized below.
 

 
More in-depth account:

SECTION 1 – INTRODUCTION 
0:00    Quiet, slow introduction showcasing harp, supported by bed of strings. Shape of opening harp melody (D3-E3, D3-E3-C3-A3-D3) vaguely anticipates some later motivic details. First harp-based subphrase tonally centered on B♭-lydian, with contrasting Gm6(♭13) in middle.  Second, string-based subphrase more dissonant, melodically disjunct. The third, once again harp-based subphrase coalesces on Dmaj6/min chord. 1:11    Introduction of soloist. Violin begins with repetition of note F4, giving bluesy quality to faint D-major tonality maintained by strings/harp. Melodic D tonic flanked by tritones A♭4 & G♯3 above and below. Progressively expands range upward, with what will become a quasi-motivic repeated note figure, here on B♭4 and E♭5. Thinner texture and new harmonies (F♯m and A-dim) and octatonic scale-fragment in violin at 1:50, followed by downwards chromatic cascades and melodic peak of E♭6. Unaccompanied violin sags glumly back downwards.  
SECTION 2 – FAST AND TURBULENT 
2:24    Pulsing, agitated pattern in orchestra midrange on dissonant harmony (A3+B♭3+C4+ D♭4), supported at unpredictable intervals by rising bass-figure starting on low D. Violin gathers energy with repetition of Eb4, proceeds to a flowing, unpredictable musical thought, up to the first of several big orchestral swells marked by dissonant chord and percussive punctuation that swallows up soloist. 2:46    Violin reasserts itself over motivic rising bass-figure. Pace of textural and melodic change speeds up considerably, and music becomes increasingly key-less, violin and orchestra exchanging frenzied, short-lived ideas. Particular prominence to harp, timpani, clarinet. Low-strings trace downwards arpeggio of important Gm9 chord, echoed by violin (3:09), and Em9♭5, F♯dim7. 3:16    Lighter but more dissonant texture. Spiky, progressively accelerating violin writing against unpredictable staccato wind and pizzicato bursts. 3:33    Arpeggiating eighth-note figures in low strings resume, now upwards (D2-B♭2-D3-G2-C3-E♭3, etc.), quickly losing tonal focus as another dissonant tutti swell overtakes violin, followed by brief timpani solo (3:44). 3:46    Purely orchestral climax. Dissonant pitch pyramid assembled over B pedal. Similarly vaulting bass figures under now unified upper strings in octaves on urgent melody, arching upwards in successive swells. Pulsing/sustained brass and string melody help refocus tonality onto D, and downwards chord progression (D--C--B), while dissonant, can be referred to D-center. Ends on a shrieking tutti cluster, similar to opening sonority of section but greatly intensified.   
SECTION 3 – SLOW  AND TRANSPARENT 
4:23    Dreamy extended-tertian sonorities, starting with and centered on Gm13 (chord anticipated at 3:11, arpeggiated texture anticipated at 3:33). Violin enters with comparatively lyrical theme with pronounced downwards-moving trajectory. Tonality shifts to Dm, moving stepwise to Fm. Melodic shape heard in passing at 5:00 (F5-E5-G♯5-C5) seems to anticipate the recurring “leitmotif” of movements 2  & 4 -- you know, the one that sounds a bit like "Moonlight" from Sabrina. 5:10    Clear sense of tonality dissolves, violin becomes more agitated, emphasis on dotted rhythms, brief mini-solo of dissonant stops (5:18-5:22). Followed by dense, highly dissonant wind-ensemble writing, drawn from immediately preceding violin solo and segueing back into it. 5:39    Deep, dark minor chords (C♯m--Caug) prepare a catchy but ominous melody for solo violin built on double-stops (parallel minor 6ths), again with contour (A♭4-A♭4-G4-B4-C4) that anticipates shape of recurring leitmotif from mvts 2 & 4.  5:50    Busily spinning passagework for violin and glittering accompaniment, foreshadowing movement 2, recedes to background to allow brief flute solo (B♭4-A4-E5-G5-F♯5-F♯4) in E-minor, suggestive but as far as I can tell not motivically derived from anything else. Violin follows-through with flute melody, seamlessly moving to a… 6:20    Pre-cadenza for violin and harp, again with elements of flute melody (G6-F♯6-A5…B♭5-D♭6-C6-C5)  
SECTION 4 – CADENZA
6:50    Succession of contrasting technical and expressive ideas, not a huge degree of thematic connectivity with preceding sections though fairly consistent within its own scope. (Substructure: Downwards Em/B♭ chords—leaping octave pairs—compound melody (E6-D♯6-B5-A♯5, D♭6-C6-A5-G♯5)—trills—resigned droop—gathering energy—ascending melody over pedal—arpeggios—trills—melody reminiscent of VC1—ascending passagework maxing out at A6—descending, harsh stops, ending with repeated D4.)
 
SECTION 5 – BROAD AND CLIMACTIC
8:38    Rather spooky melody for violin (F♯4-D5-B♭6-F♯5) over brief suggestion of B-minor.  Quickly yields to new material for orchestra, with massed brass, strings in octaves, and thick, repeating wind quasi-fanfares, all grounded over low C-pedal (C-A♭-D♭-G chord?). Classic JW concert music stuff (c.f. For Seiji, Soundings, Heartwood, etc.). Much of this seems to respond vaguely to material introduced in the Cadenza. 9:00    Almost aleatoric sounding passage for harp, solo high winds, pizz strings. 9:09    Emphasis on low winds and strings. Recollection of ascending bass figure from 3:33 (now E2-B2-D3, F♯2-B2-E3) 9:14    Climax building really starts in earnest. Wind chords seem to outline violin’s spooky melody from start of section, against aggressive massed-string section counterpoint, ending on bright, dissonant wind chord.   9:25    Violin solo reasserts self, now more actively interacting with rest of orchestra. Strong sense of rhythmic and harmonic acceleration, climax building pauses after timpani interjection (9:40). 9:48    Final, rapidly attained climax, fastest solo violin writing; impression of huge sweeping motions from whole orchestra, culminating on a huge tutti chord of characteristically JW-dissonant flavor (A-C-E- F-A♭-C♭)  
SECTION 6 – AFTERMATH AND CODA
10:11    Instantly quiet, clear duet for harp and violin. Clear reminiscence of beginning of Section 3, via repeated harp arpeggio of extended triadic sonority, this time F♯m11(b♭13) instead of Gm11(nat13). Meditative violin solo above, not clearly connected to previous themes. 10:40    Quiet upwards scurrying from violin, reaching high B6, followed by abrupt, staccato motif (second phrase accompanied by four dissonant pizzicato chords from rest of string section). 11:03    Violin settles on sustained low A♭3, against resonant F2-A1 bass support on harp. Full fade-out by 11:16.