pete

I think it's safe to assume it's part of next week's Lalaland's Black Friday releases to be announced 9 pm PST (California) November 24.

I have a bus ticket for that day. Seoul to Busan. Any takers? Price is fair. That aside, I sincerely hope all who wish to attend - well I guess we all wish that, but those who have a real chance, can attend. Seeing Williams live is an experience to treasure forever.

Any word on Murray Gold returning? Nothing against the newer guy - I just haven't explored his music nor seen a lot of the episodes he scored, but gosh there's a lot to love in the music Murray wrote. Still waiting for the soundtrack for the last season he scored. We were blessed in terms of releases for the preceeding seasons. and then, Bam! Nothing.

I think that could be said of his piano writing, especially for certain films: JFK, Lincoln, The Book Thief, Schindler's List, The Post, War Horse (but not ET) - they all have beautiful and sparse harmonies. Just the right amount of notes that enables me to kind of play them if I spend weeks practicing.

Isn’t it the same 1997 arrangement that Itzhak Perlman performed on the Cinema Serenade album? I thought like Schindler’s List and Remembrances, it wasn’t a new arrangement. Williams has been performing a violin-centered version off and on over the years. It was performed at his 1998 London concerts, for example. I thought it was written for Arturo Sandoval? Or his he just the trumpeter that first recorded the concerto? Update .. Nope, you’re right!

None of the battle music is on the soundtrack.

Williams should write themes for everything.

I can already kind of hear the eventual (fingers crossed) 5-minute version for Ann-Sophie Mutter and orchestra. My thoughts exactly, except I'm completely ruling out any connection. - I haven't seen the film btw.

Me too! I'm a Williams fan first. I gave them a listen - never a bad thing to explore, but when I feel like some nice Fabelman's music, it's Williams all the way with a bit of an edit in the last track to remove the offending non-Williams music. Sorry Joe Haydn!

It's not even my favorite theme from the franchise, and that's not to diminish it any way. It is, however, I think one his character themes that best captures the essence of the character.

The Forest Battle and The Flag Parade - I would love to hear those live. I even had a dream once in which Williams conducted The Forest Battle in a park near the house I grew up in. And I wish Williams would record his Flag Parade concert version, and of course the latest suite as well. Will he ever revisit Star Wars for more albums? If you're reading this, do for the latter two trilogies what you did for the first one: a compilation of concert works. Please!

For some reason I thought Goldsmith's First Knight was a Black Friday release? I just checked and it was an April 2011 release My god, how did 11.5 years pass so quickly? My hopes etc. For the Williams - and I assume that's a safe bet, an expanded Amistad would be my first hope, after that JFK. I have no idea what's possible or not, so just a few other hopes without any thought or care about rights, companies, etc. Other releases. I've seen Gladiator mentioned. I've always wanted that, especially since the dialogue-ridden secound soundtrack album, as much as I like a lot of that dialogue. Jerry Goldsmith: LA Confidential or Medicine Man. Medicine Man was the first movie I saw after becoming interested in him as a composer. I think at that point, I just had a few of his tracks on some compilation albums. I remember being captivated by "The Trees" track and then buying the soundtack either later that day or within a few days. Apparently, about 15 minutes from the film didn't make the CD, and that's enough for me to want an expanded release. Bear McCreary years ago talked about an eventual hope to release more BSG music. Yes please. Although I can't imagine he's had time to work on that recently! In 2009, Joel Goldsmith talked about wanting to release more Stargate Atlantis and a first release of music from Stargate: Universe, but they never eventuated. And Rocky, I always hope for expanded Rocky scores.

I'm ignorant of all this Brahms except his lullaby, so I thought that was Williams improvising!

I'm drooling now. And because I'll hear it before my next possible girlfriend, I'll learn a guitar version and tell her I wrote it for her. And then I'll make sure she doesn't see the movie. This is going to be the best Xmas ever! Thanks Johnny T!

Is there much for William do after recording is finished? Is he involved in the mixing of his score into the film or any other things to do? Does preparng the soundtrack - assuming no further recordings are needed for it - take up much time? Does he just decide what music to include and that's it? I'm sure he listens to it to check everything's ok. Liner notes sometimes - perhaps an hour at most on a paragraph? I realize different projects would require more or less time on certain tasks. just curious if anyone has knowledge, ideas, random thoughts, or conspiracy theories.

I don't think he spent 8 months on it. He's done other things over that time, but yes, the long time a large project takes at his age - I think he's said around 6 months for the recent Star Wars films was one of the reasons he said he's stepping away from films. But he's also said he doesn't want to close the door on really any project. In the end, if he feels he has the energy and time for a project that excites him, he'll do it. Either way, he'll still be at a piano most days putting dots to paper.

His grandfather on his mother's side was a butcher.

We got back in touch via our old high school's Facebook. Ha, he said he doesn't remember those arrangement at all. I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine them! He does remember me though.. vaguely! And although oboe/cor anglais are the instruments he plays in the orchestra, he played the James Bond theme on guitar with the orchestra.. Said he was very nervous!

And further to my first long post, what got me into soundtrack collecting years later at the age of about 18 was one book of solo guitar arrangements of film themes. I bought it for Cavatina by Stanley Myers, as used in The Deer Hunter. That book also had an arrangement of "Can You Read My Mind", and I saw the title and remembered noticing and loving the music as a kid, but I couldn't quite recall the love theme, but I was really curious. So I bought the book, played the melody - it was instantly famaliar, and I fell in love. I decided then that I should buy the soundtrack. Went along to a soundtrack shop soon after - a day or two? I saw Superman in the OST section. I picked it up and was just about to go pay for it, when I noticed right behind it "Music from the Star Wars Trilogy" the Varese CD. Browsing the track titles also sparked my curiosity. "What does Jabba's Theme sound like?" "The Asteroid Field?" Yoda's Theme?" etc. I had seen the movies quite a few times by then, but I didn't actively listen and take note of the music, Just a kid enjoying the whole Star Wars experience. But I had a sense that much of the music would be familiar, and of course it was. I remember listening the concertised Superman Love Theme and just being swept away. Then I turned to Star Wars and the gentle Yoda's Theme and the other highlights. Then I was hooked and started scouring record shops whenever I could and where ever I went. Sydney, London, Bangkok, New York, Paris, Tokyo. When spending time in each city, finding the big record store and smaller specialty shops was perhaps not at the top of my list, but it was on my list. One other memory. Perhaps I was 17, so before I was collecting. At the home of a new girlfriend with her family. They were watching the end of Superman on TV. The credits came on.... and they started talking over the music! I knew then that the relationship was over.

And Williams puts a lot of thought and effort into his soundtrack releases. If there's little score in the film, and he feels that's not adequate for a soundtack, he'll expand and revise pieces. And we don't know which pieces are concert arrangements. The Fablemans probably is, "Mother and Son" could be. This excites me: John Williams’ music for the film spans from romantic solo piano pieces to big orchestra score pieces in the tradition of classic films

Where is the talk of the length of the score coming from if we don't have track lengths? The movie?

I just came across this video and it brought back a lot of happy and almost forgotten memories: Wonderful part from 3:46! Peter Duggan is the principle cor anglai player for the Adelaide Symphony Orcestra, and he was my first guitar teacher. He was 17, and I was around 12? He wasn't my first introduction to Williams - I remember being captivated by the end credits music of Superman. It's my first memory of actually noticing music. But Peter brought me deeper into Williams world. He lent me his cassette of the Star Wars soundtrack, which is the first time I remember sitting at home and actively listening to music. And I remember being surprised at the variety of music. I had seen the film a few times by then, but it was really only the main theme that had stuck in my mind. So the Jawa music, sand people music etc. were pleasant and marvelous surprises. A little bizare too that sand people music. And of course Binary sunset and hearing the first Cantina piece. He made a guitar duet arrangement of the main theme. I played the melody and he played accompaniment. It was my first public performance at my school in front of about two teachers, some students, and some parents. Maybe 15 people tops, and my God I remember being sooooooo nervous. I think we pulled it off, well Peter surely did, but I think I played it without mistakes. Nice simple arrangement, not much beyond playing happy birthday in terms of difficulty level. Not easy for a beginner! And he also had a little arrangement of Jaws that he played. It was beyond my skills then, but I remember - like Star Wars - noticing there was music in Jaws beyond the two-note motive. A couple of years later, he said to me, "I don't think I can teach you more, you should start taking lessons from my guitar teacher". Alas, I learned a lot from my second teacher, and I respected his skills and teaching, but I just felt a much warmer relationship with Peter. And I think the video shows why. I didn't know I was so fortunate. This artcle explores his "desert island discs" No Williams on there, but it warmed my heart to read that he played under the baton of Ennio Morricone. So, anybody else have some similar stories? Wow, I actually got a little emotional writing this!

Two weeks to go. I'd lost track of that. Arg the stages of excitment a new Williams score: 1. announcement 2. filming starts 3. filming finishes 4. starts scoring 4.5 if we're lucky Williams talks about his progress. 5. finishes scoring 6. Soundtrack announced 7. Release date announced (sometimes included in stage 6) 8. Track titles! 9. Track lengths! 10. The first listen. 11. Initial disaapointment - not what I was expecting, how could it be? - New kid on the block doesn't belong. 12. Then I realize it's great and it feels part of his canon. 13. Listen for about a month 14. Life returns to normal but it's better because there's more Williams music. When I started it was just 1. See Williams name on a poster 2. Look for soundtrack 3. Buy soundtrack 4. See the movie maybe. or 1. See Williams name on a soundtrack while browsing the OST section of a record shop. I'm so old! 2. Buy and listen etc,

There were others before the flute and violin concerti, Nostalgic Jazz Odyssey and Essay for Strings. And if Williams was his student, he probably would have written pieces for him to critique. And the thread could also be titled "Rosenman loves Williams' film music". That aside, it's a fascinating anecdote!

I must have just clicked on the first page because the most recent post I saw was a few years ago. Oops!