TownerFan

No, it's not from the Empire sessions. It's footage from the mid- or late-1980s, more likely from a concert rehearsal at an unspecified location.

It's being recorded by Shawn Murphy at Sony Scoring Stage as usual.

I confirm that most if not all of Lex Luthor's Lair cue has been reinstated for the LTP presentation.

Bill Ross wrote on his Facebook page that the End Credits piece is his own: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02mwGYpcb9JcFQ69WGC5qvFo1q5X8FrgxFpcYukbDo7ZN1GQH7cnjSpNcUHEVwvYWkl&id=100063575897032

Coming June 30 at The Legacy of John Williams, an exclusive video event. BOSTON CALLING — Legendary Musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Reunite to Celebrate John Williams With Special Guests Ann Hobson Pilot, Tim Morrison, Gus Sebring and Keisuke Wakao Featuring Author and Writer Emilio Audissino Hosted by Maurizio Caschetto and Tim Burden More info here: https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2022/06/27/announcing-boston-calling-video-event/

Both Anthony Gabriele and Mike Matessino addressed this aspect in their respective interviews they gave to The Legacy of JW. The decision was to avoid getting into overtime for orchestra musicians (it's already a very long show)

Artie Kane was a true “L.A. Studio Legend” indeed. His career is the epitome of the greatness of that pool of musicians. Here’s the tribute from The Legacy of John Williams: https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2022/06/24/in-memoriam-artie-kane/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/john-williams-90-steps-away-from-film-but-not-music/2022/06/23/26b97ac2-f2f2-11ec-ac16-8fbf7194cd78_story.html Lots of stuff here.

It's 100% John's writing.

The interview you refer to (published in 1999 by French magazine Starfix) has been notoriously signaled as being at least partly made up, so I suggest not taking it too literally. If you're interested in actual historical accuracy about the temp tracking of the first Star Wars film, check out Paul Hirsch's book A Long Time Ago In A Cutting Room Far, Far Away, where there is an entire chapter devoted to the editing of the film and lots of details about the temp track.

Absolutely. It's very intertextual as well.

Lovely conversation, I enjoyed it a lot. Great job, @lairdo!

Yes, it's a new arrangement for cello and violin. Mutter said on her Facebook page that she was practicing it during breaks between gigs in the last few weeks. My guess is that Dear Basketball will be performed live to picture, as the program notes are saying clips will be shown during the concerts.

This is a musical-like moment, so I wouldn't count it strictly as source music.

Imho, it's just John having fun. The whole Canto Bight source piece is a concoction of jazz stylings from the 1930s, mostly Duke Ellington and Artie Shaw, so it's in this vein that he threw in a direct reference to another popular tune. It's part of the things he loved a lot when he was kid growing up.

It was indeed arranged and recorded by him in LA in March 1993. I think it was actually officially released on an album, but I have to check.

Both OYF'N Pripetshok and Yeroushalaim Chel Zahav as heard on the OST album were recorded by Israeli-based choirs. I don't think neither arrangement is John's own. Btw, John did write an original arrangement for a Hebrew song ("Eli, Eli" aka "A Walk to Caesarea") used in the Israel prints of the film replacing "Yeroushalaim Chel Zahav".

John was credited with orchestrations together with Bill Ross in the end credits of the pilot episode. Based on what Holt said in one interview (i.e. besides the theme and suite, JW also recorded a set of demo cues to show how to use the theme), it’s fair to assume that Ross took some of JW’s demo cues and repurposed to some scenes in the first episode keeping John’s original orchestration.

Only a note to say that the 2-weeks window is something told by Natalie Holt during an interview and not something said by JW himself. No need to question it of course, but she didn't collaborate directly with John for this project. JW had to interrupt work on The Fabelmans for doing this and sessions for that were already booked at Sony, so they had to work the schedule around that. Also, the 2-week window very possibly included not just writing, but also reviewing footage, taking notes, set timings with the music editor etc. Part of that job was assigned to Bill Ross because the schedule was tight and it was virtually impossible for JW to do all by himself as usual (why Ross was assigned to do that and not Holt, I honestly don't know). As for the fact he can churn out a suite like this in a day, well, as much as he's still a fast writer, he's not 45 anymore, so he definitely needs a bit more time even for shorter pieces. It's not a mechanical process. Writing film scores is always a problem-solving process. Sometimes the key to unlock the film's needs might come early on, other times arrives at the last minute available. As for the fact JW found the right theme late in the process in cases like Azkaban or Force Awakens, it might be because of how the writing schedule was for those projects. I think he didn't see a completed cut, but he had to start writing nonetheless because he had other deadlines looming. He said many times he prefers to see a completed cut because that way he knows where the music is leading to so he can deconstruct the musical material etc, but with the current methodology of doing films, this is now virtually impossible to do, so you need to start writing with whatever footage is available to score, keeping in mind that stuff is constantly reviewed and changed throughout the process, hence the music needs to change as well.

There is no need to be so confrontational, pal. It’s not a mystery because it’s quite well known how John works with his keyboardists, so there is no big secret being kept in custody. If you listen to the talks I did with Ralph Grierson, Mike Lang or Randy Kerber, all of them tell precisely what is John’s methodology when dealing with synths and electronics. He sketches the synth line and gives indications using words of reference. Lang referred themselves almost as “synth orchestrators” when doing that kind of work for him. I think it’s more than safe to assume that that’s how he did also in the case of Training Montage, sketching the cue the same way he always does and assigning lines to instruments etc. and then turning to his trusted musicians and having them coming up with the synth sound he was looking for. It must be noted that while the piece has electronic timbres and sounds, it’s mostly acoustic and played live for the most part. The big difference with the techno bit in AI that you mention is that in that case the fragment was something purely electronic and not something that John could or would sketch on paper. That is certainly something out of his realm and that’s why he has to rely on other people in cases like that.

Thank you everyone for your nice words of appreciation, it’s really sweet. I am glad that you like the show. And it’s very fun seeing some of you combing through every word out of Mike’s mouth when he’s on the show 🙂 But I agree that he’s always a joy to listen to, knowledgeable, insightful and fun. Since you love guessing games, let me tell you that we’re going to have a couple of really terrific musician episodes and also a very special video feature that will “complete the trilogy” after London and Los Angeles…

And I still have a hard time understanding what exactly constitutes a mystery for you about this cue. It's a John Williams cue written in the pop style typical of that era. He did that because that's what he was asked to come up with for that scene. It's more than possible that some of the above-mentioned musicians came up with the keyboard sounds you hear, but that's more or less how JW always works when it comes to electronic timbres in his scores.

There is no mystery whatsoever about Training Montage. The piece is composed by John Williams as the rest of the score is. Mike's liner notes do not address specific people who did synth programming. The musicians roster lists Alan Pasqua (a noted keyboardist of the rock/pop world) among the keyboardists together with Ralph Grierson, Mike Lang and Chet Swiatkowksi, so it's probably him doing synth work on that cue. The great Neil Stubenhaus is playing the electric bass and drum legend Vinnie Colaiuta is listed among the percussionists so it's very likely him playing drums on that.

He actually told the New York Times last February that he’s finally planning to write one. Williams often said that he favoured concerti because they were occasions to write for specific musicians (in most cases, players of the BSO) and also because the format offered a chance to stretch a different set of muscles than he usually does with film, while the fanfares were mostly commissions for public events or specific occasions, so it’s closer to his film writing. It also must be noted that the first Violin Concerto is not serial by any means. The theme that opens the first movement is certainly highly chromatic, but it’s not dodecaphonic at all. The work surely reflects influences from the violin concerti of the 20th century (especially Prokofiev, Bartok and Berg), but the work has a deeply post-Romantic vein that is unmistakably Williams.

You’re mixing up the click track with punches & streamers. The click track is an audio device following the music tempi that is fed through audio monitors (headset and earplugs) to the conductor and the players to keep precisely in tempo. Punches & streamers are visual cues that are shown only to the conductor. The streamer is that vertical line that goes across the screen that usually works as a sort of countdown to the downbeat where the sync must fall, while the punches are visual “holes” on screen marking the exact cue where the conductor has to hit the sync. Williams always preferred to conduct film cues to punches & streamers (and still does) because they allow to a more nuanced rubato performance, while the click track keeps everything much more mechanical, but certainly saves time.