pixie_twinkle
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Posts posted by pixie_twinkle
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I usually mix up the type of cue so it doesn't bland out.If you make a whole c.d. of Fanfares or Love theme it can get fatiguing very fast.
Indeed. Although I enjoy all the music on American Journey, I find it hard to listen through the whole CD start to finish for that very reason.
I recently made a fairly comprehensive JW compilation set for some friends of mine. It was 4 CDs, with a single track from each movie/tv show he's done (well, the ones I have anyway...everything thats available). Disk 1 started with M Squad theme and title music for Checkmate, and went as far as Jaws. Disk 2 was Eiger Sanction to ET. Disk 3 was Jedi to Hook, and disk 4 was JFK to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It won't be long before there'll be enough new scores to made a 5th disk! It was a fun project to work on and took me hours to decide which track to use. Mostly I went for the main theme, but in the case of sequels I had a little more freedom. The end results sounded great. Even though I stuck mainly to big themes, I included one piece from EVERYTHING he did, so there was a lot of variety, and some less well-known pieces mixed in (Stepmom, The Rare Breed etc).
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Yeah, that paper bag dress sucks,
Maybe if we got the big bad wolf to huff and puff ...
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So I'd have to say...no. In recordings, Williams gets the job done just fine. But that is also because the monitor is the real conductor. Williams MUST follow that, or else the soundtrack doesn't work. But put in a concert situation, Williams is a bit TOO used to following a monitor, and making sure things sync up. Hence the ENORMOUS movements of his arms.
Have you seen Solti conduct? Or Toscanini?? Next to these two Williams' arm movements seem positively miniscule! Solti in his youth looked like a crazed spider on the podium!
Also, whilst I can see your point regarding how Williams' works better as a recording conductor than a concert conductor (I completely agree with you here) I feel that you are belittling the skill involved in conducting to a monitor. You completely contradict yourself by saying that on the one hand there is more to conducting than keeping time, but then you go on to say the monitor is "the real conductor" in studio recordings. How does the musicality reach the players? Of course were it a small group of skilled players they would interpret the music themselves. But an orchestra, especially the size of orchestra that Williams commonly uses, requires a skilled frontman when playing music as compex as that found in most of his scores. I think the impressive readings of his music on many soundtracks demonstrates that Williams possesses a skill that simply isn't necessary in the concert hall, the ability to produce a well-rounded and musical performance while sticking strictly to the timings on the movie monitor.
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Although I have never played under Williams I know a few people who have, and they had nothing but positive comments for his conducting. Mind you, I think they were just thrilled to be playing ET, Star Wars, Raiders etc! As for baton-wobbling, a conductor does what he can to get the orchestra to respond. Williams, like all conductors, has his quirks. Mimicking a violinist to indicate vibrato is one of them! As long as the conductor has set up a clear and steady beat, he should then be free to express himself to the orchestra in whichever way he feels necessary. In fact the conductors who just beat solid time are generally the weakest. No matter how well-rehearsed the orchestra is, the players always appreciate cues, eye contact, and expression indications from the maestro. Even the great Beecham who hardly ever moved an inch during perormances, conducting mainly from the wrist, knew the value of eye contact and facial expression.
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Has anyone heard both recordings? I'd like to know how they compare. I have the Snell one.
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I voted no just because it doesn't bother me all that much. If Williams had composed a proper end titles suite and it had been replaced on the CD by this then I would have voted differently. As it stands it works well enough as a finale. I'd rather end the CD with this than with the "Finale" which doesn't tie the music up at all.
As for whether or not the CD would have been better served with more unreleased music instead, well even as it stands there's 10 minutes they could have filled. They obviously gave us everything they thought we would want. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but I just don't think we would have been given more music whether they included Mischief Managed of not.
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Much as I like POA, my favourite is still Philosopher's Stone. It started the thematic journey and provides all the principal themes for the whole saga (short of one or two here and there) in a well-constructed way. I think it's up there with Hook in terms of great themes introduced. Hook still has the edge overall though.
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Sweet! I've been listening to a lot of Mahler lately. His third has to be one of the greatest romantic symphonies. Darth Horn, have you played that? The opening must surely be a horn player's dream!
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Mahler 6! Damn I envy you! There are recordings coming out not that include the "3rd hammer blow"! Well Mahler's dead now so what harm can it do?
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Perhaps Previn was having a bad week, but heck if you can't get into Shostakovich 5
you have to be dead
Wow! That's one of those pieces that you can't fail to get buzzed by! I am nowhere near as experienced as you performing-wise, but I recently played with the Tuscarawas Philharmonic in a performance of Shosta 5. The 3rd movement is one of the high points in all music I think! You can hear the pain and desolation in every note! My composition teacher once tried to transcribe this movement for organ but had to give up about 7 minutes into the movement as there was just too much going on for two hands and two feet! There was nothing that could be omitted without comromising the music.
You are a great new addition to the JWfan onliners! Welcome!
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The fact that you hate Shore does not make you are very credible source IMO.
I didn't say I hate Shore. I'm sure he's a lovely guy. My problems with him lie entirely in his composition and conducting. I honestly think the guy's a bit of a hack. It's an opinion only, but a fairly educated one. I am clearly in a minority, as his two oscars prove. I will confess I like the "history" motive that opens the first LOTR movie. I just don't like overly simple melodies that are basically a five-finger pieno tune with a chordal accompaniment (the "fellowship" theme and the "rohan" theme are two good examples). I feel that this is a more poppy approach that offers little beyond the initial hearing. In Williams' music I often find myself hearing developmental material based on themes which is not always apparent on first hearing, which makes the music a little more sophisticated. With the LOTR scores I hear everything instantly, and find it lacking.
Darth Horn Player, I bow to your experience! When did you get the opportunity to work with all these legends???? I'm surprised Previn was a boring conductor. I always imagined he would be fun to play under. I think he would be a good Boston Pops conductor, except that he has too good of a thing going at the moment!
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I give it a *** out of ***** for pure entertainment value. I was entertained for the duration of the film. I will have forgotten most of it by tomorrow. Or maybe the day after tomorrow...
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So "he waves his arms in time to the music." Have you considered that the music may be in time because he is "waving his arms?" Probably not. Whichever way round it actually is, the orchestra seems to be able to cope pretty well.
Trust me, there is more to conducting than keeping time. If you get a chance check out videos of Bernstein, Solti, or Levine. I can particularly recommend Bernstein's performance of Mahler 9. It's available on "The Unanswered Question" set. I know Shore is not a professional conductor so it's hardly a fair comparison, I just want to make the point that he's not very good. Williams has a fairly wide repertoir and knows enough to be able to conduct various styles and composers. Shore on the other hand looks very awkward on the podium and seems to be barely holding his own simplistic compositions together.
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I just saw the movie this morning. It was as expected. A LOT of fun, and not much else. Same as any other Emerich film. If you are thinking of seeing it and know what to expect from Emerich, go see it. You won't be disappointed. If you haven't seen Emerich's other movies and expect a lot from this one, be warned, it's extremely shallow and fluffy (like Independence Day and Godzilla).
Without giving anything away (well much anyway!) the scenes of devestation are excellent and easily the highlight of the film. Let's face it, that's what I paid to see. The music was bland, unmemorable, and fitted the film quite well.
There are a few possible spoilers in this paragraph so read with caution.
There are some CGI wolves which I thought were pretty poor and unrealistic. Shame as the other effects were very good. Also, I REALLY could have done without the jarring and irritating "green party" sentiments at the end. No matter how well-intended they were, I felt the end of the film was preachy and clumsily handled.
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I paid 16.00 for mine. But I'm not complaining. I got it May 22nd!
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Thornhill, I assume you and Hector were in the same store at the same time!
I did, it was back in 1980-'81 time frame. JW was rehearshing for a show in the Dorthy Chandler Pavillion here in L.A.. I went with a friend of mine who owned a record store at the time. He did not want to meet JW, but I did, and even got an autograph! I just need to remember which record I stored it in. I think it is in my Superman soundtrack. I'm going to have to check it one of these days.Wow Saabster! You met the great man in his Golden age of film-scoring! Now that IS impressive! Was he glowing with a mystic aura at the time? There must be some explanation for the phenomenal quality of his work between 1975 and 1982!
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The guy can't conduct. He just waves his arms in time to the music. You only have to watch the music segments on the LOTR expanded DVDs to see that. I play violin in 2 orchestras at present, and if ever we get a conductor like that we learn how to listen to each other and play well in spite of the joker on the podium. Shore never even makes eye contact with his players, he just keeps his head buried in the score. This is a SIN in conducting.
He's a crap composer too, but that's off topic. My abhorance of Shore's music has nothing to do with my disgust for his conducting "ability". They are two wonderfully seperate areas of dislike I have for Shore's musicality.
Go see Williams! He is much more interesting to watch. Also, although he's not a "great" conductor, he is at least a very competent one. He is expressive, communicative (with both orchestra AND audience!), and solid in his ability. I promise a fun evening with Williams. You won't be disappointed.
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I met him at the Barbican Centre in London, 1996. He signed my booklet from the Start Wars Anthology boxset, at the time THE Star Wars set to have! Of course if I'd met him a year later I'd have had him sign my SE sets! He was exhausted, but very polite. Shook my hand!!!!
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Ah, I wish that great event could happen again! I didn't know about this site when the great poll was done. Mind you, I would still have put ESB at number one, so all's well in love and score.
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Especially considering every cue is in a completely different musical style, yes!
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The lovely flute theme in "A Window to the Past" is the primary musical idea in Prisoner of Azkaban
Funny, I can't hear a flute theme. The recorder theme is nice though.
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I know it's just a big boasting show for some of us, but darn it if it don't feel good to boast once in a while!
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Thanks again for all the suggestions. I FINALLY tracked down a copy of King Kong at our local free library! Even better, I don't have to pay a dime for it! The presentation will be Wednesday July 2nd. Maybe I should play some music from the Azkaban CD. It could hardly be more topical, and I'm sure High School kids will be as excited as I am about the upcoming movie!
Thanks for the Indy suggestions Director. I'm a relative newby to posting on the forum here so I don't remember you. Nice to "meet" you though.
NJA, Of course I love the Korngold score, it's second only to his Sea Hawk, I just feel I need something more modern. Trouble is, most modern film scores suck IMO. It's getting tougher to sort the wheat from the chafe. I haven't been impressed with a single best score oscar since the Red Violin. I may end up starting with the Azkaban music then focussing more in depth on 4 other scores, culminating in an analysis of the Death Star battle. I wish I had 2 hours, not 40 minutes. I also wish I could show the shower scene from Psycho, but I think the parents of Orange county would string me up!
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In Farinelli I believe they digitally merged the voices of a boy soprano and a professional female soprano (I don't know who) to give the effect of an unbroken male voice with the dexterity and sureness of tone of a seasoned professional.
The Reason of shortness to POA soundtrack
in General Discussion
Posted
It's only the Americans who are getting pissy. The Brits, Canadians and Australians are just smiling smugly to ourselves.