Foxfan

I say we put in a request to the Boston Pops to allow us to produce a tribute concert conducted by the fans. Who's game? Enter the piece you want programmed below. I'll start it off. Foxfan: Suite from "Hook" (Flight to Neverland, The Face of Pan, The Banquet Scene)

From the BSO: SATURDAY, AUGUST 20 – FILM NIGHT AT TANGLEWOOD One of the season's most enduring and popular traditions, the annual Film Night at Tanglewood concert August 20 celebrates the music of the movies. This summer, John Williams and the Boston Pops are joined by frequent collaborator Gil Shaham in a program featuring film music arranged for violin and orchestra, including Gardel’s Por Una Cabeza (Tango from Scent of a Woman), three pieces from Schindler’s List, and excerpts from Fiddler on the Roof. Also on the program will be Mr. Williams’s nostalgic evocation of early 20th-century America from the 1969 The Reivers, based on the book of the same name by William Faulkner, with special guest Morgan Freeman as narrator. Along with The Reivers, Williams will lead the orchestra in a salute to the Hollywood Western, including John Dunbar’s Theme from Dances with Wolves, the theme from Alfred Newman's How the West Was Won, and Williams’s own The Cowboys Overture. Who's going?

There's already a great recording of the full Geisha suite by the Chicago Symphony on the "Music of America" album.

they should only allow people with concert tickets for autographs Unfortunately there's not much legally they can do to remove them from the sidewalk, which is public property. However they could have detained them for crossing the police tape line as soon as they reached over and almost hit Williams in the head with those LPs. The best solution though would be to go back to doing autographs inside the building where they would be within their rights to expell non-ticket-holders. Is someone recording the stream? Would especially like "Far and Away", "Dracula", and "Sabrina" as I don't think there are any official recordings of these arrangements.

Yeah... those hoodlums with stacks of LPs were certainly embarrassing. I hope they don't show up again tonight and ruin the other fans' chances. If I were John I would have been tempted to sign something other than my name... I did manage to get a word in and say that I was looking forward to "War Horse" and "Tintin", to which Williams replied "Oh.. War Horse is great." As for the playing, I would say "1941" was probably the highlight of the evening. Comes across so much better live than on a recording... unfortunately the Finale from "Far and Away" was the opposite... both times I heard it they've been unable to match the energy and epic-ness of the OST at the end of the piece. The trumpets also screwed up big-time during the Spielberg/Lucas tribute when they forgot the all-important B-flat note when transitioning between "Jaws" and "Star Wars - Main Title". Personally I thought the Oboe Concerto had a few similarities to Born on the 4th/JFK (1st movement), Geisha (2nd movement), and Adventures of Mutt (3rd movement). If I had recorded it I maybe could have provided some more in depth analysis but that's all I remember.

Will also be there Wednesday the 25th. Looking forward to hearing "Jubilee 350" and "Sabrina" in concert for the first time, along with the "Far and Away" suite that I can never grow tired of. Hoping for a sneak peek at "War Horse" or "Titin" as an encore... the usual suspects (ET and Indiana Jones) are included in the Lucas/Spielberg tribute so it'll have to be something new.

Williams performed the finale sequence live synched to the film at Tanglewood in August 2003. Granted it started at the park scene so the total duration was more around 12 minutes instead of 15, but it certainly is believable that the recording was one continuous 15 minute take that the film was simply cut to. Much prefer the film version over the "Adventures on Earth" arrangement. It's cruel to the audience to have the music stop right before the climax.

I'm going. Should be even BETTER than the film-night concerts since the whole show is a tribute to him (well except Tchaikovsky 1812 for the finale).

Nice. A little strange that the autograph sessions are now being done outside rather than the lobby to the right of the stage. At one point they were even ushering fans up to the dressing room. As for the seating locations, it's true that sitting at orchestra level doesn't allow you to see beyond the strings, but it does offer you the best sound though. I find that strings all too often get drowned out by the brass when sitting in the balconies (it's even worse in other concert halls). Whatever you do don't sit in the balconies on the right side of the orchestra... all you hear is the "pwomp... pwomp" sound coming from the tuba. The left side is OK since you're farthest from the brass. Besides, apart from percussion, the string players are the only ones show movement. The other sections the only movement you see are the players' fingers on the keys. Sad that I couldn't go this year since I can't miss work during the week and the Saturday night concert was an exclusive engagement with B.U., but I am looking forward to Tanglewood on Parade that is lining up to be an even larger tribute to Williams featuring both film music and concert works.

So was someone able to record the concert? This performance of Stars and Stripes was perfect! Lockhart slows it down too much at the end...

Hymn to New England... Now Raider's March, NBC News, or Stars and Stripes.

A Tintin world premiere would be awesome!

There are two intermissions during Pops concerts. Hopefully the maestro is OK.

Oh wait, it was another conductor. I've heard Williams conduct a Mozart concerto at the first concert I attended in May 2003. Remember that it's the Boston Pops' tradition to perform more "serious" music in the middle of the concert. The whole purpose behind the Pops concerts was to get "ordinary" folks in the door and introduce them to music they wouldn't have otherwise listened to, all while pleasing them with music they like.

OK, but which minutes are they on the DVD? Beethoven piano concerto playing now. Interesting to hear Williams conducting "non-Pops" music.

The main title from Star Wars didn't sound as "big" as I'm used to hearing it (must be the microphone placement and mixing), but the imperial march was great. The part about the Boston Pops recording two minutes of CETK was news to me! Anyone know which minutes they were exactly?

It's now streaming live online.

Heads up that WCRB 99.5 Boston is scheduled to air Williams' Saturday night concert live. I'm hoping they'll allow it to be streamed online this year. If not someone from the Boston area will have to record it for us...

An "Across the Stars" arrangement for piano and violin would be nice...

I also hate the way the climax is just removed for no reason. Williams did perform the full version though at Tanglewood during the summer of 2003. It was accompanied by the last reel of the film playing above.

Yes, this year marks 75 years since the merger of Twentieth Century Pictures with the Fox Film Corporation. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" had a special anniversary logo with the newly-redesigned monument (unofficially premiered in Avatar), with the camera tilting up to the sky and the searchlights forming "75" in the sky over Hollywood. There's a little controversy though over whether it should be called the 75th anniversary (since the merger) or the 95th anniversary (since founder William Fox opened his studio). http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/movies/differ_fox_really_this_year_somewhere_ZCPXjPEGf78WS4CmqHdTkJ What do you think?

Of course, nothing can ever beat Alf Newman's 20th Century Fox fanfare, but I also like Horner's Universal logo for the 75th anniversary. Speaking of anniversaries, it will be 75 years this May since the 20th Century-Fox merger. It would be nice to maybe get an updated logo (last time in 1994) and music recording (last one dates back to 1997). The Dreamworks one is OK, but I am always bothered by the harsh and dissonant trumpets at the end. Was that deliberate?

I don't believe a true John Williams fan would get a Region-2 DVD (with the pitch altered by the 4% PAL speedup).

There's one shot during the pod race in TPM that show's Sebulba's pod behind Anakin's with no one driving it. It was mentioned on the DVD commentary. Once you're aware of it you notice it every time, but very few people would have noticed otherwise.

It would be nice if they did. The Boston Symphony/Pops site lets you pick your own seats so you see all the ones still available. Same for the Detroit Symphony. I hate buying tickets for the Montreal Symphony or others when they just give you seats based on the number or section you requested, but don't give you any other choice. Often you might get something just one row back but much more centered but you never can know with the Ticketmaster or E-Venue systems. They also try to use such a system to fill gaps of crappy seats. I often had to use two computers simultaneously just to block off the bad seats so I can get a better one.