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An Evening with John Williams in Concert London Symphony Orchestra Conductor: John Williams Friday 26 October, Auditorium 7:30pm £21-£90 Source

Hello fellow John Williams and Star Wars fans alike! Was wondering if anyone would be in possession of (and if so, willing to sell) the following programme from John Williams’ live concert performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 1978? Thank you in advance! May The Force Be With You!

Did anyone else watch the new documentary The Galaxy Britain Built: The British Force Behind Star Wars about the making of Star Wars on BBC Four this evening? It was wonderful, not least because it included extensive discussion of the music by John Williams. As well as showing several sections of the famous 1980 BBC documentary of John Williams working on the score to The Empire Strikes Back, it also included recent interviews with bassoonist Robert Bourton and trombonist Denis Wick who played in the LSO on the original soundtrack. Both spoke very highly of John Williams and gave their recollections of recording the score in Denham, Lionel Newman getting the orchestra in line and much more. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000cdzt/the-galaxy-britain-built-the-british-force-behind-star-wars If you have the chance to watch it on the BBC iPlayer, I highly recommend it. A must for any Williams fans!

What do you think?

Hello, I wanted to share with you a playlist of my recent and not so recent scores for short films. For the larger ones I've had the great honor to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road and Air Studios and for the chamber music ones I recorded the music in Paris. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Programme includes: Superman: Theme Witches of Eastwick: Devil’s Dance Jurassic Park: Theme JFK: Prologue War Horse: Dartmoor 1912 Harry Potter: Hedwig’s Theme Jaws: Main Theme ET: Flying Theme Olympic Fanfare and Theme Raiders of the Lost Ark: March Schindler’s List: Theme Close Encounters (excerpts) Saving Private Ryan: Hymn to the Fallen Star Wars: Highlights London Symphony Orchestra

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Here are the discography of JW & The London Symphony Orchestra. Any missing entries? Studio Albums 1977 Star Wars [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]1978 Superman: The Movie [Original Sound Track]1978 The Fury [Original Soundtrack Recording]1979 Dracula [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]1980 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back [The Original Soundtrack From The Motion Picture]1981 Raiders Of The Lost Ark [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]1982 Monsignor [From The 20th Century Film]1983 Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi [The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]1997 The Hollywood Sound1997 The Five Sacred Trees1999 Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]2002 Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]2002 The Fury (The original album recorded by the LSO + The previously unreleased original score)2005 Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Singles 1977 Star Wars. Cantina Band – Star Wars (Main Title) (Edit)1978 Theme From Superman (Main Title) (Edit) – Theme From Superman (Main Title) (Edit)1978 Theme From Superman (Main Title) (Edit) – Love Theme From Superman1981 Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The Raiders March (La Marche des Aventuriers) – Raiders of the Lost Ark (Les Aventuriers de l'Arche Perdue) (France)1983 Lapti Nek (Jabba's Palace Band) – Ewok Celebration1983 Star Wars – Return of the Jedi. Lapti Nek (Jabba's Palace Band) (Club Mix) – Lapti Nek (Jabba's Palace Band) (Dub Mix)1997 Star Wars – A New Hope. Main Title/Blockade Runner – Imperial Attack1997 Star Wars – A New Hope: Figrin d'An & the Modal Nodes. Cantina Band – Cantina Band n° 21997 Star Wars – Return of the Jedi: The Max Rebo Band. Jedi Rocks1997 Star Wars Trilogy. The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)1999 Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Duel of the Fates2002 Star Wars – Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Across the Stars2005 Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Battle of the Heroes – Battle of the Heroes (with Dialogues) – Star Wars Theme – Battle of the Heroes2005 Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Battle of the Heroes2005 Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Target Special Offer "Battle of the Heroes" download Compilation / Reissue Albums 1993 Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology1994 Superman: The Movie [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]1995 Raiders of the Lost Ark [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]1997 Star Wars: A New Hope [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [special Edition] 1997 Star Wars: Return of the Jedi [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [special Edition] 1997 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [special Edition]1999 John Williams Greatest Hits 1969–19992000 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [The Ultimate Edition]2000 Superman: The Movie [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]2007 Star Wars – The Corellian Edition2007 The Music of Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collection2009 John Williams x 2 (2-CD Set; The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration & The Hollywood Sound)2010 The Music of America: John Williams2013 The Fury [Expanded Original Motion Picture Score] Collaborations and performances as Guest star 1998 Gershwin Fantasy (w Joshua Bell)2006 The Essential Hollywood (Various artists, Compilation)2008 Superman: The Music (John Williams, Alexander Courage, Ken Thorne and Ron Jones) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Williams_discography

16 Aug 2015 "The legendary London Symphony Orchestra, who you will remember recorded all previous episodes of the saga soundtracks but not the hotly anticipated forthcoming soundtrack for The Force Awakens, are still very much involved in matters relating to the galaxy far, far away. Yesterday Disney's Portfolio Creative Executive Scott Trowbridge revealed that the LSO have recorded the music for Season of the Force, to be heard in Disney Parks." More here: http://www.jedinews.co.uk/news/news.aspx?newsID=22991

We all know that there are new Star Wars films coming in the future, and we know how much the prequels managed to deteriorate the iconography of the originals. One of the things that I think defines some of this iconography and identity of the original films is the LSO, their performance, and what I believe to be the techniques with which they were recorded. There is a gritty, edginess to the sound of the orchestra, which is completely lost in the prequel recordings. The new ones just sound too smooth. Does anyone feel the same way? I wonder what kinds of techniques were used back in the 70s and 80s to achieve this; I'm not sure if it is merely an analog vs. digital debate because it sounds like there are many more things going on, perhaps close-mic-ing the instruments, I'm really not sure. Do we hope that this could be something that John Williams and JJ Abrams will care about for the 2015 film? It would seem that John Williams would be an advocate for a smoother sounding orchestra these days. Does that detract? Do we care? Does it matter? How would they go about it if they DID care? Thoughts?