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Hal Leonard Signature Editions


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  • 3 months later...

The offer seems quite good, but I can see the scores are better priced at Sheet Music Plus. Music from the Star Wars Saga costs $85 with the offer, while I bought it at sheetmusicplus for $68.

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  • 1 month later...

A sneak peek of The Force Awakens Signature Edition Suite is available on the Hal Leonard site. Click on the "Closer Look" button to see the first two pages from each movement.

 

http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4491705&lid=22&keywords=Force%20awakens&&subsiteid=1

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  • 1 month later...

Just received my copy of TFA. I love it. I'm scanning it in as well as The Star Wars Saga later today. (FYI for the traders out there).

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
9 hours ago, KingPin said:

Audio of the NBC Football Theme, the Hal Leonard John Williams Signature Edition:

 

http://www.halleonard.com/viewaudio.action?itemId=4490827&fileName=http://s3.amazonaws.com/halleonard-audio/04490827.mp3

 

Really nice development of the tune in pure JW style :)

 

FYI, Williams performed it live only once, in Chicago, back in 2008.

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5 hours ago, TownerFan said:

 

Really nice development of the tune in pure JW style :)

 

FYI, Williams performed it live only once, in Chicago, back in 2008.

 

I presume there's no recording available of that performance? Would be great to hear the live version.

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Wow, this is terrific! Too bad the other two movements of his football suite are only available to listen to in their band recordings (not full orchestra). 

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On April 1, 2016 at 6:06 PM, KingPin said:

Coming soon: Wide Receiver (Theme from NBC Football). According to the website, it is scored for full orchestra with a duration of three minutes. It will be interesting to see how it has been reworked.

 

http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490828&lid=151&keywords=John%20williams%20signature&subsiteid=1&

Wide receiver? Kim Kardashian?

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  • 10 months later...

I love the BFG suite recording on S/W III so much and more every time I hear it.  Same goes for the whole album, it's a wonderful listening experience start to finish.

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  • 3 weeks later...

More upcoming:

 

Love Theme from Superman

"That's Entertainment" (arranged by JW)

Tribute to Film Composers

Men of Yorktown from Midway (I really hope it's the version from the new Boston Pops recording!)

 

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the superman love theme, while great, is at the same time weird.

 

I would guess the Men of Yorktown is the same.

 

Now, what I would really like to see is a three-movement suite from ET: Abandoned and pursued, stargazers, adventure on earth--a perfect JW symphony for the ages. 

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Just out of interest:

1. Are these signature editions the only official JW sheet muisc out there (excluding arrangements by others?)

2. Is there a comprehensive list of this entire series? I thought I'd foudn one a couploe of days ago, but then the BFG wasn't included along with a bunch of other stuff.

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5 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Just out of interest:

1. Are these signature editions the only official JW sheet muisc out there (excluding arrangements by others?)

2. Is there a comprehensive list of this entire series? I thought I'd foudn one a couploe of days ago, but then the BFG wasn't included along with a bunch of other stuff.

 

1) These are the only non-bootleg, official versions of JW scores that are commercially made available to the general public.

2) The Hal Leonard website has the comprehensive list: https://www.halleonard.com/search/search.action?menuid=1788&seriesfeature=&subsiteid=6

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry to pop-up this old thread.

 

But I have questions about the Hal Leonard Editions scores.

 

All the reductions and solo/duets arrangements published in this Edition, were they all be written by John Williams himself?

 

Are there exceptions in this list?

 

I see that several concertos where published with a piano reduction, are there his own arrangements?

 

I want to know, especially for those ones:

 

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=849954&lid=1&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841984&lid=4&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841788&lid=8&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=842114&lid=6&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4491243&lid=9&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841041&lid=13&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841675&lid=15&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841055&lid=20&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=842099&lid=25&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=849035&lid=27&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841158&lid=28&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841523&lid=34&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841671&lid=38&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841672&lid=52&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841505&lid=56&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4491071&lid=58&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490945&lid=62&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841382&lid=64&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841674&lid=76&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490842&lid=90&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490844&lid=95&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490393&lid=98&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490966&lid=108&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841484&lid=112&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

 

Another question.  The Book Thief piano suite seems so have been arranged by Williams himself.  Are there other piano or reductions like that he also published recently?

 

I just saw "The BFG piano suite" by example. Did John Williams arranged it himself?

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=192070&lid=16&composer=John

 

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1 hour ago, Bespin said:

Sorry to pop-up this old thread.

 

But I have questions about the Hal Leonard Editions scores.

 

All the reductions and solo/duets arrangements published in this Edition, were they all be written by John Williams himself?

 

Are there exceptions in this list?

 

I see that several concertos where published with a piano reduction, are there his own arrangements?

 

I want to know, especially for those ones:

 

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=849954&lid=1&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841984&lid=4&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841788&lid=8&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=842114&lid=6&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4491243&lid=9&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841041&lid=13&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841675&lid=15&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841055&lid=20&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=842099&lid=25&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=849035&lid=27&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841158&lid=28&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841523&lid=34&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841671&lid=38&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841672&lid=52&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841505&lid=56&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6&

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4491071&lid=58&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490945&lid=62&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841382&lid=64&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841674&lid=76&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490842&lid=90&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490844&lid=95&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490393&lid=98&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=4490966&lid=108&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=841484&lid=112&menuid=1788&subsiteid=6

 

Another question.  The Book Thief piano suite seems so have been arranged by Williams himself.  Are there other piano or reductions like that he also published recently?

 

I just saw "The BFG piano suite" by example. Did John Williams arranged it himself?

https://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=192070&lid=16&composer=John

 

 

Anything sold as "Signature Edition" is arranged by Williams himself. I can't speak to any of the non-SE material though.

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Ok thanks.

 

All those concerti with piano reduction parts, that's intriguing, no?

 

No one has ever been recorded or been played in concert?

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I don't know of any concerti album recordings with the piano reduction, but there have been plenty of YouTube videos of some of the concerti being performed as such. I know that the SE oboe/piano arrangement of The Days Between was recorded by Keisuke Wakao and the SE violin/piano arrangement of The Witches of Eastwick was recorded by Gil Shaham. Can't of anything else at the moment but perhaps someone else on these boards might know of something.

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1 hour ago, Bespin said:

Ok thanks.

 

All those concerti with piano reduction parts, that's intriguing, no?

 

No one has ever been recorded or been played in concert?

 

There is a recording of the Tuba Concerto reduction, performed on bass trombone by Charles Vernon.  

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000QQWQXW/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496442050&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=charles+vernon&dpPl=1&dpID=513zGXCbElL&ref=plSrch

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13 hours ago, Matt S. said:

 

You are right, thanks.

 

I never listened to it I think!

 

22 hours ago, KingPin said:

 

Anything sold as "Signature Edition" is arranged by Williams himself. I can't speak to any of the non-SE material though.

 

Seems not to be correct.

 

According to this website, the Viktor's Tale Clarinet and Piano Reduction was arranged by Paul Lavender.

 

https://www.musicshopeurope.com/product/hl02500792/viktor-s-tale-from-the-terminal.aspx

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5 hours ago, Bespin said:

 

You are right, thanks.

 

I never listened to it I think!

 

 

Seems not to be correct.

 

According to this website, the Viktor's Tale Clarinet and Piano Reduction was arranged by Paul Lavender.

 

https://www.musicshopeurope.com/product/hl02500792/viktor-s-tale-from-the-terminal.aspx

 

That link you posted is not for the piano reduction but rather for the concert band arrangement, which have the Signature Edition label on them but which are sold by Hal Leonard under their Concert Band Professional Series rather than as SE, which is why I forgot about the concert band versions when typing my previous post (if you go on the Hal Leonard website and search "John Williams Signature Edition" the concert band arrangements do not appear in the results). The concert band versions with the SE label are supervised by Williams but are, in some cases, arranged by other individuals. I say "in some cases" because For the President's Own and one of the Star-Spangled Banner arrangements are by Williams himself. So to your point, there are "Signature Edition" scores that have other arrangers, but I believe that the arrangements by other people are restricted to the Concert Band Professional arrangements. I have purchased and own most of the SE orchestral and piano reduction scores and have yet to see another arranger for the piano reductions.

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50 minutes ago, KingPin said:

 

That link you posted is not for the piano reduction but rather for the concert band arrangement, which have the Signature Edition label on them but which are sold by Hal Leonard under their Concert Band Professional Series rather than as SE, which is why I forgot about the concert band versions when typing my previous post (if you go on the Hal Leonard website and search "John Williams Signature Edition" the concert band arrangements do not appear in the results). The concert band versions with the SE label are supervised by Williams but are, in some cases, arranged by other individuals. I say "in some cases" because For the President's Own and one of the Star-Spangled Banner arrangements are by Williams himself. So to your point, there are "Signature Edition" scores that have other arrangers, but I believe that the arrangements by other people are restricted to the Concert Band Professional arrangements. I have purchased and own most of the SE orchestral and piano reduction scores and have yet to see another arranger for the piano reductions.

 

I added all those "piano reduction" versions to my page: http://www.goplanete.com/johnwilliams/arranger/index.htm

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  • 1 month later...

A few months ago, I asked this question to Hal Leonard, but never got a reply. I would be very interested in people's thoughts here, though.

 

Regardless of the legal wrangling and nonsense that would undoubtedly be unleashed if 'the powers that be' ever discussed the possibility, do you think it's possible/feasible for all these signature editions to be released in a digital format such as MIDI? I don't know anything about sheet music on paper vs mock-ups at all, but would just like to know if such a thing could be done without too much work. I'm not talking about achieving a perfect mix in those files, only about having all the notes (prefarably with staccato included) without any mistakes in them so that one could listen to and study individual parts. I'd personally be extremely interested in this because I can't read sheet music and let's just say that 80% of fanmade MIDI mock-ups leave a lot to be desired.

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5 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

A few months ago, I asked this question to Hal Leonard, but never got a reply. I would be very interested in people's thoughts here, though.

 

Regardless of the legal wrangling and nonsense that would undoubtedly be unleashed if 'the powers that be' ever discussed the possibility, do you think it's possible/feasible for all these signature editions to be released in a digital format such as MIDI? I don't know anything about sheet music on paper vs mock-ups at all, but would just like to know if such a thing could be done without too much work. I'm not talking about achieving a perfect mix in those files, only about having all the notes (prefarably with staccato included) without any mistakes in them so that one could listen to and study individual parts. I'd personally be extremely interested in this because I can't read sheet music and let's just say that 80% of fanmade MIDI mock-ups leave a lot to be desired.

 

An interesting question indeed.

 

If I may make a blunt observation; I'm astounded by the number of members on this forum who admit (despite evidently harbouring such an appreciate for fine music) that they cannot read sheet music. Is this just a lack of education, or opportunity? Where I'm from, this is a basic skill taught throughout 12 years of schooling.

 

I own a fairly sizeable collection of the Hal Leonard Signature Edition Deluxe scores. They are quite expensive as they are, even before factoring in exchange rates and international shipping. But once they land in my hands there are zero regrets about cost. They are flawlessly engraved and published, and the ability to grab one off the shelf for instant reference is a huge pleasure.

 

The lack of a digital version of these might very well be due primarily to legal and commercial reasons, but ultimately my guess is as good as anyone's. Making them available commercially would indeed democratise the product, and theoretically serve Hal Leonard's commercial interests. But if I were to choose digital vs paper, I'd still go paper, if for no other reason that the engraving, and the orchestrations are often so dense, that viewing them would be impractical on all but the highest resolution monitors.

 

Maybe hire a computer wiz to hack into Hal Leonard's servers ;) , or, if you're bold enough to go there, even try hacking into JoAnna Kane Music Service's computers ;) .

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Well, in my country, reading sheet music is only taught in music school. I did do a very brief introduction course on the subject, but neglected it for several reasons:

1. During that period, they decided to overhaul the entire braille sheet music standard and I didn't have the patience to learn to read new and old sheet music.

2. It's rather costly (and quite frankly very impractical) to have sheet music converted into braille.

3. I memorise music much more quickly by listening to individual parts than reading. For some strange reason, I never quite 'understood' music when I just read it.

 

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4 minutes ago, zoltan_902 said:

They are flawlessly engraved and published

 

Unfortunately, no, not at all. Although the layout is visually stunning, there are usually tons of unbelievable errors (wrong notes, wrong accidentals, and if I remember correctly I even saw a few bars in the trumpet part of Duel of Fates that were transposed wrongly). Which is completely unjustified, given the exorbitant cost.

 

... But of course, we all buy them anyway :)

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12 minutes ago, Score said:

 

Unfortunately, no, not at all. Although the layout is visually stunning, there are usually tons of unbelievable errors (wrong notes, wrong accidentals, and if I remember correctly I even saw a few bars in the trumpet part of Duel of Fates that were transposed wrongly). Which is completely unjustified, given the exorbitant cost.

 

... But of course, we all buy them anyway :)

 

Interesting. I suppose ironic to what I claimed above, I would never have picked up on those errors - only if I'm feeding the notes into Sibelius (which is something I've done for a few of the scores in their entirety!)

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23 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

How do such errors end up there? Don't they have the perfect version for the recording sessions?

 

It is not so straightforward. Old scores were recorded with handwritten parts, so the SE are relatively recent engravings, often done much after the recording. I have to say that the more recent scores such as TFA do not have such problems (at least, none that I noticed), perhaps because they start from the computer-engraved file that was used for the recording. What bothers me is that they are (or, hopefully, they were) so inefficient in proofreading, given that the score then gets used even by JW himself to conduct. I think even Conrad Pope complained about this some time ago, in a Facebook post that I cannot find anymore. He had conducted from a SE score a cue that he had orchestrated himself for the movie, and he was quite suprised to find that it was engraved so badly. And I am talking of mistakes that can be detected by anyone who can really read music and knows the piece from listening, often appearing even in the main melodic line (e.g. Luke and Leia, the intro of Jurassic Park theme).

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  • 2 months later...

I've been doing some research into alternative formats of Signature Edition music and just heard back from someone who claims that all the Signature Editions are HANDWRITTEN by JW himself, so I'm assuming now that no digital record exists because of that. Could anyone please confirm this (or not)? I thought the SE's were professionally edited material, reportedly containing mistakes, but certainly not handwritten.

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No, this information is not correct. Scores and parts are definitely not engraved, although one rental library does hire out, for example, the Theme from JURASSIC PARK in John's own handwriting. This edition was available before JURASSIC PARK was eventually published by Hal Leonard.

 

All works published within the Signature Edition series have been adapted from the original soundtrack version in order to suit the demands of a professional orchestra that intends to perform select excerpts in a standard concert setting. Most changes relate to instrumentation, for example: four horns instead of six, one keyboard player instead of two, and so on. As far as I know all works within the Signature Edition have been recorded, either by John Williams himself or by other conductors. 

 

I am not sure whether John himself is arranging / adapting his film music for concert use. I assume he did that job when he was with the Boston Pops. But be assured that all works within the Signature Edition have been authorized by John. 

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1 hour ago, bollemanneke said:

I've been doing some research into alternative formats of Signature Edition music and just heard back from someone who claims that all the Signature Editions are HANDWRITTEN by JW himself, so I'm assuming now that no digital record exists because of that. Could anyone please confirm this (or not)? I thought the SE's were professionally edited material, reportedly containing mistakes, but certainly not handwritten.

 

The scores published in SE are of course completely typeset. I'm not sure what your source meant. Maybe he meant that the sources for the scores published in SE series are the original handwritten scores (which is of course true), and not, say, a copy made by others.

 

 

43 minutes ago, MovieMusicMaestro said:

No, this information is not correct. Scores and parts are definitely not engraved, although one rental library does hire out, for example, the Theme from JURASSIC PARK in John's own handwriting. This edition was available before JURASSIC PARK was eventually published by Hal Leonard.

 

I am a bit confused: maybe you wrote a "not" too much? Scores and parts are definitely ENGRAVED, not "not engraved". (I assume that, in this context, in English engraved = typeset, right?).

 

Quote

All works published within the Signature Edition series have been adapted from the original soundtrack version in order to suit the demands of a professional orchestra that intends to perform select excerpts in a standard concert setting. Most changes relate to instrumentation, for example: four horns instead of six, one keyboard player instead of two, and so on. As far as I know all works within the Signature Edition have been recorded, either by John Williams himself or by other conductors. 

 

I am not sure whether John himself is arranging / adapting his film music for concert use. I assume he did that job when he was with the Boston Pops. But be assured that all works within the Signature Edition have been authorized by John. 

 

Concerning what he does or does not, I am almost sure that he arranges the cue as far as the structure is concerned, in the sense that he is the one who decides how to alter the structure of the original film cue (in many cases, there is evidence of this). I am not sure whether he is the person who arranges, indeed, the 6 horns parts for 4 horns, or 2 harps for 1, or cuts away a keyboard. 

 

 

 

 

 

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