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Music composed but not conducted by John Williams


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Hello! For a better knowledge of John Williams' works, I want to know why this soundtracks are not conducted by him.

None but the Brave (I know that JW couldn't conduct this one 'cause of other works)

Midway (I believe this is a re-recording, not the original score used on the film)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Is this like Superman sequels? - another composer adapted the score -)

Thank you for your help

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Well. John Williams most likely conducted the original score for Midway. just not the re-recording (either lack of interest, Varese could not afford him, or he was simply never asked)

Jurassic Park was because he hurt his back, so Artie Kane took over.

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Williams hurt his back partway through the recording process, so Artie Kane only conducted a portion of the cues

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yes he conducted part of it until he hurt his back or after he recovered from it.

so its true, from a certain POW :P

Williams hurt his back partway through the recording process, so Artie Kane only conducted a portion of the cues

artie kane is credited with 'thanks to' in the cover credits so thats not the reason...

EDIT: huh? heck i could swear i was quoting other text...

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Williams hurt his back partway through the recording process, so Artie Kane only conducted a portion of the cues

Don't you mean midway through the recording process?

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I have an idea that even though JW didn't conduct the whole thing, he was still involved all the way. Meaning, he listened to the recordings, made suggestions, and gave final approval. Who knows, maybe he was sitting right there next to Shawn Murphy, while Artie conducted.

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I have an idea that even though JW didn't conduct the whole thing, he was still involved all the way. Meaning, he listened to the recordings, made suggestions, and gave final approval. Who knows, maybe he was sitting right there next to Shawn Murphy, while Artie conducted.

I assume he was

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Which would go a long way toward explaining why they didn't bother changing the "Music Composed and Conducted by JW."

Because, although JW didn't always swing the baton himself, he was still conducting, in a way. :)

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Speaking of Midway, does anyone know if Varese got an orchestra together to do a re-recording because they couldn't license the original film recordings, or was it because the original film recordings are GONE/missing/destroyed/etc?

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Speaking of Midway, does anyone know if Varese got an orchestra together to do a re-recording because they couldn't license the original film recordings

This seems highly unlikely.

or was it because the original film recordings are GONE/missing/destroyed/etc?

Yes, probably. Don't know for sure, though.

------

But actually I have the 2 original recordings:

1. Midway March (02:46)

2. The men of the Yorktown march (03:11)

They are on the Japanese version of John Williams Filmworks.

http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/7761/John+Williams+Filmworks

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Why is that unlikely Josh?

Varese re-recorded lot's of scores because the originals were not available to them. (Last Of The Mohicans, Jaws, Out Of Africa etc...)

A few tracks from Midway did appear on the Japanese version of the Filmworks CD.

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Midway is a Universal production and at the time of the Varese recording I imagine the original tracks were not available to license.

Now that Universal is allowing the labels to raid their vaults, if the original tracks are available and the rights are not tangled, Midway may finally see a release.

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Conducted by Williams Ross, just like the CD says. Williams had to leave after writing all the sketches to go do Catch Me If You Can

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I don't how how many Williams Ross fans there are here, but I gotta say this: I was actually amazed how abysmally bad WR is . . . or was. I happened to watch an old MacGyver episode scored by WR, and oh my God! My music teacher in high school could have done a better job, is what I thought. If I am not mistaken, it was the first episode of the 7th season...

What was JW thinking in hiring WR, of all people?

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Williams hurt his back partway through the recording process, so Artie Kane only conducted a portion of the cues

Don't you mean midway through the recording process?

:lol:

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I was never aware that JW hurt his back during the recording sessions of Jurassic Park. You learn something new every day!

What would be very interesting is to discover which cues he conducted, and which were done by Artie Kane. I bet there's a teeny difference.

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Since JW was still the one who wrote the music, was there to work with different sections to tweak things, was there in the booth to hear it all and suggest changes, and just wasn't the one there waving the baton, probably not.

It's kinda like how you can't tell just by listening who orchestrated a cue

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In Superman IV, according to the credits, John Williams composed the music and Alexander Courage conducted and adapted it, but I've heard that the music was composed by AC.

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It's an original score by Alexander Courage, that includes themes written by John Williams

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Since JW was still the one who wrote the music, was there to work with different sections to tweak things, was there in the booth to hear it all and suggest changes, and just wasn't the one there waving the baton, probably not.

It's kinda like how you can't tell just by listening who orchestrated a cue

i have the thought that WIlliams did not conduct the main theme, that`s why every other rendition by him is speed up (or to put it more correctly different tempo).

but then i would assume that would be the cue that williams would have wanted to conduct and get it right...

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I don't how how many Williams Ross fans there are here, but I gotta say this: I was actually amazed how abysmally bad WR is . . . or was. I happened to watch an old MacGyver episode scored by WR, and oh my God! My music teacher in high school could have done a better job, is what I thought. If I am not mistaken, it was the first episode of the 7th season...

What was JW thinking in hiring WR, of all people?

MacGyver? Don't assume you're hearing the full spectrum of Ross's talents. He probably just wrote whatever the producers demanded.

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In Superman IV, according to the credits, John Williams composed the music and Alexander Courage conducted and adapted it, but I've heard that the music was composed by AC.

John Williams compose these 3 themes for Superman IV - The Quest For Peace:

1. Someone like you (Lacy's theme)

2. Jeremy's theme

3. Nuclear man theme

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Speaking of Midway, does anyone know if Varese got an orchestra together to do a re-recording because they couldn't license the original film recordings, or was it because the original film recordings are GONE/missing/destroyed/etc?

Most likely

Not quite. The R2 DVD is in stereo, and so is the music, which means that a potential stereo recording exists...

Speaking of Midway, does anyone know if Varese got an orchestra together to do a re-recording because they couldn't license the original film recordings

This seems highly unlikely.

or was it because the original film recordings are GONE/missing/destroyed/etc?

Yes, probably. Don't know for sure, though.

------

But actually I have the 2 original recordings:

1. Midway March (02:46)

2. The men of the Yorktown march (03:11)

They are on the Japanese version of John Williams Filmworks.

http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/7761/John+Williams+Filmworks

I have the original Japanese 7 - inch vinyl disc with the aforementioned tracks.

Because the original recordings were never released on a CD. Just the 2 tracks (if I am not mistaken).

You are not mistaken, friend.

P.s., don't forget that "Heidi" was not conducted by JW.

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and when he was very very young and was starting....

he must have been in his 20's by then.

Well, normally I am not so critical of TV scores, but this was really abysmally bad. You couldn't even concentrate on the story itself, because the music kept intruding.

I think the producers realized that too, soon afterwards. Because after this episode WR scored only a 2 or 3 episodes... the rest was done by Ken Harrison (who is not too shabby).

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Dont forget Dennis Mccarthy please, Josh.

Well, yes, of course. Dennis McCarthy and Randy Edelman also scored many episodes, the latter in addition to contributing the famous theme.

But I was talking about the 7th and last season. As far as I remember--and correct me if I am wrong--Ken Harrison did pretty much the entire season (except for a few, which were done by WR).

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I used to have the first couple of seasons of MacGyver on DVD.

Besides, you can easily look it up at imdb, if you don't believe me.

Here you go!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006055/filmoseries#tt0088559

The ones he scored, it says " composer (theme music) , Composer".

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I think Randy Edelman and Dennis McCarthy both did a fantastic job. They made the MacGyverisms seem more impressive than they actually were!

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I'd kill for an official release of some music from MacGyver.

Has any actual version of the main theme made onto any TV compilations or anything? All that I've ever heard are re-recordings.

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Hello! For a better knowledge of John Williams' works, I want to know why this soundtracks are not conducted by him.

None but the Brave (I know that JW couldn't conduct this one 'cause of other works)

Midway (I believe this is a re-recording, not the original score used on the film)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Is this like Superman sequels? - another composer adapted the score -)

Thank you for your help

No, JW composed all of the music for Chamber of Secrets. I believe King Mark has a link to an interesting interview in his signature.

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I think Randy Edelman and Dennis McCarthy both did a fantastic job. They made the MacGyverisms seem more impressive than they actually were!

I love McCarthy's ascending MacGyverising motif. Very simple, yet effective. All four of the MacGyver composers came up w/ their own motifs, but McCarthy's took the cake.

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