HOME ALONE - Live to Projection Concerts

[Smaug The Iron 512]

On 5/27/2020 at 8:12 AM, Smaug The Iron said:

They are playing Home Alone on the 18th of December in my hometown. I have already booked my ticket 

Unfortunately thanks to the pandemic it has changed date to the 16th of December 2021. 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Just listen to the score for now. It's amazing how it can make me forget all the current misery in the world.

[crumbs 14,306]

I've had the LLL for over 2 years and still haven't given it a listen. This Christmas it will happen!

[Smaug The Iron 512]

I just saw it and it was great. Wonderfull performance of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. 

[crumbs 14,306]

On 03/11/2020 at 11:14 PM, crumbs said:

I've had the LLL for over 2 years and still haven't given it a listen. This Christmas it will happen!

 

Finally heard disc 1 of the LLL. Great score!

 

I can see why this would be riotous live.

[Jay 37,346]

It's one of the most fun Live to Projection shows I've attended

[Jay 37,346]

In the latest episode of Maurizio's The Legacy of John Williams podcast, Mike Matessino reveals that this past December, John Williams attended a Home Alone: Live To Projection concert at Disney Hall in LA, was in the audience for the entire movie and was introduced at the end!

 

https://thelegacyofjohnwilliams.com/2022/01/29/remembering-leslie-bricusse/

 

The Home Alone: Live To Projection discussion is about 1 hour, 35 minutes in, but the entire episode is well worth a listen!

[crocodile 8,000]

Finally managed to catch one of these. It's about to start. 

 

 

Karol

[Brando 1,860]

I'd love to see Home Alone in concert, but haven't seen any in Florida lately.

[Nathan95 66]

This concert was a pretty big hit for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2019, so they're doing it again.

Conducted by Nicholas Buc

[Datameister 2,041]

Finally experienced my first LTP concert, and it was Home Alone at the Walt Disney Concert Hall last night. David Newman led the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra through a fun, vigorous, technically superb performance. I love the variations on "Somewhere in My Memory" leading into the intermission—hadn't heard those before.

 

My only musical disappointment was the drum set in "Setting the Trap." I think they just used the drum machine stem from the original recording. I don't mind the cheesy electronic drums at all, but they lacked a certain "oomph" alongside the live orchestra. I think playing it on a real drum set would have been more effective. But it's all good. Loved hearing the celeste and organ played live.

[Jay 37,346]

Interesting, I'm pretty sure when I saw it in Boston they had a live drum kit

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Does the orchestra play the carol source music when Kate is trying to get home?

[Jay 37,346]

No

[blondheim 1,157]

Is there any music heard at this that isn’t on the LLL? What about that intermission music

[Jay 37,346]

Tooth Stinger should also be present, though I don't recall if they play it live or it comes out of the speakers. 

 

Harry's whistling comes out of the speakers of course

 

They play Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas from HA2 as an encore 

 

Here's more:

On 27/12/2014 at 8:39 PM, Jay said:

I'm at the show right now, intermission just started.

 

The concert started with the orchestra playing the 20th Century Fox Fanfare that opens the film live, which was a nice bonus!

 

"Hard Count" wasn't played, and Run Run Rudolph was played over the speakers instead of the orchestra playing Making The Plane, unfortunately.

 

The combination of "Drug Store" and "Escape Across The Ice" was really well-done live, like it was always one cue!

 

The intermission point is right after Listening To Carson, which was extended to have a cool concert-like ending. (The screen fades to black after the scene and "intermission" appears on the screen, but the music keeps going straight through until the piece is done). Wish I had known and tried to record that.

I didn't notice any other score changes yet.

Choir wasn't on stage for the entire first half - I never noticed before that choir doesn't enter the score until the second half of the movie (probably because we're only a third of the way through the score).

 

On 27/12/2014 at 10:06 PM, Jay said:

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas had only the Mel Torme vocal coming from the speakers; the orchestral accompaniment and backing vocals were live!

 

The end credits had the We Wish You A Merry Christmas vocal!

 

After the end credits, they played / sang Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas from HA2!

 

[Datameister 2,041]

That's all consistent with the performance I saw. @blondheim the intermission music definitely isn't on the LLL album. Unless it's from some later concert suite or something, I think it must have been written for the LTP. If I remember correctly, it's fairly similar to the end of "Somewhere in My Memory," but still very noticeably different. If it wasn't JW's handiwork, it was arranged by someone who really understands his idiom.

 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

It seems really weird that that airport music is not performed.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Was Home Alone the first Williams LTP score to be widely available for renting/licensing by any orchestra in the world?  I know ET had the anniversary concert in 2002, but was it being played in cities around the world before Home Alone?

[Jay 37,346]

I think it was among the first. But for Williams scores I believe I saw ET and maybe Raiders before it? And the LOTR LTPs were the big breakthroughs of the medium I think

[blondheim 1,157]

Well, I guess I need to wait for this to come back around so I can hear that arrangement. I'm sort of a Home Alone completist.

[Biodome 714]

John Williams is being performed live in London once again: https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2023/home-alone-in-concert/

 

I'm just waiting for today's concert to begin!

[crocodile 8,000]

A lot of fun. I attended one recently and it was great. Have fun! 😀

 

Karol

[Thor 7,493]

41 minutes ago, Biodome said:

I'm just waiting for today's concert to begin!

 

You really get around, Biodome. I'm envious of your financial possibility to do so -- especially now with the weak krone.

[bollemanneke 3,342]

I went yesterday! Review coming up shortly.

[Biodome 714]

Here's the ending! They also played Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Thor said:

 

You really get around, Biodome. I'm envious of your financial possibility to do so -- especially now with the weak krone.

 

It does make a dent in my finances, and now especially with the krone, it's very noticeable, and a full-time job is barely enough. Nevertheless, I think it's worth it.

 

I wasn't even going to London because of Home Alone, though. It was an afterthought, as I noticed that there luckily was a concert today at RAH. I went with some family to see Phantom of the Opera yesterday. That one was also a great experience. Here's the conductor doing a little performance for us after the end:

 

 

 

[Brando 1,860]

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas was awesome!!

[igger6 894]

That piece is a masterwork.  The lyrics are insipid, but it's my vote for the best melodic Christmas work Williams ever wrote.  There's hardly a Christmas movie in existence that couldn't benefit from having that theme play in its climax.  It's like the Lost Boys and the T. rex are having a wassail together.

[bollemanneke 3,342]

17 hours ago, Biodome said:

Here's the ending! They also played Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

It does make a dent in my finances, and now especially with the krone, it's very noticeable, and a full-time job is barely enough. Nevertheless, I think it's worth it.

 

I wasn't even going to London because of Home Alone, though. It was an afterthought, as I noticed that there luckily was a concert today at RAH. I went with some family to see Phantom of the Opera yesterday. That one was also a great experience. Here's the conductor doing a little performance for us after the end:

 

 

Ah, thank you SO much for the video! This will be a good memory!

[mrbellamy 6,278]

Got to see my fifth JW LTP after HP 1 and 3 and SW 6 and 7. I think this was my favorite in some ways because the movie is less noisy than those action-packed movies so the music is almost never competing with the sound mix. It was especially a pleasure to hear some of the soloists, like the trumpet at 0:51 or French horn at 3:35

 

 

 

One fun bonus was that the actress who played the cashier at the grocery store was present in our audience -- apparently she participated in the pre-concert conversation which I missed -- and Richard Kaufman made us all aware at the beginning of the concert. She got a deserving round of applause at the beginning and end of her scene  

 

[80sFan 108]

Interesting article

 

https://slate.com/culture/2023/12/home-alone-orchestra-live-concert-2023.html

[Tom 4,651]

2 hours ago, 80sFan said:

Interesting article

 

https://slate.com/culture/2023/12/home-alone-orchestra-live-concert-2023.html

Statements like this is what snobs always miss: the musicians themselves appreciate the qualities of Williams's pieces: “I’ve been looking forward to playing John Williams scores for a long time,” said Sonia Mantell, a cellist with the Minnesota Orchestra. “No one has a bad part. It just feels very easy to be engaged the whole time when playing his film scores.”

 

Sometimes I don't think these writers have any real understanding of what they are writing about: "Home Alone has a famous set piece in its last act that features a Rube Goldberg machine–esque sequence of booby traps, and naturally it’s all choreographed to match the score perfectly."