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John Williams Conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra - May 4 2016


Joe Brausam

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Tributes! For Seiji is basically a concerto for orchestra, and is quite cool.  Every section of the orchestra has a chance to shine.  The whole piece is well constructed and realized; going through different moods and colors.  It has a section highlighting that classic Williams lush, thick, string writing, and the brass doesn't have it easy, that's for sure.  Has a few false endings too. ;)

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2 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

Tributes! For Seiji is basically a concerto for orchestra, and is quite cool.  Every section of the orchestra has a chance to shine.  The whole piece is well constructed and realized; going through different moods and colors.  It has a section highlighting that classic Williams lush, thick, string writing, and the brass doesn't have it easy, that's for sure.  Has a few false endings too. ;)

 

Yeah, it's a fine piece. But one would think -- after all these concert performances -- he would find a way to record it soon. It must be the most-performed Williams concert piece not to have an official recording.

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On 1.5.2016 at 11:55 PM, Thor said:

 

Yeah, it's a fine piece. But one would think -- after all these concert performances -- he would find a way to record it soon. It must be the most-performed Williams concert piece not to have an official recording.

Throw in Soundings and it would be a great musical pairing for an album!

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46 minutes ago, Incanus said:

Throw in Soundings and it would be a great musical pairing for an album!

 

Sure -- but that's barely 30 minutes combined. Then you can just as well throw in a few more unreleased concert pieces! :) 

 

(I do have excellent-sounding bootleg recordings of both pieces, btw, so I would actually rather have some that I only have in crappy-sounding bootleg recordings, like the clarinet concerto etc. But in terms of having official recordings of everything, both For Sejii! and Soundings should get their due).

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2 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Sure -- but that's barely 30 minutes combined. Then you can just as well throw in a few more unreleased concert pieces! :) 

 

(I do have excellent-sounding bootleg recordings of both pieces, btw, so I would actually rather have some that I only have in crappy-sounding bootleg recordings, like the clarinet concerto etc. But in terms of having official recordings of everything, both For Sejii! and Soundings should get their due).

Yes yes, naturally the album would need more content. But something like the clarinet concerto and On Willows and Birches and studio recording of oboe concerto and horn concerto would certainly be welcome. Not to mention all the unrecorded pieces.

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Make sure to give us a report! I so wish I could be there. Having just become a John Williams fan recently, I have never seen the maestro live. I sure hope I'll get that chance sometime. 

 

Pretty cool that this concert is on Star Wars Day -- May the 4th Be With You!

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Just got back.  I'll probably try to write a review tomorrow.

 

Encore (conducted by Williams):

 

Theme from Schindler's List

Scherzo for X-Wings

Imperial March

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Great pics Joe and Nightscape!

 

How was Scherzo for X-Wings live?

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2 hours ago, Joe Brausam said:

This is a bit of Scherzo.

IMG_1658.MOV

Yessss! Thanks so much for this. This is the tempo I've always wanted to hear it at. I'll always wonder why the tempo on the OST is so uneven.

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55 minutes ago, aviazn said:

Yessss! Thanks so much for this. This is the tempo I've always wanted to hear it at. I'll always wonder why the tempo on the OST is so uneven.

 

I know - I wish I had recorded the whole thing!

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13 hours ago, crumbs said:

Did you whisper in his ear, "Are you scoring Episode 8?"

 

:P

 

When he took the stage, and before he started conducting the Scherzo, he said "I told the producers I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the next one, but told them I didn't want anyone else doing it either."  It was certainly meant as a joke, and got a great laugh.

 

3 hours ago, Joe Brausam said:

I think Scherzo was faster than he took it on the OST

 

Most definitely.

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3 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

 

When he took the stage, and before he started conducting the Scherzo, he said "I told the producers I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the next one, but told them I didn't want anyone else doing it either."  It was certainly meant as a joke, and got a great laugh.

 

Quote of the year. I guess it's probably what he really feels about it :)

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3 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

When he took the stage, and before he started conducting the Scherzo, he said "I told the producers I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the next one, but told them I didn't want anyone else doing it either."  It was certainly meant as a joke, and got a great laugh.

Was he referring to TFA or VIII? 

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Definitely sounded better there than on the OST!

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Review from Philly.com

 

Quote

The evening was designed to be more than just reliving your favorite musical/celluloid moments from the Indiana Jones films, not to mention Star Wars, Jaws, Dracula, and The Book Thief. Five or so video interludes had principal guest conductor Denève asking Williams the questions that a passionate and intelligent admirer would, inevitably looping around to this one: How, exactly, does he come up with his famous melodies? Now a tad frail at age 84, Williams admitted that for the first week or two of working on a film, he has no idea what he's doing. You have to love a guy like that.

 

Full review

 

WILLIAMS22.JPG

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20 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

When he took the stage, and before he started conducting the Scherzo, he said "I told the producers I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the next one, but told them I didn't want anyone else doing it either."  It was certainly meant as a joke, and got a great laugh.

 

Great quote, that. I hope it makes the front cover of his VIII OST. ;)

 

Whether jokingly said or not, I think John is being quite honest there. It would be very hard letting go of Star Wars after 7 scores; it's become his magnum opus and he realises that. As modest as John is, I'm pretty certain he steadfastly believes he's the only person capable of doing justice to the themes he's spent 40 years writing.

 

Come to think of it, I don't recall any other comments from JW (jokingly or otherwise) where he appeared so protective of his own work?

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16 hours ago, nightscape94 said:

VIII

 

Really?  Sweet!


(At least he didn't out right say he wasn't gonna do it!)

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It's interesting that Williams didn't come out and say he's going to score VIII.  Is scheduling the hold up here?  Is Disney waiting for the right time to announce a composer, Williams or otherwise?  We're still not 100% sure that Williams is going to score Spielberg flicks next year. The suspense is killing me...

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Yeah, that could be. I think the fact that he was so smitten with TFA and Daisy Ridley is encouraging that he would be genuinely interested in continuing Rey's story specifically, not just out of obligation because it's Star Wars. It seemed like a very positive experience for him altogether.

 

I'm more worried about Rian Johnson's process and what he might be asking of Williams. I'm hoping the fact that they stuck to their same shooting schedule as if it were a May release means that he can start ASAP with a long post-production and they could once again give him a nice low pressure schedule to be working on it with leeway for his conducting and the Spielberg projects. I mean, they'll be done shooting by the end of the summer? That should give them plenty of time to get their shit together so that Williams can get his hands on it before too long, right?

 

If Johnson is the kind of guy who knows what he wants, it shouldn't be a problem, but I fear another David Yates "He wanted a rough cut too early and I got scared!" claim....

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Rian Johnson working as the director both excites and frightens me.  On the one hand, his eccentric musical sensibilities could really bring out something different from Williams.  On the other hand, his eccentricity might "scare" Williams away from the project.

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It's essentially the same result, except this guy claims he outright told producers he didn't want to do VIII rather than he "wasn't sure." You could also interpret the quote as John conceding he was so enamored by Daisy in TFA that she's enough to get him onboard with scoring Rey's journey to becoming a Jedi Knight (even if he feels indifferent about the saga itself).

 

Maybe Daisy needs to sit down for lunch with John and tell him how much Rey's Theme meant to her. That should seal the deal! :) 

 

VmW5N0ZXvGix.jpg

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54 minutes ago, Mr. Big said:

Somebody at The Force.net posted this.  Sounds like utter BS to me.

 

GbUyqk2.png

 

Yeah, I was at the concert too and this Twitter guy is way off.  Nightscape has the quote correct.

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7 minutes ago, Michael said:

 

giphy.gif

Yeah I think the head has already been turned. Now Daisy needs to keep it turned until episode IX.

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I really hope Rey remains the heart and soul of this new trilogy, whether that journey becomes a descent into darkness (the prequel trilogy done correctly) or her rise into the light (the original trilogy recycled).

 

Either direction gives Williams plenty to work with, although my heart says that the more tragic alternative would result in the superior Williams score. After all, look what he came up with for the soulless characters in the prequel trilogy!

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