Jay 37,374 Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 VARÈSE SARABANDE RECORDS TO PAY TRIBUTE TO LEGENDARY COMPOSER JAMES HORNER WITH BLU-RAY RELEASE The 2013 Hollywood in Vienna Concert Features Breathtaking Concert Performances, 75-Minute Symposium, and Presentation of the Max Steiner Award (April 29, 2016 – Los Angeles, CA) – Varèse Sarabande, in partnership with Tomek Productions, will release a very special Blu-ray marking the first anniversary of the passing of Academy Award®-winning composer James Horner (TITANIC, APOLLO 13, BRAVEHEART). HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA: THE WORLD OF JAMES HORNER was recorded in Vienna, Austria, as a part of a celebration of his life and music. At the annual film music gala, celebrating the world’s leading film composers and produced by Sandra Tomek, Horner was awarded by the City of Vienna with the “Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award”. “For days following James’ death, while fans of his music were utterly consumed by their grief and understandably inconsolable, I began hearing from many of them how much they were helped by seeing footage of the Vienna concert,” said Varèse Sarabande producer Robert Townson. “James called the experience ‘the most memorable moment in my life.’ We could see how his eyes were glistening and that the reality of what his music truly meant to people might actually be sinking in for the first time.” “I am very glad that our concert celebration in Vienna was so special for James - and it’s lovely that we can share this special evening with many more thanks to this Blu-ray release by Varèse Sarabande,” said Tomek. The ORF Vienna Radio-Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Newman, paid tribute to Horner on October 3 and 4, 2013, with two concerts at the Vienna Konzerthaus. It was the first time in his career that Horner was an audience member at an orchestral concert of the beloved themes that he wrote. This setting reinvigorated Horner's love of concert music and opened the composer up to exploring this new frontier in the years before his passing. The repertoire performed included music from STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN, AVATAR, TITANIC and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Featured in a medley were Horner’s themes from WILLOW, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, APOLLO 13, ALIENS, THE MASK OF ZORRO and THE ROCKETEER. Singer Deborah Cox was joined by pianist and singer Jeremy Schonfeld on a beautiful performance of “Somewhere Out There” from AN AMERICAN TAIL. Geza Frank performed the Irish bagpipes on the always-riveting music from BRAVEHEART. No retrospective of Horner’s work would be complete without TITANIC – featuring vocals by soprano Ildikó Raimondi. This special weekend also included a symposium with Horner. “I cherish the time and opportunity I had with him at Hollywood In Vienna in 2013,” remembered Townson, who conducted the 75-minute discussion, also featured on the Blu-ray release. “We discussed James’ memories of certain films and the creative process of composing. He teared up three times during our talk and he told me that the concert tribute to him there was the first time he had heard his film music in a concert hall. The whole trip to Vienna was a very emotional experience for James, who had a special tie to the city through his father because he had spent his youth there.” “Our symposium was held at the ‘Max Reinhardt Seminar’ of the Vienna University of Music, where James’ father, Harry Horner, studied stage design. It was the first time James came back to these locations. Those days were just magical, for him and for all of us,” Tomek stated. Varèse Sarabande will release the HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA: THE WORLD OF JAMES HORNER Blu-ray through major platforms and retailers in June 2016. # # #www.varesesarabande.comwww.hollywoodinvienna.com For more information contact KrakowerGroup[at]gmail.com, or @KrakowerGroup on Twitter ABOUT JAMES HORNER Having composed the music for more than 130 film and television productions, including dozens of the most memorable and successful films of the past three decades, James Horner was among the world’s most prolific and beloved film composers. He earned two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for his music from James Cameron’s TITANIC (one for Best Original Score and one for the Best Original Song “My Heart Will Go On”), eight additional Academy Award nominations, five additional Golden Globe nominations, and won six Grammy awards, including Song of the Year in both 1987 (for “Somewhere Out There”) and 1998 (for “My Heart Will Go On”). In April of 1998, Horner’s TITANIC soundtrack album on Sony Classical completed an unprecedented run of 16 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, setting a new record for the most consecutive weeks at number 1 for a score album. It remains the largest selling instrumental score album in history, having sold nearly 10 million copies in the US and more than 27 million copies worldwide. Sony Classical’s multi-platinum sequel soundtrack album Back to TITANIC featured additional music from the film as well as several new compositions by Horner based upon themes from his original score. Known for his stylistic diversity, his other film credits included The Amazing Spider-Man, Black Gold, For Greater Glory, Karate Kid, Avatar, Apocalypto, Flight Plan, The New World, The Legend of Zorro, The Forgotten, Troy, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, House of Sand and Fog, The Missing, Beyond Borders, The Four Feathers, Radio, A Beautiful Mind, Iris, Enemy at the Gates, Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Perfect Storm, BRAINSTORM Bicentennial Man, Mighty Joe Young, The Mask Of Zorro, Deep Impact, GLORY, The Spitfire Grill, Braveheart, Apollo 13, Casper, Legends of the Fall, Clear and Present Danger, The Pelican Brief, The Man Without a Face, Patriot Games, Sneakers, The Rocketeer, Glory, In Country, Field of Dreams, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, The Land Before Time, Willow, An American Tail, The Name Of The Rose, Cocoon, Gorky Park, Cocoon and Cocoon: The Return, 48 Hours and Another 48 Hours, and STAR TREK II and III. His final film projects included director Jean- Jacques Annaud’s WOLF TOTEM, director Patricia Riggen’s THE 33, and director Antoine Fuqua’s SOUTHPAW. Born in Los Angeles in 1953, Horner spent his formative years living in London where he attended the prestigious Royal College of Music. His initial interest was to become a composer of serious, avant-garde classical music. Returning to his native California, Horner continued his music education at the University of Southern California where he received a Bachelor of Music in Composition. He then transferred to the Masters program at UCLA where he earned his Doctorate in Music Composition and Theory. In 1980, Horner was approached by the American Film Institute and asked to score a short film, after which he left the academic world and began working for Roger Corman at New World Pictures, where he became acquainted with a number of young directors including Ron Howard, for whom he would later score such films as Willow, Cocoon, and Apollo 13. Also during his time at New World, Horner met a young cameraman named James Cameron, with whom he would later collaborate on the hit sequel ALIENS, and the two highest grossing films of all time, Avatar and Titanic. In the ensuing years, Horner collaborated with many of Hollywood’s most noted and successful filmmakers, including Ed Zwick, Joe Johnston, Phil Alden Robinson, Steven Spielberg, William Friedkin, Mel Gibson, Oliver Stone, Philip Noyce, Michael Apted, Lasse Hallstrom, Norman Jewison, and Francis Ford Coppola. Equally comfortable with lush orchestral scoring and contemporary electronic techniques, Horner likened his approach to composing to that of a painter, where the film serves as the canvas and where musical color is used to describe and support the film’s emotional dynamics. He was also noted for his integration of unusual ethnic instruments into the traditional orchestral palette in order to achieve exotic colors and textures. An accomplished conductor, Horner preferred to conduct his orchestral film scores directly to picture and without the use of click tracks or other mechanical timing devices. He also composed several concert works including “Spectral Shimmers,” which was performed by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and “A Forest Passage,” commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreational Area in Ohio. His final concert works were “Pas de Deux”, a double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra commissioned by soloists Mari and Håkon Samuelsen, and “Collage: A Concerto for Four Horns and Orchestra”, which was premiered by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in March of 2015. Tragically, Horner died on June 22, 2015, when the single - engine aircraft he was piloting crashed in a remote area of northern Ventura County, California. He was 61 years old. Horner was survived by his wife, Sarah, and his two daughters, Emily and Becky. He left behind a legacy of some of the most influential and acclaimed music in the history of cinema. ABOUT VARÈSE SARABANDE RECORDS Founded in 1978, Varèse Sarabande is the most prolific producer of film music in the world, releasing the highest quality soundtracks from the world’s greatest composers. From current box office hits and top television series to the classics of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Varèse Sarabande’s catalog includes albums from practically every composer in every era, covering all of film history; from Bernard Herrmann, Alex North and Jerry Goldsmith to Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Marcelo Zarvos and Brian Tyler. Varèse Sarabande releases deluxe and expanded editions of special soundtracks for the film music aficionado. The Varèse Vintage imprint specializes in releasing new and re-issued albums by classic pop, jazz and country artists. Varèse Sarabande Records is distributed by Universal Music Group. Follow: twitter.com/varesesarabande Watch: youtube.com/varesesarabande Listen: open.spotify.com/user/varesesarabanderecords Like: facebook.com/varesesarabanderecords Buy: varesesarabande.com Dixon Hill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,211 Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 It's great that they're releasing this, and I wonder if it means the other years' concerts may see a release down the line as well. On a related note, this year's Max Steiner award recipient will be Alexandre Desplat. Looks like the programme will be Scifi themed, with E.T. and CE3K among the pieces. I'm too lazy to make a separate thread, but if anyone is planning to come to Vienna for it, do create one and let me know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,521 Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 As mentioned on other boards, this shall be mine (a great souvenir from a great personal experience, but also film music history, really). I'm skipping this year's Desplat event for obvious reasons, but hope to return later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post igger6 894 Posted July 2, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted July 2, 2016 My copy of this Blu-Ray came in today, and it is stellar. I never considered myself a massive Horner fan, aside from a few favorites—and I've had my share of fun at his expense for musical recycling—but holy cow, is there ever a ton of great music on this disc. The camera work is also great, very up close and personal; you almost feel acquainted with certain instrumentalists by the end, and they repeatedly cut to Horner in the audience, which is touching and effective. But back to the music! I haven't found any arranging credits in the liner notes, but many of the pieces are not soundtrack arrangements, which is a huge plus in my book. If I want to hear top-notch musicians play the stock arrangements, I'll spin the OSTs. Here are thoughts on a few highlights. (The program starts with an "On to Other Worlds" section that isn't focused on Horner but contains some excellent cuts as a bonus.) "Hollywood in Vienna" Fanfare (Bruce Broughton) Why must Broughton make do with gigs like this? Still, he overachieves, write an energetic kickstarter piece that ingeniously interpolates Max Steiner's Gone With the Wind Tara theme (this being the site of the Max Steiner Award presentation, after all). Space Mountain (Bramson) I'd never heard this before as far as I know, and it didn't knock my socks off, but it's suitably wondrous and stately given the retro sci-fi theme of Disneyland Paris's Space Mountain. It's surprising how slow it is for a roller coaster soundtrack... Gattaca (Michael Nyman) Never heard this before, but it's sad and lovely. Independence Day (Arnold) YES! Seeing this on the tracklist is part of what sealed the deal on my purchase, and it's everything you'd hope. The choir really shines when they come in on this one, and while it's not a straight-up reading of the incredible end titles, it does eventually come around to that incomparable fanfare. Star Trek Medley (Courage, Goldsmith, Rosenman, Eidelman, Giacchino) This is absolutely stellar (sorry :)) and again really credits the choir. I never fully appreciated Goldsmith's Voyager music until now. The Motion Picture/Next Generation fanfare sounds great in a seemingly new arrangement, and Giacchino's contribution has never sounded more at home among its peers. Where Dreams Are Born (The Maestro) Awesome to see this performed live. The concert's wordless vocalist disappointed me later on the Titanic medley, but she does great work here; this is one of JW's most gorgeous melodies, and it's hard to screw it up. Now on to some of the Horner pieces... Universal Theme I'm so into the Goldsmith fanfare (especially Brian Tyler's arrangement of it) that I'd forgotten about this melody until this performance started, but it took me right back to various '90s movies of my childhood. Legends of the Fall What a gorgeous melody. I've never seen the movie, but I fell in love with "The Ludlows" on first listen. Horner Medley A 1986-2001 highlight reel that covers some great ground, if a bit too quickly. I was sorry not to hear "Kaleidoscope of Mathematics" representing A Beautiful Mind; they went with the slower (love?) theme, but I've always liked "Kaleidoscope" as the apotheosis of Horner's long flirtation with kinetic science music. Mask of Zorro sounded great, and I wish they'd played a full piece from that masterful score. (They probably couldn't find any castanets in Vienna...) Braveheart They skipped the love theme! As a result, this was forgettable for me, as I've never been much into the rest of this score. But thanks to my curiosity and my smartphone, I now know the difference between bagpipes and Uilleann pipes AVATAR Wha...where has this score been?! I avoided it out of anti-Horner pique and general contrarianism back when the movie was breaking records. This medley blew me away, though, especially the battle music at the end. It was truly breathtaking, and as a result I've been Spotifying the soundtrack as I write this. Great stuff. Titanic This medley was LONG, but I was riveted. The vocalist left a bit to be desired (she didn't have the youthful purity of whoever sings on the OST), but the choir and instrumental soloists owned this piece. "Southampton" has literally never sounded this good, with actual talented Homo sapiens replacing that obnoxious synth choir that's been bugging me for two decades. I could imagine Horner in the audience thinking, "Holy cow, that's what it was supposed to sound like!" And every Irish instrument I can't name sounded like a million euros (or are they back to pounds now? ). It's great to see Horner grin when the crowd starts applauding after the last big chord, but before the final strings have their say. (The conductor, David Newman, actually holds up his hand to stop the early applause.) "Somewhere Out There" and "If We Hold On Together" Both of Horner's sappy 1980s animation masterpieces are sung with gusto by vocalists I've never heard of. (The guy also plays piano on "Somewhere Out There," looks hilariously similar to Vin Diesel, and pretty much materializes in a puff of smoke to join in the finale of "If We Hold On.") These sound great, especially the harmony in their climaxes. The Amazing Spider-Man OK, this wasn't technically on the program, but I thought it was hilarious that it played as a triumphant fanfare while Horner took the stage to receive the award. He spoke a couple of halting sentences in German and then gave an brief, humble, and funny acceptance speech in English. Maybe it's just sentimentality talking, but he really came across as the real deal. What a loss. Honestly, I think this disc has more value packed into it than the similar Williams/Dudamel Blu-Ray. (Heresy, I know, but there's too much Schindler and Fiddler on there.) I haven't even scratched the surface of what is apparently a 75-minute interview with Horner. Some angles have a bit of grain in the picture, but the vast majority of the shots are pristine. The concert is technically on YouTube, but buy the Blu-Ray so we'll get more releases like this! It's not terribly expensive for the quality of the product, and it's great to see it on a TV screen. Highly, highly recommended. fommes, Omen II and Jay 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,211 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 6 hours ago, igger6 said: But back to the music! I haven't found any arranging credits in the liner notes, but many of the pieces are not soundtrack arrangements, which is a huge plus in my book. If I want to hear top-notch musicians play the stock arrangements, I'll spin the OSTs. The "crowd pleaser suite edits" are actually the biggest downside of the Hollywood in Vienna franchise as they regularly opt for unmusical cuts and barely representative medleys over the fully developed original pieces, probably because the whole thing has become (perhaps out of financial necessity, but you still see this sort of thing done more faithfully in other countries) more of a Hollywood fan event than a concert for people who actually know and appreciate the music. Horrible edits that come to mind are the Wrath of Khan titles, where they simply edited out the B theme part so the whole thing is nothing more than an endless repetition of the A theme, with an awkward cut in the middle, and (from earlier concerts) an extended (and apparently fiendishly difficult, hence played with a few mistakes) harp solo right at the climax of Adventures on Earth and a cut smack in the middle of Harry's Wondrous World in an extended Potter suite. I can tell you that Horner's Universal Fanfare was arranged, by ear, by Bernard Eder (who is very proud of getting Horner's autograph on his arranged score). crocodile 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488 Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 7 hours ago, igger6 said: Star Trek Medley (Courage, Goldsmith, Rosenman, Eidelman, Giacchino) This is absolutely stellar (sorry :)) and again really credits the choir. I never fully appreciated Goldsmith's Voyager music until now. The Motion Picture/Next Generation fanfare sounds great in a seemingly new arrangement, and Giacchino's contribution has never sounded more at home among its peers. As I recall, the Motion Picture theme in that suite was a brief quote of "The Enterprise". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,374 Posted July 2, 2016 Author Share Posted July 2, 2016 @igger6 thank you very much for your write up, it was a pleasure to read and very informative and convinced me to get the BD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted July 11, 2016 Share Posted July 11, 2016 Watched the blu ray last night and man, what a show. The highlight is definitely the Titanic suite. It's a riveting, jaw-dropping performance of one of the most emotionally devastating scores of all time. I may have joined Mr. Horner in wiping a tear out of my eye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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