Popular Post Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted October 15, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted October 15, 2016 I thought there was already a thread about this, but I can't find it, so here goes. Yesterday the annual Hollywood in Vienna event took place, featuring Alexandre Desplat as the recipient of this year's Max Steiner Awardee. The concert itself was a mixed bag. Science fiction themed (no doubt because Desplat was still attached to Rogue One when the concert was announced), the first half featured Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra opening and excerpts and suites from Broughton's Spaceship Earth ride, Goldsmith's STTMP main title and First Contact, Silvestri's Contact, Arnold's Stargate, Price's Gravity, Zimmer's Interstellar, and Williams's Across the Stars and E.T. end credits. As usual though, some pieces were heavily edited. Across the Stars was ruined by turning it into a "suite for violin and orchestra", with a solo violin introduction and then a hectic solo violin part layered on top of the Williams piece. The middle section featured the a cadence that sounded like the soloist was force choking his instrument. At least they had the decency to retitle this abomination to Anakin and Padme. The worse contender though, and by far the worst thing ever to come out of the Hollywood in Vienna series (which has no short list of artistic mutilations) was Goldsmith's First Contact theme gang raped by a choir and heavy operatic soprano. Never mind that having a choir aah theme theme along with the orchestra is odd enough in places (it's not exactly a theme that lends itself well to voices), but the entire thing was based on the soprano singing (on "ah") the melody - and when the melody wasn't there, the vocal line took over bits of the accompaniment. I had to laugh out loudly near the end. One day later, Goldsmith must still be spinning in his grave. The whole thing was a macabre grotesque and I fail to see how anyone could even begin to think this was a good idea, let alone actually deciding to go through with it. The rest of the first half fared much better, although the soloists had some problems and the remaining Goldsmith and Williams pieces weren't the most exciting performances, with some lackluster tempo choices. Conductor Keith Lockhart can hardly be blamed for that, because apparently the entire concert was performed to a click track. Additionally, the whole thing was amplified and turned up to 11, with a good chance of winning the loudness war. The second half belonged entirely to Desplat and fared much better, showcasing his vast range of styles and instrumentations (although it was solely focused on his Hollywood career, starting with Girl With a Pearl Earring). There was a whole array of guest performers, including soloists for the ethnic instruments in Argo and Swiss yodelers and the Don Cossacks Choir on The Grand Budapest Hotel. After accepting the Max Steiner award, Desplat himself stepped up to conduct The Secret Life of Pets. I only have a couple of Desplat CDs so far and always found that most of them leave me mostly cold (notable exceptions being the fun Secret Life of Pets and the gorgeous Grand Budapest Hotel, but I'm much more excited about his music now and added several CDs (and films, for that matter) to my immediate to-buy list. Accompanying the concert, as in most years, was the Film Music Symposium Vienna, featuring among other things Robert Townson (briefly) chatting with Desplat's wife and regular concert master, Dominique Lemmonier, a talk by Laura Engel of Kraft-Engel Management (who was a lot of fun and enjoyed sharing a wealth of anecdotes) and of course a talk and Q&A session with Desplat himself. A few tidbits from the Desplat session: During composing, when stuck, he likes to sleep ("it's a very deep sleep") to clear his mind as part of his usual work process. When asked whether he had any contact with John Williams when composing his Potter scores, he explained that he didn't. "You don't just call John Williams and say, hi John, what the fuck?" Asked about what caused him to drop out of Rogue One, he explained that the recording sessions where originally scheduled for early August, but then moved repeatedly, first to September, and then further, and he was already commited to another project that clashed with the changed schedule. He called John Williams the master (like pretty much every composer at the symposium so far) and mentioned that Roman Polanski never uses temp tracks and always relies on his composers to bring their own ideas to the project (and favourably mentioned Chinatown[/i). During his acceptance speech, concerning Vienna he specifically pointed out Anton Bruckner (always a plus in my book) and Gustav Mahler, joking that he would have loved to have written Mahler's 2nd and Bruckner's 9th symphonies. Muad'Dib, fommes, crocodile and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crocodile 8,006 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 11 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said: The worse contender though, and by far the worst thing ever to come out of the Hollywood in Vienna series (which has no short list of artistic mutilations) was Goldsmith's First Contact theme gang raped by a choir and heavy operatic soprano. Never mind that having a choir aah theme theme along with the orchestra is odd enough in places (it's not exactly a theme that lends itself well to voices), but the entire thing was based on the soprano singing (on "ah") the melody - and when the melody wasn't there, the vocal line took over bits of the accompaniment. I had to laugh out loudly near the end. One day later, Goldsmith must still be spinning in his grave. The whole thing was a macabre grotesque and I fail to see how anyone could even begin to think this was a good idea, let alone actually deciding to go through with it. Oh... my... god... Karol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted October 15, 2016 Author Share Posted October 15, 2016 Word's can't describe it adequately. The concert will be broadcast on TV soon, I'll share a link if this gets uploaded to YouTube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crocodile 8,006 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 At least it wasn't Schindler's List on ukelele and steel drums. Did they play Godzilla? Karol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will 2,215 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 45 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said: The second half belonged entirely to Desplat and fared much better, showcasing his vast range of styles and instrumentations (although it was solely focused on his Hollywood career, starting with Girl With a Pearl Earring). There was a whole array of guest performers, including soloists for the ethnic instruments in Argo and Swiss yodelers and the Don Cossacks Choir on The Grand Budapest Hotel. After accepting the Max Steiner award, Desplat himself stepped up to conduct The Secret Life of Pets. Ooooooh! I hope there will be a recording of the Pets performance. 45 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said: When asked whether he had any contact with John Williams when composing his Potter scores, he explained that he didn't. "You don't just call John Williams and say, hi John, what the fuck?" You can't?! Why didn't someone tell me?! Quote Asked about what caused him to drop out of Rogue One, he explained that the recording sessions where originally scheduled for early August, but then moved repeatedly, first to September, and then further, and he was already commited to another project that clashed with the changed schedule. Well, of course. What's he going to say? "Disney ruthlessly fired me. They treated me horribly"? Although it is starting to seem like, while the "divorce" wasn't entirely amicable, it wasn't as hostile as some had feared. It probably really was the schedule, and not Disney's desire to kick Desplat out. Of course, the conspiracy theorists here can start working on the theory about how the reshoots were planned by Disney to change the schedule so Desplat would have to quit and they could hire Gia... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbellamy 6,280 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said: When asked whether he had any contact with John Williams when composing his Potter scores, he explained that he didn't. "You don't just call John Williams and say, hi John, what the fuck?" I hope that's a direct quote. Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted October 15, 2016 Author Share Posted October 15, 2016 Just now, mrbellamy said: I hope that's a direct quote. Of course. 46 minutes ago, Will said: Well, of course. What's he going to say? "Disney ruthlessly fired me. They treated me horribly"? Although it is starting to seem like, while the "divorce" wasn't entirely amicable, it wasn't as hostile as some had feared. It probably really was the schedule, and not Disney's desire to kick Desplat out. Of course, the conspiracy theorists here can start working on the theory about how the reshoots were planned by Disney to change the schedule so Desplat would have to quit and they could hire Gia... Naturally it's not proof of anything, but his response seemed genuine enough. And repeated changes of schedule can of course lead to a situation where a composer (especially one like Desplat, who's always keeping busy with numerous projects) will no longer commit to it at the expense of his other projects. Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbellamy 6,280 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 That is awesome. 51 minutes ago, Will said: Well, of course. What's he going to say? "Disney ruthlessly fired me. They treated me horribly"? Although it is starting to seem like, while the "divorce" wasn't entirely amicable, it wasn't as hostile as some had feared. It probably really was the schedule, and not Disney's desire to kick Desplat out. Of course, the conspiracy theorists here can start working on the theory about how the reshoots were planned by Disney to change the schedule so Desplat would have to quit and they could hire Gia... From all that we've gathered, my belief right now is that the Rogue One experience was probably a pain in the ass for him but that ultimately Disney would have been happy to keep him around if he was able to take it all the way to December. Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,192 Posted October 15, 2016 Author Share Posted October 15, 2016 1 hour ago, crocodile said: At least it wasn't Schindler's List on ukelele and steel drums. Perhaps they'll do that next year. 1 hour ago, crocodile said: Did they play Godzilla? Yep, the "theme", i.e. Godzilla! (perhaps with a little bit of another cue tacked on, I don't know it well enough to be sure now). The strings were hard to hear because the drums were turned up to 11+ in the mix (plus the stereo separation from the original recording was missing due to the stage setup), and they didn't have those screamy synth overlays, but it was still powerful and fun. They played it in the middle of the second half, but I still had it stuck in my head after the concert was over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crocodile 8,006 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Desplat conducted the opening credits during the opening of the second half of his LSO concert a couple of years ago. It didn't have the synth elements obviously but sounded actually pretty damn good. Karol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Doubt it. Giacchino is Star Wars now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 We will be lucky if Williams is allowed to finish the third trilogy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Giacchino is fulfilling the prophecy, as foreseen by the Giacchino fanboys of yore. We must join with him, Alvar. It would be wise, my friend. Not Mr. Big and leeallen01 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crocodile 8,006 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 The prophecy that misread could have been... He isn't the next John Williams.... His is the next John Williams... and the next James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, Lalo Schifrin and Howard Shore. Karol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Can't wait to hear the four string chords with two-note piano motif that he'll concoct for the Ainulindalë. Not Mr. Big 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Then Desplat arose, and the JWFans perceived that he smiled; and he lifted up his left hand, and a new theme began amid the storm, like and yet unlike to the former theme, and it gathered power and had new beauty. But the discord of Giacchino rose in uproar and contended with it, and again there was a war of sound more violent than before, until many of the JWFans were dismayed and sang no longer, and Giacchino had the mastery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 2,835 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 27 minutes ago, Stefancos said: We will be lucky if Williams is allowed to finish the third trilogy! I imagine the conversation with Disney going something like this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 2 minutes ago, alextrombone94 said: I imagine the conversation with Disney going something like this: Thats discrimination! You can never run for President! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Deplorable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex 2,835 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 I'm not American so I had no chance anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK 3,307 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 When I run for 2020, I'm going to impose a ban on all Giacchino scores! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 #KKK/TheWhiteRider2020 crocodile 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Kinky Kalaisan > Crooked Hillary! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Hearsay, perpetuated by her enemies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeallen01 2,136 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 One Giacchino to Score them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodBoal 7,538 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 leeallen01 and Dixon Hill 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixon Hill 4,234 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Mikey G had some stellar "simple" tunes in Lost that showed how that kind of thing is done, but even within the span of that show, the model started to get a little worn and he was taking the obvious route rather than the crafty one in the later seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 8 hours ago, BloodBoal said: Well, we already had a preview of Giacchino Middle-Earth music. Kingsfoil always sounded Giacchino-ish to me! I mean, 00:39 - 01:17: that's pure Giacchino right there! That bit wouldn't feel out of place in a LOST episode. Damn you, Pope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incanus 5,714 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 It does have a slightly Pope-y feel yes. When in doubt Stefancos, always blame Pope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 6 minutes ago, Incanus said: When in doubt Stefancos, always blame Pope. Anti-Catholic sentiments! You can never run for office! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will 2,215 Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Enjoy! It's really cool to see this live! Kinda funny to see some of the instruments used, when you're so used to seeing a "regular" orchestra. Man I love this piece. But my God either the performance or acoustics/mix or both are atrocious compared to the film recording. For example, the bass is way too loud and everything else way too low. In terms of performance, I'm sure it's a very difficult piece, of course. crocodile 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeallen01 2,136 Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Looking forward to seeing the full concert when it's released online. The concert hall is beautiful, and they put on a great show (when I went last year for JNH) but the hall's seating is ridiculous. The balcony is at such a shallow angle that you literally cannot see a single inch of the stage. I went to both concerts of JNH and sat in different places and it was horrific. I actually stood up for the entire JNH section of the concert so I could see the orchestra. As did many others near me. Joke seating. I also met Pope a couple of times at the concerts. Great guy. Seriously a wonderful man. Had a few gold conversations with him. He called across the hall to me after the second concert, because we had a memorable chat a few days earlier and we talk a bit online, and so I walked down to him as he was in a group of JNH's wife and kids and some friends, and we had a chat about the concert. He's a very eloquent and inspiring guy too. He could get a snail to beat Usain Bolt if you gave him 5 minutes. I'm sure he's fun to work with. And let's face it, the man has had a hand in some of the greatest work of the last 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck 154 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 On 10/16/2016 at 2:23 AM, crocodile said: Oh... my... god... Karol It's on 26:39 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 I'm finally getting around to watching this video off and on throughout the day. This was Lockhart's first year conducting for Hollywood in Vienna, right? He's a good choice for this gig! EDIT: Just got to the piece from Gravity and holy shit that is some terrible music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 It's barely music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muad'Dib 1,802 Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Anything can be music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265 Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 3 minutes ago, Muad'Dib said: Anything can be music. But is it art? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muad'Dib 1,802 Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 That, my friend, is for future generations to decide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 The performance of "Across the Stars" was stupendous! Even if the solo violinist's facial gesticulations had me snickering. The Desplat portion of the program is boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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