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Lights, Camera... Music! Six Decades of John Williams -- Keith Lockhart conducted CD of rarities


KingPin

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13 hours ago, JTWfan77 said:

If the concert programme is going to cover the entire period of JW's career, what would be considered rarities from the 1990's onwards? Would it mean things that haven't been performed in concert before (like Nixon, Sleepers and Rosewood - or have those been performed)?

 

 

I saw John Williams conduct the London Symphony Orchestra in Hell's Kitchen from Sleepers as one of the encores at a concert in London in 1998.

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4 hours ago, Omen II said:

I saw John Williams conduct the London Symphony Orchestra in Hell's Kitchen from Sleepers as one of the encores at a concert in London in 1998.

 

He conducted this piece once at a Tanglewood concert I attended too. I love that piece and completely agree that is underrated.

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On 3/6/2017 at 5:53 PM, Will said:

 

I believe it's the other way around - "Meeting in Sicily" essentially took part of the "Esplanade Overture."

 

Correct.

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Okay, ears perked, got me out of lurkdom...is there any real confirmation about this release or just speculation still? 

 

All the things that *could* be on it are way too tantalizing! Please lord, Towering Inferno, yes!!

 

Will be following this thread..

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2 hours ago, Jay said:

Confirmed, it comes out in May.

 

It should be pointed out that this CD is the same as the one discussed here:

So perhaps the two threads should be merged and/or edited to avoid confusion.

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Yea, I've been meaning to do that!  I figured once we got a name for the CD I'd merge and put the CD's title in the subject, but I suppose I can merge now anyway.

 

And its done.

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I went to an excellent concert this evening conducted by Keith Lockhart (I might start a separate thread about it, not least because it included four selections by John Williams, two of which featured a 110 piece choir).  He mentioned this upcoming recording, but from memory the only pieces he confirmed were ones we already knew about - The Towering Inferno and Goodbye Mr. Chips.  He also indicated that the earliest piece would be from the mid 60s.

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11 hours ago, Omen II said:

I went to an excellent concert this evening conducted by Keith Lockhart (I might start a separate thread about it, not least because it included four selections by John Williams, two of which featured a 110 piece choir).  He mentioned this upcoming recording, but from memory the only pieces he confirmed were ones we already knew about - The Towering Inferno and Goodbye Mr. Chips.  He also indicated that the earliest piece would be from the mid 60s.

 

 

What were the four selections he conducted? We might see them in the upcoming concert.

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They were Hymn to the Fallen from Saving Private Ryan, Duel of the Fates from The Phantom Menace, the theme from Schindler's List and Princess Leia's Theme from Star Wars.  Try and guess which two of the four featured the choir!

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  • 2 weeks later...

So the recorded album will be released via Sony Classical? It does seem likely but has the label been mentioned anywhere as yet?

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Oh I didn't know BSO had a label of its own. Is it the RCA Victor label? 

 

Also I'm thinking that the missing pieces from A.I. WAR OF THE WORLDS and THE LOST WORLD  (from the Williams Spielberg album) might just end up in this program and could have been intentionally left out for this exclusive concert. 

 

Does anyone know if BSO will announce the program titles before hand and when? .The Concert is going to be recorded first week of April (7th & 8th)

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On 20/3/2017 at 3:45 PM, TownerFan said:

I have on good authority that Lockhart sifted through the BSO archives to find stuff to record for this album, so there's gonna be some surprises.

Do you mean totally unreleased pieces too?

On 20/3/2017 at 1:30 AM, Omen II said:

  He also indicated that the earliest piece would be from the mid 60s.

If mid-60s is 1965-1967,I hope we have at last something from The Plainsman (1966), (and not from The Rare Breed, which we already have a suite).

i don't see anything else from his film work that is unreleased.

 

and of course Symphony no 1 from his concert works!!

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I am 99% sure that there will be NO unreleased music on this set. My guess for the "mid 60s" thing is HOW TO STEAL A MILLION, JW's first major assignment. Or perhaps THE REIVERS, even if that is LATE 60s.

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2 hours ago, azahid said:

Oh I didn't know BSO had a label of its own. Is it the RCA Victor label? 

 

Also I'm thinking that the missing pieces from A.I. WAR OF THE WORLDS and THE LOST WORLD  (from the Williams Spielberg album) might just end up in this program and could have been intentionally left out for this exclusive concert. 

 

Does anyone know if BSO will announce the program titles before hand and when? .The Concert is going to be recorded first week of April (7th & 8th)

 

RCA Victor was a label which catalogue is now owned by Sony.

They did record extensively with both the BSO and Pops in the 50's and 60's, and Lockhart recorded his first albums with the Pops for them in the mid to late 90's.

Around the time James Levine took the post with the BSO, they initiated a record label of their own, totally independent of any of the big ones, called BSO Classics.

You can learn about their releases, both digital and physical, on the BSO store site.

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1 minute ago, Thor said:

I am 99% sure that there will be NO unreleased music on this set. My guess for the "mid 60s" thing is HOW TO STEAL A MILLION, JW's first major assignment. Or perhaps THE REIVERS, even if that is LATE 60s.

 

If I understood Lockhart correctly from the recent "From Heaven to Hell at the Movies" BBC Radio 3 in Concert broadcast, the "mid 60s" entry is Goodbye Mr. Chips from 1969. :)

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Karen Allen is hosting the show so that means we can get 'Marion's Theme' or other themes from RAIDERS-I'd prefer to have The Basket Chase cue!

 

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Quoting Lockhart:

 

"Well, um, at the Pops we are in the middle of recording an album.  As soon as I go back, couple weeks later, we're gonna be in the studio again uh preparing an album of music that spans six of those decades starting in the mid 1960s with Goodbye Mr. Chips... The Towering Inferno in the 70s..."

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Just now, thx99 said:

Quoting Lockhart:

 

"Well, um, at the Pops we are in the middle of recording an album.  As soon as I go back, couple weeks later, we're gonna be in the studio again uh preparing an album of music that spans six of those decades starting in the mid 1960s with Goodbye Mr. Chips... The Towering Inferno in the 70s..."

 

So does that mean the album is going to be an independent studio recording and not a live recording of the concert? That would be great! 

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38 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Do you mean totally unreleased pieces too?

If mid-60s is 1965-1967,I hope we have at last something from The Plainsman (1966), (and not from The Rare Breed, which we already have a suite).

i don't see anything else from his film work that is unreleased.

 

and of course Symphony no 1 from his concert works!!

 

I think you guys should tone down your hope to see such obscure stuff in this upcoming release. From what I've been told, it's a pet project that Lockhart cultivated since a few years and the aim is to point the spotlight toward several lesser-known film scores that Williams did throughout his long and distinguished career, not just to release only completely obscure/forgotten works from his early days. And it's also a matter of what is available and ready for concert performance from both the BSO library and JW's own library. Some of those scores from the early 60s are probably impossible to perform, as the parts are lost or missing (unless someone will pay for a reconstruction from the available material). So Lockhart wants to show people that Williams isn't just Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and Harry Potter and it's dedicating a series of concerts and a new CD to present some of these lesser-known pieces.

 

It's understandable your desire to see and listen to everything that Williams wrote, even the most obscure and early works. But we should also be pragmatic and realize that some of those works might not see the light ever again. So my humble suggestion is to focus on what is there, not what might or should be according to our personal wish-list.

 

11 minutes ago, azahid said:

So does that mean the album is going to be an independent studio recording and not a live recording of the concert? That would be great! 

 

No, it's gonna be a live recording.

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I'd love to hear SLEEPERS, FAR AND AWAY, THE PATRIOT, HOME ALONE, DRACULA and MIDWAY (already hinted at) plus aforementioned THE TOWERING INFERNO and the JFK suite! 

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1 hour ago, thx99 said:

 

If I understood Lockhart correctly from the recent "From Heaven to Hell at the Movies" BBC Radio 3 in Concert broadcast, the "mid 60s" entry is Goodbye Mr. Chips from 1969. :)

 

Ah, that's right. Hardly a "mid 60s" entry, that one either. But that's probably it, then.

 

From what I understand, this new release will be a combo of the true and tired (the big classics that we've heard a million times before), as well as some 'medium' famous titles (MIDWAY, DRACULA). Nothing obscure. I guess the most obscure is CHIPS, and that's hardly obscure.

 

I don't share Townerfan's pessimistic view that some of the obscure, unreleased titles will "never see the light of day". I'm probably going to hold out hope for a release of these untill the day I die.

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32 minutes ago, Thor said:

I don't share Townerfan's pessimistic view that some of the obscure, unreleased titles will "never see the light of day". I'm probably going to hold out hope for a release of these untill the day I die.

 

I'm hopeful too, of course. I was thinking more about the fact that performing pieces from, say, The Plainsman, Gidget Goes to Rome or Daddy-O in concert might be very, very difficult unless someone will reconstruct the scores from what's available. But of course I hope some of those original recordings will be released one day.

 

From what I know, this new CD will not contain any evergreen like Star Wars, Indy or Harry Potter.

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12 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

From what I know, this new CD will not contain any evergreen like Star Wars, Indy or Harry Potter.

Thats great news, if true. Seven Years in Tibet and Memoirs of a Geisha would be most welcome. 

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1 hour ago, Stefancos said:

Mr. Chips is pretty obscure Thor. It's the kind of Williams score I can go with for months or years without ever thinking about it.

 

In your life, it might be obscure, but in film history, it's a wellknown story and film (the original more than the remake that Williams worked on, perhaps). But all is relative. On this particular compilation, it might be the least wellknown to the "regular" people buying it.

 

42 minutes ago, TownerFan said:

 

I'm hopeful too, of course. I was thinking more about the fact that performing pieces from, say, The Plainsman, Gidget Goes to Rome or Daddy-O in concert might be very, very difficult unless someone will reconstruct the scores from what's available. But of course I hope some of those original recordings will be released one day.

 

That's good to know. I have no doubt it will be a challenging task, but we've seen it happen before. Like Leigh Philips' work on THE SALAMANDER, for example. Or when John Morgan had to reconstruct scores by "ear". If all remaining obscurities are indeed lost forever, then they need to be reconstructed and rerecorded. At the moment, this seems unlikely, but I hope to live a few more years to perhaps see a resurgence of this aspect.

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I'm thinking this CD will be a mix of both his famous works and others.  The Boston Pops website states "This is your chance to hear not just the great classics, but the rarities like GoodbyeMr. Chips and Towering Inferno."  The way I read it, there will be both.  The addition of Karen Allen as a "host" seems to indicate there at least will be SOMETHING from Indiana Jones, possibly Marion's Theme (which would be a shame, as it was just released on Spielberg/Williams III).

 

As far as what the "rarities" will be beyond Mr. Chips and Towering Inferno, your guess is as good as mine.  I'm leaning towards Thor's line of thinking, where the "rarities" are from films that are still fairly well-known to the general audience.  Midway and Dracula are perfect examples; also perhaps something from Family Plot, since everybody on Earth knows who Alfred Hitchcock was....maybe The Accidental Tourist?  Who knows, maybe they'll even play something from Jaws 2...and I would be shocked if they didn't include music from The Force Awakens.

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Joann Kane Music made this instagram post in January of this year. This is part of the manuscript for Williams' score to "Heidi" and they said it was a "current project." Wonder if it is related to this upcoming album...

imagepng

IMG_6005.PNG

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The image doesn't show, but that's pretty cool if HEIDI's on there. More of an INfamous film than a famous one, due to the SuperBowl controversy.

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2 hours ago, Thor said:

The image doesn't show, but that's pretty cool if HEIDI's on there. More of an INfamous film than a famous one, due to the SuperBowl controversy.

 

The image should be fixed :)

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13 hours ago, TownerFan said:

As Lockhart said, half of the CD has already been recorded. The rest will be filled with some of the pieces that are being performed on the April 7-8 concerts.

 

I'am happy with that but it may sound uneven if the acoustics of the studio recording and a LIVE recording don't match. That doesn't make much sense.  I think they will go with a full studio recording for the cd album and the concert programs would be the performance of the same cues.

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22 minutes ago, azahid said:

 

I'am happy with that but it may sound uneven if the acoustics of the studio recording and a LIVE recording don't match. That doesn't make much sense.  I think they will go with a full studio recording for the cd album and the concert programs would be the performance of the same cues.

One can only hope.

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3 hours ago, azahid said:

 

I'am happy with that but it may sound uneven if the acoustics of the studio recording and a LIVE recording don't match. That doesn't make much sense.  I think they will go with a full studio recording for the cd album and the concert programs would be the performance of the same cues.

 

No, the pieces that are already been recorded are from live concerts as well. Midway and Dracula are the very ones that KingPin noted in the first post of this thread.

 

I think BSO Classics has released only albums from their own live recordings so far, not studio recordings.

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19 hours ago, TownerFan said:

 

I'm hopeful too, of course. I was thinking more about the fact that performing pieces from, say, The Plainsman, Gidget Goes to Rome or Daddy-O in concert might be very, very difficult unless someone will reconstruct the scores from what's available.

 

How do you know that the parts AREN'T available?

I know for a fact eg. that the parts for Storia di una Donna ARE available.

But noone cares obviously.

9 hours ago, KingPin said:

 

The image should be fixed :)

KP, do they have any other interesting instagram photo of a Williams score?

Unfortunately the account is private, and I don't have instagram to follow.

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23 hours ago, thx99 said:

Quoting Lockhart:

 

"Well, um, at the Pops we are in the middle of recording an album.  As soon as I go back, couple weeks later, we're gonna be in the studio again uh preparing an album of music that spans six of those decades starting in the mid 1960s with Goodbye Mr. Chips... The Towering Inferno in the 70s..."

 

3 hours ago, TownerFan said:

 

No, the pieces that are already been recorded are from live concerts as well. Midway and Dracula are the very ones that KingPin noted in the first post of this thread.

 

I think BSO Classics has released only albums from their own live recordings so far, not studio recordings.

 

As per THX99 the quotes mentions 'Studio' I suspect its a fresh studio recording. It doesn't make sense if this being a pet project which has been in the making for quite some time that it would be presented as a lIve recording instead of a high quality studio recording?. Has there been a precedent where Lockhart has done Live performances for one of  his albums?

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1 hour ago, azahid said:

Has there been a precedent where Lockhart has done Live performances for one of  his albums?

 

Yes, many can be found here as digital-only releases:

 

https://www.bso.org/Merchandise?pageNo=0&perPage=10&brands=6425&categories=26977

 

I only see one CD release of a live holiday concert under Lockhart's direction.

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