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John Williams & the Vienna Philharmonic: January 18/19 2020


Ricard

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Oh my god - "Remembering Childhood" just came on on streamingsoundtracks while I was still jotting down fading memories of the concert and I am standing here in the living room kitchen right now, crying. oO

Ah, flying theme came on - getting myself together. ;)

...I am definitely looking forward to the concert video on physical media - will be looking for our "little" daughter on there. Ahhh

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16 minutes ago, Martinland said:

Oh my god - "Remembering Childhood" just came on on streamingsoundtracks while I was still jotting down fading memories of the concert and I am standing here in the living room kitchen right now, crying. oO

Ah, flying theme came on - getting myself together. ;)

...I am definitely looking forward to the concert video on physical media - will be looking for our "little" daughter on there. Ahhh

Where were your seats, Martin? I was 6th row (altogether) on the left side, 6 meters away from him

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5 hours ago, St0rMl0rD said:

not even listening to any music still

Haha, wow - so you are not going to wash/use your ears for weeks to come? ;)

 

I too was absolutely not able to turn on the car radio on our journey back home (which I usually do for select nice classical and R&B stations from Vienna) and then, like more than 24 hours after the concert, yesterday I slowly began with a little bit of orchestral film music in the late afternoon... ...today I fell back to square one... ;)

 

...BTW: I really tried to find you in the rows before us - even asked a guy if he is "stormlord", he laughed and replied that nobody has ever asked him this before, and no, he is from Ireland. ;)

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7 minutes ago, Martinland said:

Haha, wow - so you are not going to wash/use your ears for weeks to come? ;)

 

I too was absolutely not able to turn on the car radio on our journey back home (which I usually do for select nice classical and R&B stations from Vienna) and then, like more than 24 hours after the concert, yesterday I slowly began with a little bit of orchestral film music in the late afternoon... ...today I fell back to square one... ;)

 

...BTW: I really tried to find you in the rows before us - even asked a guy if he is "stormlord", he laughed and replied that nobody has ever asked him this before, and no, he is from Ireland. ;)

I am now just listening my recordings from the concerts and then original versions of them 😅

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48 minutes ago, St0rMl0rD said:

Where were your seats, Martin? I was 6th row (altogether) on the left side, 6 meters away from him

What the?!? The two of us were in the 6th row as well, one/two seats to the right of dead centre (exactly what I usually prefer in a movie theatre as well! ;) Our daughter, as I wrote before, was right in front of and on the same level as the orchestra at the stage entrance and nearly shook his hand). I was looking to you in front of me, not to my left side, *smirk*. So we experienced everything together in the same row, that's comforting and nice to know; as somebody wrote above - all audience members were friends anyway. ;)

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42 minutes ago, handz said:

I am now just listening my recordings from the concerts and then original versions of them 😅

Listened to the concert again twice!

 

Imagine how great it would be if they included some snippets from the rehearsal in the Blu-ray release...unlikely, I know, but one could hope

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1 hour ago, handz said:

I am now just listening my recordings from the concerts and then original versions of them 😅

Would you mind sending me those? I didn't get the chance to record due to a security guy right next to me 😅

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14 minutes ago, initiating selfdestruction said:

Would you mind sending me those? I didn't get the chance to record due to a security guy right next to me 😅

Yeah they were quite annoying  - at some places it was almost impossible to record, on some it was easy.  I have some vids where you can actually just see JWs butt  so it is not very flattering angle (it was impossible to film there otherwise) but I have 3 or 4 full pieces recorded... and of corse apple making me crazy - transffering from phone keeps on crashing...

 

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3 minutes ago, GlastoEls said:


He’s not on a conference call with the Royal Albert Hall and LSO is he by any chance Jay?! 😂

Actually thinking that may still happen! (based on absolutely nothing but my hopes)

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4 minutes ago, apples said:

Actually thinking that may still happen! (based on absolutely nothing but my hopes)


Me too - obviously his health is now always his first concern - but we’re permitted to hope! 

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35 minutes ago, Biodome said:

 

I agree with what you're saying, but I would be careful about generally bashing postmodernist/atonal music in retaliation. It can be quite a rewarding experience once you get used to the genre. Even John Williams has written many pieces in that style. His bassoon concerto The Five Sacred Trees is one of my favourite works of his!

 

No, I like most of John Williams' concert pieces. I'm talking about stuff like this:

 

 

I was at these concerts. The whole piece was like this. Audience members were literally walking out complaining, and I've witnessed the same reaction on numerous other occasions—people wondering at intermission if there will be any "real music" on the second half, because they were so disgusted by stuff like the above. So, I will absolutely bash stuff like this^; there is a difference between modernist and postmodernist.

 

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9 minutes ago, The Psycho Pianist said:

I was on the right hand side, front row on the balcony. I've seen Williams twice before (both Hollywood Bowl 2014/16 I think), but neither of those even remotely compared to yesterday. The intimacy of the venue, the sense of complete harmony of the audience to JW and of course the complete and utter respect of the musicians for someone whom even a decade or so ago they may have regarded with some disdain. The concert met and exceeded my expectations really beyond what I had hoped for - even the presence of ASM and the numerous revised arrangements seemed somehow befitting of the venue and atmosphere.


I felt as if the hall, as grand as it is, did suffer from some excess reverb (somebody mentioned earlier that this is more pronounced in the higher balcony seats as opposed to the stalls), however it's such a minor complaint and didn't in any way spoil the occasion nor mar the tremendous musicianship on display. One can only hope that this is a wake-up call for Williams to realise how appreciated he is in Europe - very strange not to see the 2018 LSO concert rescheduled but perhaps this makes that more likely?

I really do not understand the thing with LSO at all...  Lets hope, but the time is running up.  

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1 minute ago, publicist said:

I learned JWs going rate is 25k per concert, which is what I felt I should have gotten for a night of hard drinking and walking home thrice in a circle for one hour.

What? 25k?  This is nothing. I will use my savings for this if I will be the one spending the time with him before and after the concert :)

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1 minute ago, publicist said:

That sounds as if u are going to fuck him!

😎

Well, I thought that people on tis forum are not going to make this kind of jokes here, next time I will be more careful...

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5 minutes ago, handz said:

Well, I thought that people on tis forum are not going to make this kind of jokes here, next time I will be more careful...


Necrophile!

3 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

Indeed.  This is a huge moment from a historical perspective.  We devotees have considered John one of the greats for some time, but what we are seeing now is the beginning of the wider classical community recognizing this.  This is the start of John taking his place in the inner sanctum of the Parthenon.   

It helps that most musicians now are at an age where they knew Star Wars etc when they were young. Intense clapping was reserved for the famous stuff.
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26 minutes ago, Tydirium said:

Lol, that's not really a fair comparison. "The Rite of Spring" was a revolutionary work, and actually changed things. It's premiere was a big deal. There's also objectively a lot more going on in that piece.

 

 

Oh, I agree about that. I'm just saying that negative audience reaction doesn't really have to mean much in either direction. And I find the significance of the audience reaction to Rite to be highly overrated. :)

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24 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

He's a movie star now too, you know!

Oh no, if I had known he was in The Rise of Skywalker, I'd have booed him. 😅 (jk) 

 

21 minutes ago, publicist said:


Necrophile!

It helps that most musicians now are at an age where they knew Star Wars etc when they were young. Intense clapping was reserved for the famous stuff.

I totally see your point; just have to point out that by Musikverein standards, all of the clapping was pretty intense. 😉 (due to the younger, enthusiastic audience) 

 

 

As to the general discussion: I would be careful about ascribing too much significance to one event (even one as historic as this). Nevertheless, I agree that it makes no sense for orchestras to stay away from JW's music - except maybe for less prominent orchestras, where licensing costs might be an issue. It also remains to be seen whether JW's slightly lesser known pieces can attract new audiences to concert halls - especially when he's not conducting himself.  But on the bright side, JW's music is not only great, but also attached to some of the most popular movies ever made - so it will definitely stay in the public's consciousness for decades to come. 😃 (same cannot be said about a lot of contemporary classical music) 

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2 hours ago, handz said:

Yeah they were quite annoying  - at some places it was almost impossible to record, on some it was easy.  I have some vids where you can actually just see JWs butt  so it is not very flattering angle (it was impossible to film there otherwise) but I have 3 or 4 full pieces recorded... and of corse apple making me crazy - transffering from phone keeps on crashing...

 

Recording sound is fine, but filming while holding up your phone can be very distracting for people behind you; well at least for me. There was a kid in front of me who became quite conspicuous during the encores, it got very annoying, especially since a DVD/bluray is going to be released anyway (they sould have announced it at the beginning of the concerts to dissuade people!)

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On 1/18/2020 at 11:15 AM, tmarps said:

I am conVINCED he came to the Royal Academy of Music to do a concert there in the 90s? that sounds to me the last time he gave a concert in the UK

perhaps it was this then.. 😦

The Royal Academy concert was in 1996.

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19 minutes ago, Obi said:

 

Thanks for posting this! Wow, love the tempo. Fastest I can recall hearing Williams taking it in recent years!

 

Interesting too to see where he and the orchestra are not quite in sync, like the rallentando at 0:49.

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1 minute ago, eitam said:

 

Recording sound is fine, but filming while holding up your phone can be very distracting for people behind you; well at least for me. There was a kid in front of me who became quite conspicuous during the encores, it got very annoying, especially since a DVD/bluray is going to be released anyway (they sould have announced it at the beginning of the concerts to dissuade people!)

I absolutely agree with you that if someone holding his phone up in the air its super annoying, but on the first concert I was standing and nobody was behind me and they still keep coming to our crowd telling us to stop filming (there was like 20 people making short videos all the time of course on the balcony...) 

I know that there should be a blue ray... but its like going to vacation and not take any pictures as some professional photographer made them already before and released in a book - I know, but my photos and recording has a much bigger value to me.  And - I am photographer, and it was so painful to not have a camera there, being able to make some wonderful photos :(

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18 minutes ago, handz said:

Front seat gives, front seat takes. Not a good angle fora a top secret filming (unless the dirigent is a hot woman in mini skirt) but the force was strong there. 

 

It's alright. John Williams has a sexy butt too. 

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13 minutes ago, handz said:

I absolutely agree with you that if someone holding his phone up in the air its super annoying, but on the first concert I was standing and nobody was behind me and they still keep coming to our crowd telling us to stop filming (there was like 20 people making short videos all the time of course on the balcony...) 

I know that there should be a blue ray... but its like going to vacation and not take any pictures as some professional photographer made them already before and released in a book - I know, but my photos and recording has a much bigger value to me.  And - I am photographer, and it was so painful to not have a camera there, being able to make some wonderful photos :(

 

Sorry, I didn't intend to sound like I was directly aiming my comment at you. 

As for photographs, I certainly snapped a few during the final applauses ! 

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2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

In worst case, years.

I also think so. And is the info that it will be released 100% true? I bet that they film all the important concerts even when there is no intention for releasing it afterwards 

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2 minutes ago, handz said:

I also think so. And is the info that it will be released 100% true? I bet that they film all the important concerts even when there is no intention for releasing it afterwards 

 

I guess all involved parties have to approve it before it comes out.

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2 hours ago, publicist said:

I learned JWs going rate is 25k per concert, which is what I felt I should have gotten for a night of hard drinking and walking home thrice in a circle for one hour.

Really? Not more? Anne-Sophie Mutter usually is around 70k per concert, depending on venue/festival/etc., of course.

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Another review of the Maestro's VPO, Musikverein, Viennese, and European debut. <3

 

They are getting better and better it seems:

 

https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/kultur/klassik/2046653-John-Williams-Sternstunden-der-Filmmusik.html

 

Hollywood Master Thrills With Excerpts of His Life's Work ... as soon as he approaches the podium, fans cannot stay in their seats ... ovations are worthy and justified ... lush, beautiful sound ... height of bliss towards the end of the concert ... etc.

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