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


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1 hour ago, Steve said:

I'm preaching this since last august ;) It was even more special to witness it live!

Well, the only reason why I have written different thinss in the past about this subject is because DG insisted we had that first completely unnecessary CD first.

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2 minutes ago, Gurkensalat said:

This is what I tried to convey earlier in this thread. The multichannel mix is a recording marvel, one of the best and realistic recordings I have ever experienced.  It conveys the acoustical picture from the live concert perfectly, where any technical flubs were not very noticeable and vanished the glorious whole experience. The stereo mix is thick, narrow and not very pleasing. Some flubs seem to stand out there much more. 

 

Has anybody tried to fold down the multichannel mix to stereo? Except for the DG engineers, I mean. :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Your description sounds pretty much like the booklet that comes with the original Blu-ray & 1 CD set, Jay.

 

2 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

I think multilingual booklets are common in classical music releases.

 

Yes, many of the major labels usually have the liner notes in English, German, and French, unless it's a budget release. It's quite common for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, and Decca at least. Either one can be the original that the others were translated from - sometimes they're even by different authors. I usually check what notes are available and which ones are the originals before reading the English or German version (or both).

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In this case, I thought the English liner notes were really bland, either written by a fanboy unable to contain his excitement or someone unfamiliar with the subject matter. Probably the latter.

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38 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Your description sounds pretty much like the booklet that comes with the original Blu-ray & 1 CD set, Jay.

 

I haven't taken the shrinkwrap off that yet :)

 

10 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

In this case, I thought the English liner notes were really bland, either written by a fanboy unable to contain his excitement or someone unfamiliar with the subject matter. Probably the latter.

 

Oh I dunno, I thought they were perfectly fine.  I'm not sure how much there really is to say about a live concert anyway

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I still haven't opened mine either. Including the 2CD SACD edition. The problem is my amplifier broke down 6 months ago and I haven't had a chance to play any of my newly bought cds yet. There are 80+ of them. Very soon my new Amp will be here and that's when I'm gonna blast these on for massive premiere party. I ll have trouble which stuff to play first but it's definitely going to be John Williams. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

This version/recording of The Imperial March... 

 

 

I think the mix and performance are better than the one they released on the album... 

 

 

I'm guessing the first one is the other performance that wasn't chosen for the album. 

 

Has the first video (Imperial March performance) been broadcast or released anywhere? 

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The videos are both from Sunday. The first sounds more spacious like it has more room mics added maybe? I also like that sound, more room would even make everything sound more massive than it already is :D

 

But all the Saturday performances haven't been officially released anywhere.

There were some audience recordings of the Imperial March from Saturday on Youtube (some partial and even a complete one) but they seem to have all been deleted from Youtube by now. The march was faster than the Sunday perf., timing was maybe not as precise overall, but apart from a cymbal that was slightly too early it was quite perfect.

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4 hours ago, MaxTheHouseelf said:

The videos are both from Sunday. The first sounds more spacious like it has more room mics added maybe? I also like that sound, more room would even make everything sound more massive than it already is :D

 

But all the Saturday performances haven't been officially released anywhere.

There were some audience recordings of the Imperial March from Saturday on Youtube (some partial and even a complete one) but they seem to have all been deleted from Youtube by now. The march was faster than the Sunday perf., timing was maybe not as precise overall, but apart from a cymbal that was slightly too early it was quite perfect.

Ah yes they are the same recording, I was blind sighted by the different shots/cuts of the footage. The mix is definitely different though. That performance also annoyingly has the snare drum being a bar late during the build back up to the repeat of the A section. 

 

I know they never would but I'd love to have the stems for the various microphones and do a more audience perspective mix as I find the percussion on the album mix far too forward, too bright and aggressive. 

 

Ah yes i've been trying to find those video uploads but they have been removed now :(

 

Thank you for the response. 

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What are people's opinions of the performance of The Rebellion is Reborn at this concert? Maybe it's my imagination but the tempo seems slower than the OST version and the Luke in Exile portions lose all their bite. That theme goes from being about a rugged survivalist life style on a deserted island to almost a hymn-like mourning theme. The whole thing just sounds sooo slooooooow.

 

 

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The slow tempo, for whatever reason, allowed me to appreciate how brilliant the piece is.  I don't like when Williams slows down action pieces, but this one is more atmospheric and the slower tempo allows it to breathe.  In short, I love the VPO performance and prefer it to the OST.  

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9 hours ago, artguy360 said:

What are people's opinions of the performance of The Rebellion is Reborn at this concert? Maybe it's my imagination but the tempo seems slower than the OST version and the Luke in Exile portions lose all their bite. That theme goes from being about a rugged survivalist life style on a deserted island to almost a hymn-like mourning theme. The whole thing just sounds sooo slooooooow.

I guess it's nice to hear a different interpretation of it, but is a little dull how slowly it's played. 

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13 hours ago, artguy360 said:

What are people's opinions of the performance of The Rebellion is Reborn at this concert? Maybe it's my imagination but the tempo seems slower than the OST version and the Luke in Exile portions lose all their bite. That theme goes from being about a rugged survivalist life style on a deserted island to almost a hymn-like mourning theme. The whole thing just sounds sooo slooooooow.

 

I like it. I never got quite used to the new ending, but I love everything else about this performance.

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6 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

I like it. I never got quite used to the new ending, but I love everything else about this performance.

Yeah, I don't get the tweaked ending--much like I do not get the way he reworked the big swell of Sophie's theme toward the end of the concert suite.  

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4 hours ago, Tom said:

Yeah, I don't get the tweaked ending--much like I do not get the way he reworked the big swell of Sophie's theme toward the end of the concert suite.  

 

Same. I blame George Lucas' bad influence on JW. 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...
3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

The live album only exists as a digipak, right?

 

No, you can buy it (as well as the initial edition) in a jewel case! 

 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B089BMTKFF

 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B08PDP4BLD/

 

I own both and they are nicely done

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57 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

No, you can buy it (as well as the initial edition) in a jewel case! 

 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B089BMTKFF/

 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B08PDP4BLD/

 

I own both and they are nicely done

 

Ah yes, now I remember. It's difficult to keep track of all of them... But do these two have English liner notes?

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10 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Ah yes, now I remember. It's difficult to keep track of all of them... But do these two have English liner notes

I don't think so. But haven't opened my Japanese SACD edition as yet. 

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I haven't taken the shrinkwrap off mine yet, either.

 

I have opened my digipak versions of both editions, and both contained the liner notes in both English and German

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  • 1 month later...

So a while back I finally opened up my Live Edition physical copy, in the digipak.  Compared to the digipak of the "regular" version, they are almost identical - all the same pictures and liner notes, nothing exclusive to either.  One notable difference is that on the regular edition, the classic "yellow" title block at the top is actually a shiny gold foil, while the live editions is the classic yellow.  Weird.

 

This was my first time listening to the live edition, I hadn't even sampled it digitally before now.  Overall I really enjoyed listening to the concert, nice program with lots of different stuff.  Somehow the inclusion of the audience applause between selections seemed a bit unnatural to me, I'm not sure exactly why it made me feel that way.  I guess it sometimes felt "tacked on" after a piece ended and faded down before the next piece, rather than a natural flow.  I dunno.  It's probably just me.  I was very please the audience did not applaud at the start of a very famous piece like so many American audiences do, or applaud before a piece was fully finished either.

 

This was also my first time hearing JW's speeches from the concert.  I liked the way he said "guten tag", made me smile.  Hearing him speak with such reverence of the city of Vienna and the Wiener Philharmoniker was nice too.  JW says they fly over the moon at the end of ET, even though the moon flight is earlier, on Halloween and they fly over a sunset at the end of the film.  I loved hearing him talk about "a composer's delicate vanity" hearing virtuoso compositions no longer covered up by the film's sound effects lol. 

 

I also loved "And now a word about Star Wars... all nine of them" lol  The story about writing Leia's theme as a love theme has been repeated so many times now, but I'll never forget hearing it for the first time in Boston in 2016, it was so hilarious then.  Then he mistakenly says Luke and Leia is from Empire, d'oh.  I also thought it was interesting what he said about the saga as a whole "We've just completed the 9th one, I think it's in the theaters here now, so we've put a bow on it - which I think, at least from my own personal point of view and contribution, it will be a nice and tidy number, 9".  Pretty final, I'd say.

 

It's nice and somewhat interesting that he choice one of his speech spots to describe Cinderella Liberty, being so much more obscure than many of his bigger hits / films (though, maybe that was exactly why he did it).  The introduction for The Duel was Tintin was the cutest one, because Mutter played the little "feather twist" for him to help him describe it, very cool.

 

The end of the album is a bit disappointing because you know there was a huge extra long applause break after Remembrances in order for them to come back out and do Raiders March and Imperial March as encores, and yet this album does not have an extra long applause break there felt like an "encore, please!" applause break, it was just the usual short one, faded down before the next piece began.  If you're gonna go all out and include speeches and audience applause on an audio release of a live concert, why shorten applause breaks instead of including everything to let the listener experience exactly what happened?

 

Likewise at the very end of the album after The Imperial March is over, the applause break is short and faded down and the CD stops.  You know at the venue the audience must have applauded for a super long time at that point.  Why not leave it all in?  Oh well.


Overall, a super nice album!  Can't wait for the Berlin album now.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm listening to the FSO's version of Adventures on Earth and just wanted to say that they make the same brass chord mistake near the beginning that the VPO made, so that was not their fault. Don't know if JW changed it for the published score on purpose or if it's a misprint.

 

But, those fast trumpet triplets that end in a minor chord except in Dudamel's version are not in the sheet music.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Exactly two years (!) ago the experience had been so profound that I could not listen to pre-recorded music for about a week or so...

 

...thanks dear (?) world for having had that happened to us, still in a joyful, unconstrained way. I will always treasure those days, hours, minutes, and seconds in and around the Musikverein.

 

And thanks to all you wonderful people we had the joy to meet and have conversation and a shared experience with!

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1 hour ago, Martinland said:

Exactly two years (!) ago the experience had been so profound that I could not listen to pre-recorded music for about a week or so...

 

...thanks dear (?) world for having had that happened to us, still in a joyful, unconstrained way. I will always treasure those days, hours, minutes, and seconds in and around the Musikverein.

 

And thanks to all you wonderful people we had the joy to meet and have conversation and a shared experience with!


Oh my - two years indeed!  Take me back to Gmaokeller…

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