The John Williams Piano Collection

[Jurassic Shark 12,067]

28 minutes ago, ConorPower said:

They're pretty much the same as the SW: A Musical Journey (Episode I-VI) book and the folios for the sequels. Still, its beautifully presented in a sleek hardback (not ideal for balancing on the piano's music stand) with a nice note from Mike Matessino on the piano and SW. It was a must-buy for me as it had numerous arrangements of PT tracks which were absent from SW: A Musical Journey. If, like me, you never had folios for Eps I-VI then its worth it, IMO.

 

You can get the prequel and sequel folios and A Musical Journey for a little more than the price of the Star Wars Anthology, and you get more music on total, in more piano friendly books. I don't think there's anything in the anthology not contained in these books. 

[ciarlese 250]

I have been waiting for over three thirty years for a Last Crusade folio. Having finally an official release nearly makes me cry, even if I already have the scherzo on a different collection.

Still it's a missed opportunity given the huge amount of themes that could have been included from the other movie as well, but I will be happy about the keeper of the grail and the pieces of the last movie (I have everything else on the original folios).

[ciarlese 250]

On 22/02/2024 at 3:09 PM, The Lost Folio said:

Following up on the Star Wars Piano Anthology (Hal Leonard) and the Harry Potter Piano Anthology (Faber), Hal Leonard is publishing an Indiana Jones Piano Solo Collection: https://www.halleonard.com/product/1243151/indiana-jones-piano-solo-collection

 

Included are two excerpts from each of the five films. Entirely new are "The Keeper of the Grail" from Last Crusade (finally!) and "Helena's Theme" and "Archimedes' Tomb" from Dial of Destiny! It also looks like "Parade of the Slave Children" is a new arrangement. Samples at the link above.

 

I am glad we finally get an arrangement of "Helena's Theme", and an additionnal excerpt from Last Crusade. But I also feel that compared to the Star Wars and Harry Potter anthologies, this one is lackluster. Why not, at least, also include the other 4 pieces that had previously been published but not reprinted since their original folios ("The Basket Game", "Love Theme" from Temple of Doom, "The Crystal Spell", and "The Journey to Akator")?

 

 

Released date is 11th of March according to Amazon UK 🙂

[The Lost Folio 183]

The Indiana Jones Piano Solo Collection is finally available... and 5 of the 10 pieces are new arrangements! The highlight is not from Dial of Destiny but from Temple of Doom, with "Short Round's Theme" more than twice as long as the original arrangement to match the entire album track. And it's very well written for piano (advanced). "Parade of the Slave Children" is a new, slightly longer arrangement. It's nice to also have "The Keeper of the Grail" although it's the simplest arrangement in the collection (it's a good piece to practice tone and phrasing however).

 

As for Dial of Destiny, "Helena's Theme" matches the entire album track, as expected, but "Archimedes' Tomb" includes a different ending than the album track. Is this arranged from a different track/cue, or is it just the arranger's choice to add an extra section?

 

Overall, this collection is unlike the previous ones that have been published for Star Wars and Harry Potter. It's much smaller, but well worth having for the new material.

[Jurassic Shark 12,067]

It's better than expected then!

[ConorPower 148]

Thanks for the review @The Lost Folio! Looking forward to picking it up