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'Hooten Plays Williams' - New recording of John Williams' Trumpet Concerto now available


Miguel Andrade

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12 hours ago, Thor said:

I think someone should rename the title of this thread now that the album is out.

 

I agree. I'd never noticed this thread til today and opened it thinking there was a kickstarter I should join. Turns out there was just an album I had to buy. 😂

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  • 1 month later...
16 hours ago, thx99 said:

the three of us in the back, and a fourth gent not pictured, were the Kickstarter donors who contributed at a level that allowed us to attend the sessions

 

And why are they not on JWFan????

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3 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 

And why are they not on JWFan????

We probably scared them away.

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5 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

And why are they not on JWFan????

 

What, I’m not good enough for you all by my lonesome?!? LOL

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7 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 

And why are they not on JWFan????

 

I believe Daniel used to be, at least, on an earlier incarnation of the boards. I recall corresponding with him over a decade ago and I'm pretty sure we started talking here.

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  • 3 months later...

image.png

1-2 months?!  Figures when I was about to order this as well as a couple others on Amazon.  Oh well, it will be a nice surprise when it shows up in Jan-Feb time-frame when I forgot all about it :)

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  • 7 months later...

This section of the slow movement sounded *so* much like something from a Williams film score, it was driving me NUTS trying to place the connection.  I *think* @Holko figured out that I was being reminded of the "Meeting ET" cue from ET.  If anyone has any other ideas for what this section sounds like, please chime in!

 

In the concerto, 2:48 - 3:00 below:

 

 

 

Compared to ET

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Jay said:

Reminds me of something in A.I. Artificial Intelligence

 

Yeah I was instantly searching my memory of AI or Minority Report.  That darker early-2000s Williams.

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@Miguel Andrade, I think that‘s a very apt comparison. And one I hadn’t originally recognized. Now listening to the Williams-conducted version from Sony’s “Music For Stage and Screen”, with soloists Tim Morrison and Laurence Thorstenberg.

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8 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

That's easily my favorite as well @thx99. It makes me think a lot about another favorite piece of mine, Copland's Quiet City. 

The second movement, usually a slow one, is often the best in any of Williams' three movement concertos I find. Also in this one. :) 

E.g. I really fell in love with the second movement of Williams' tuba concerto after hearing it live some years back. Same goes for the oboe concerto where the Pastorale is easily my favourite movement of the piece.

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10 hours ago, thx99 said:

@Miguel Andrade, I think that‘s a very apt comparison. And one I hadn’t originally recognized. Now listening to the Williams-conducted version from Sony’s “Music For Stage and Screen”, with soloists Tim Morrison and Laurence Thorstenberg.

 

Comparison wise, the whole structure of the Trumpet Concerto brings to my mind the Barber Violin Concerto. The first two movements are more lyrical, melodically driven, with strong woodwind accompaniment on the second movement. The third is maniacal fast, hyper virtuoso shorter movement.

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1 hour ago, thx99 said:

 

Couldn't agree more, and I think Williams' body language at the end of this clip says it all...

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nemzbk1cf5awk3w/IMG_1353.mp4?dl=0

Such a cool piece. I need to get on it and start practicing it. Something to work on until live performances start again. 

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  • 1 year later...
3 minutes ago, thx99 said:

As dynamic as the 1st and 3rd movements are, the 2nd movement really stood out for me during the sessions. It was performed without a click track, unlike a majority of the other two movements, and as a result, it felt “natural”. Not sure how to describe it, but the playing, conducting, and overall mood just felt relaxed and comfortable, whereas the click track added a level of tension to the session. Williams commented numerous times about the “miserable” and “unmusical” click track. At one point he mentioned having trouble discerning between the click track and the wind ensemble “chatter”.

 

When they moved onto BotFoJ, Williams conducted an orchestra-only run-through which was interesting to hear. Hooten was taking a short break after the 3rd movement.

 

Why did they use a click track?

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1 minute ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Why did they use a click track?

 

I think because they only had a very short time in the studio that one day.  Might not have been possible to get through it all without using a click at least some.

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3 minutes ago, Stu said:

I think because they only had a very short time in the studio that one day.  Might not have been possible to get through it all without using a click at least some.

 

This!! :up:

 

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How does using a click-track speed up the recording process?

I thought a click track was used to maintain a tempo that ensures you are hitting specific sync points for footage

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3 minutes ago, Jay said:

How does using a click-track speed up the recording process?

I thought a click track was used to maintain a tempo that ensures you are hitting specific sync points for footage

 

It helps keep all the players of an orchestra together on a piece that they have not rehearsed together at all before the day of the recording.  Basically it saves time by helping to make up for a lack of rehearsal.

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1 hour ago, thx99 said:

Williams seen wearing headphones (I love what he did at the end).

 

I know this one! This is what young people call asserting dominance, right?

 

I've been meaning to pick this album up for a while, because I wasn't sure if Slatkin had done this one in his concerto cycle.

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25 minutes ago, j39m said:

because I wasn't sure if Slatkin had done this one in his concerto cycle.

 

It was recorded but decided the performance of the soloist (a fine trumpeter who clearly was under rehearsed) wasn't album release level quality.

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50 minutes ago, j39m said:

I know this one! This is what young people call asserting dominance, right?


LOL!!! I didn’t know that! I was referring to the shoulder slump at the very end, as if it was an expression of the effort everyone put forward in the performance.
 

And definitely pick up the CD!! It’s a cracker!!

 

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5 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

OK, that's what I suspected. Or perhaps JW is just so used to recording with a click track now. :lol: I wonder if JW sat up the click track himself.

 

Isn't Williams known for often antediluvianly not using a click track even when recording a film score?

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14 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Isn't Williams known for often antediluvianly not using a click track even when recording a film score?

 

There was definitely a click track on that old footage of the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK sessions in that documentary.

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16 hours ago, thx99 said:


LOL!!! I didn’t know that! I was referring to the shoulder slump at the very end, as if it was an expression of the effort everyone put forward in the performance.

The slump looks like Yoda reverting to "old" after his fight with Dooku.  

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18 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Isn't Williams known for often antediluvianly not using a click track even when recording a film score?


I doubt he’s recorded a score in a long time without using one for at least some cues.  He’s just vocal about hating it, considering it a necessary evil.

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3 hours ago, Thor said:

There was definitely a click track on that old footage of the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK sessions in that documentary.

 

You can even hear it on a couple of albums (I think Last Crusade was one of them?). But for some reason I was under the impression that it's not uncommon for him to record parts of his scores without one when possible.

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4 hours ago, Thor said:

 

There was definitely a click track on that old footage of the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK sessions in that documentary.


You’re not remembering correctly. All footage shows Williams conducting without headset. The original SW trilogy was done just with punches & streamers, no click track whatsoever. Williams started to use click track only much later, and mostly for action cues with lots of sync points. 

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Are you sure? I have this vivid memory of click tracks being onscreen. I can't remember if Williams wore a headset or not, though.

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56 minutes ago, Thor said:

Are you sure? I have this vivid memory of click tracks being onscreen. I can't remember if Williams wore a headset or not, though.


You’re mixing up the click track with punches & streamers.

 

The click track is an audio device following the music tempi that is fed through audio monitors (headset and earplugs) to the conductor and the players to keep precisely in tempo.

 

Punches & streamers are visual cues that are shown only to the conductor. The streamer is that vertical line that goes across the screen that usually works as a sort of countdown to the downbeat where the sync must fall, while the punches are visual “holes” on screen marking the exact cue where the conductor has to hit the sync.

 

Williams always preferred to conduct film cues to punches & streamers (and still does) because they allow to a more nuanced rubato performance, while the click track keeps everything much more mechanical, but certainly saves time. 

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