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ACROSS THE STARS - Williams / Mutter collaboration album


WilliamsStarShip2282

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15 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

What a scoop!

 

Scoop?  She's done interviews in many places to promote the album and concerts, including @lairdo's podcast.  Not saying this interview is redundant, it's a wonderful article.  But it's not like she's some press-averse hermit!

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29 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

A scoop indeed! She's done interviews in many places to promote the album and concerts, including @lairdo's podcast. Not saying this interview is redundant, it's a wonderful article. But it's not like she's some press-averse hermit!

 

Think of the implications. Perhaps this can give Maurizio access to the man himself.

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Congrats on reaching out to ASM and getting her for an interview @TownerFan!

 

4 hours ago, ATXHusker said:

I'd like to hear / read an interview with William Ross, especially his involvement with HP: COS

 

Yeah I wonder how gettable Ross is for an interview? That would be a great listen, especially to hear about his involvement in the sequel trilogy.

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No wonder he loves those rare instances where he gets to write such weird source music like in the Potter scores (and was happy to include them, when they're usually omitted). Even the source music in Star Wars is highly abstract and he often includes that on his OSTs.

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Conrad Pope posted on Facebook that he did the arrangement of Princess Leia's Theme for Across the Stars. Interesting. I thought it has been a while since JW had worked with Conrad Pope. I wonder if Pope did other arrangements as well.

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On 11/21/2019 at 2:20 PM, crumbs said:

What a fantastic bit of insight this is. Something I never really knew about his past. 

 

 

It is certainly part of any argument why JW is a better film composer than most or all others alive today.

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11 hours ago, artguy360 said:

Conrad Pope posted on Facebook that he did the arrangement of Princess Leia's Theme for Across the Stars. Interesting. I thought it has been a while since JW had worked with Conrad Pope. I wonder if Pope did other arrangements as well.

 

Here's what Conrad wrote:

 

Quote

ARRANGING/ADAPTING: What’s the Difference? What are the challenges?

 

John Williams asked me to do an arrangement of Princess Leia’s Theme for Anne-Sophie Mutter. When “god” asks you to do something- no matter how inadequate you feel to the task- it is impossible to say no—particularly when the performer is a “goddess” whose music making has inspired you all your life.

This summer at the HOLLYWOOD MUSIC WORKSHOP I shall share the process that resulted in this recording.

 

What is an arrangement? What is an adaption? What is key to a conception?


The challenge in an arrangement such as this is: How can one contribute to something so well known and so iconic? What can be new when everything old must be retained? How to fashion “obbligato” that will take the listener on a journey where they will discover something underneath that they hadn’t suspected?

 

This summer, with violinist maestro Dimitrie Leivici, I will illustrate and comment precisely on fashioning an introduction and working out a solo part that that takes the listener on a journey through music that that they already know so well but invites them to it discover anew.

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/conrad.pope/posts/10218925959572940

 

 

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This is kind of heartbreaking, this is my favorite one on the album. I'm curious about that though, since supposedly, that's one of the first ones that he agreed to do. Is there anything in the album notes that mentions him? I know on the cinema serenade albums, everything was clearly defined as to who did what.

 

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Yeah that's interesting, I wonder if the new intro is Pope or Williams, because it's absolutely gorgeous either way. Maybe Williams sketched it out then handed it off? 

 

Wasn't this track one that ASM requested in a different key after first seeing the arrangement? 

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Yes, that's what she told me during our interview. I guess it had more than one pass.

 

It's not surprising for Williams' usual MO (he frequently farmed out arrangements of existing music during his Pops years and also for recordings featuring soloists, such as the Cinema Serenade albums), but on the album's credits there is no mention of any additional arrangers.

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Still unusual, unless it was done on the fly. I just had another listen, besides the intro, you know there's nothing in there really changed, the melody is just copied to the violin, with a few bars thats an obbligato. however, yoda's theme is a bit like that too,

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On 11/21/2019 at 5:20 PM, crumbs said:

He told me he used to go up to the orchestra musicians, to the horn players, or the harp player, and ask them ‘How does this work? If I write this, how that would be possible for you to play?’. So over the period of many years as a young composer, he collected an incredible understanding and knowledge, not only of different cultures and styles of composing, but particularly of the instruments.

Lesson #1 for any young composer/arranger/orchestrator.

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I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me if JW only arranged the pieces that were more thoroughly re-conceptualized (ie Across the Stars, Hedwig’s Theme, etc). 

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8 hours ago, WilliamsStarShip2282 said:

This is kind of heartbreaking, this is my favorite one on the album. I'm curious about that though, since supposedly, that's one of the first ones that he agreed to do. Is there anything in the album notes that mentions him? I know on the cinema serenade albums, everything was clearly defined as to who did what.

 

It's my favourite as well, but that's in large part due to the performance and interpretation, as the arrangement follows the original concert version rather closely, except for the new intro and obviously the violin part. Also, Pope's post is rather vague. He might have arranged the whole thing, or perhaps Williams sketched the violin part and asked Pope to adapt the concert suite orchestration to accommodate it. Either way, perhaps Pope's involvement is the reason why the piece was relegated to the Deluxe Edition as a bonus track.

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She did mention Witches of Eastwick which was done in Tanglewood. She said it wasn't on the album because it wasn't finished, but Gil Shaham actually recorded it maybe... two decades ago? It was the violin/piano version, but I'm still curious, as it would maybe seem it was done then or maybe he re-did the whole thing, kind of like Far and Away.

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7 hours ago, WilliamsStarShip2282 said:

She did mention Witches of Eastwick which was done in Tanglewood. She said it wasn't on the album because it wasn't finished, but Gil Shaham actually recorded it maybe... two decades ago? It was the violin/piano version, but I'm still curious, as it would maybe seem it was done then or maybe he re-did the whole thing, kind of like Far and Away.

 

It's a completely different arrangement. He re-worked the whole thing... or maybe Conrad did^

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8 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

It's my favourite as well, but that's in large part due to the performance and interpretation, as the arrangement follows the original concert version rather closely, except for the new intro and obviously the violin part. Also, Pope's post is rather vague. He might have arranged the whole thing, or perhaps Williams sketched the violin part and asked Pope to adapt the concert suite orchestration to accommodate it. Either way, perhaps Pope's involvement is the reason why the piece was relegated to the Deluxe Edition as a bonus track.

 

Don't forget that you adored the ending! ;)

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2 hours ago, TownerFan said:

I think this is a testament of Williams's admiration of Conrad Pope's skills as arranger, and probably another way to see how much in his mind he makes distinction between composing vs. arranging an existing piece of music. I think this doesn't take away from the level of musicianship and artistry of this project.

 

Well put!

 

That said, I hope that we eventually learn from Conrad Pope what his contributions were in a more specific sense. The opening 17 measure of the arrangement are quite striking and technically refined, not to mention emotionally resonant. Whoever is responsible, I admire their contribution.

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11 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Don't forget that you adored the ending! ;)

 

How could I forget. But as I said, much of the piece's new and improved greatness comes from the interpretation. I would adore this new recording even without the violin.

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This concert was actually packed. Because of the traffic, a lot of people leave before the concert is over, which is really a shame. The musicians always look like that now, they have a lot of material to get through all summer, with very little rehearsal and a hectic schedule, and seems to get more and more every year. The few times I see them perk up is when John is around.

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9 hours ago, WilliamsStarShip2282 said:

This concert was actually packed. Because of the traffic, a lot of people leave before the concert is over, which is really a shame.

 

At Film Night this year, David Newman announted during the second half that "after the next piece, there might be a surprise". Several people left after that piece. The surprise was of course Williams taking over as conductor for the remainder of the concert (plus encores).

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  • 3 weeks later...

Buying a physical c.d. nowadays means buying an object you actually like for your collection

 

Since the Deluxe Edition has the ugliest packaging of all times, I decided to buy the regular edition and keep digital files of the "bonus tracks"

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