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ACROSS THE STARS - Williams / Mutter collaboration album


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I'm glad they're doing vinyls, but it's disrespectful to the fans that they try and gouge us with tracks spread over all these different products when they could have put out a single vinyl set, like the deluxe CD, with all the tracks in one place. In fact, I probably would have bought the vinyl AND the CD if they'd done it right.

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Across The Stars is perfectly available in a nice vinyl release.

https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/p51-i0028948370689/anne-sophie-mutter-john-williams/across-the-stars-2lp-/index.html

 

I do understand the gripe "but the 2LP doesn't have the CD deluxe edition tracks", but that's another discussion. 

 

I just wanted to put a spotlight on the fact that they put out four (!) singles, with very nice artwork, and the tracklists seem to have been well thought through (as far as singles go), and that it's very nice to see this kind of well executed marketing strategy - which does nothing except benifit the JW community.

 

And putting out singles for an album is a rare blessing for JW fans and we should be glad that DG considered JW's/Anne-Sophie's brand to be strong enough so that they put in the effort. That's more than even some mainstream pop artists get.

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We'll just have to disagree my friend. 

 

I certainly do enjoy my deluxe CD and the lavish presentation DG gave to that version, and in terms of the project as a whole, it's great that it's possible to have such a splashy new Williams release that also delivers the goods musically. Plus the live support given to it... it was exciting to get to hear so many of the pieces live at Tanglewood, and that some were featured in the landmark Vienna concert.

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The "Across the Stars" single confirms visually what we already knew: that ASM is now the sole fixation of JW's brain.  She has taken root like an extra lobe and is now sprouting poofy purple synapses of her own.

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  • 3 months later...

Question!

 

I have the "standard" edition of this album in a digipak that fits on my shelf with my other CDs, and I have the "deluxe" edition that is the longer CD with a bonus DVD, in tall packaging that fits with my blu rays but doesn't fit on the CD shelf.

 

Did DG ever release the Deluxe version of the album in a normal sized digipak or jewel case?

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  • 1 year later...

Thanks to TV broadcast of the Munich open-air concert and both DG Blu-Rays with Vienna concert and parts of Tanglewood and Boston concerts we have videorecordings of the concert performances of almost all ASM violin arrangements with these three exceptions only:

 

The Chairman's Waltz (from Memoirs of a Geisha)
Luke and Leia (from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi)
Yoda's Theme (from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)

 

Is it right?

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  • 3 weeks later...

I recently increasingly started to appreciate this album. And I have to say that a lot of it has to do with the infinitely superior acoustics of the LA studio compared to the Musikverein. You hardly hear any counterpoint or orchestral backing in Vienna.

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Yeah it is a great powerful sound indeed, much clearer, a bit closer but still a great reverb and you can really feel this "punch" in the climactic moments but at the same moment an absolutely detailed violin. I listen to those recordings a lot.

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This is often the case with unusually great acoustic spaces. I've never been to a concert in Vienna, but I know the sound of the chapel of King's College in Cambridge well, for example, and no recording - even multichannel SACDs in 5.1 replayed on a very good system - seems to be able to quite capture what it sounds like in reality.

 

I wonder if the Hollywood studios, having been built specifically for recording music in, suffer less from this problem than older spaces which were built long before music recording was a thing.

 

Mark

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As I said before, the sound of the Musikverein recording in stereo is congested, but in 5.1 multichannel it blooms and distances every other recording of Williams Music I know of by miles. The LA Studio is nice, but cannot hold a candle to this sound marvel.

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  • 6 months later...

Are you listening to the shorter standard album or the longer deluxe album? Because I found the flow to be exceptionally better on thr Deluxe, and I found it made my appreciation of the whole project grow considerably, after initially being lukewarm based on one listen to the standard version and preceding singles. 

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

Are you listening to the shorter standard album or the longer deluxe album? Because I found the flow to be exceptionally better on thr Deluxe, and I found it made my appreciation of the whole project grow considerably, after initially being lukewarm based in one listen to the standard version and preceding singles. 

 

Damn. Definitely didn't realize the deluxe edition existed. I bought the standard. Looks like I'm going to be buying the remaining tracks on Qobuz! I haven't had any issues with the flow so far though.

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I remember liking all the tracks that are on the Deluxe but not the standard more than maybe half of the selections on the standard. I think most of my favorite arrangements are only on the deluxe. 

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13 minutes ago, Jay said:

I remember liking all the tracks that are on the Deluxe but not the standard more than maybe half of the selections on the standard. I think most of my favorite arrangements are only on the deluxe. 

 

Wow. I've got some treats ahead of me then! I finished listening to the standard edition and bought the five additional tracks, but I haven't listened to them yet. I'll look forward to that.

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I've always found the way this album was released very odd. The Deluxe Edition is absolute essential. It doesn't really have extra tracks so much as the "normal" edition is just a very watered down version of the full release. If I wanted to be cynical, I'd say the normal edition is to the Deluxe what a Williams soundtrack album is compared to the full score.

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I love this album.

 

I had a wonderful experience hearing Anne-Sophie performing selections from it together with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for an open air concert, on a warm summers night in Munich, right before it’s release.

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2 hours ago, Datameister said:

 

Wow. I've got some treats ahead of me then! I finished listening to the standard edition and bought the five additional tracks, but I haven't listened to them yet. I'll look forward to that.

 

I don't think I ever listened to those five tracks together on their own. Only in the context of the whole (deluxe) album

 

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

I've always found the way this album was released very odd. The Deluxe Edition is absolute essential. It doesn't really have extra tracks so much as the "normal" edition is just a very watered down version of the full release. 

 

I agree! I had this same thought when I first heard it. I probably posted as such here when I did! 

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One of the first things I did after the DOD soundtrack was released was to create an “Anne-Sophie Mutter Plays John Williams” playlist with this album (the Deluxe Edition), “Devil’s Dance” from Vienna, the Boston album (I included Violin Concerto No. 2, but I might also make a playlist that omits that as well as Markings from this album, so that it’s just the movie themes), and “Helena’s Theme” from the DOD soundtrack.

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1 hour ago, Tydirium said:

One of the first things I did after the DOD soundtrack was released was to create an “Anne-Sophie Mutter Plays John Williams” playlist with this album (the Deluxe Edition), “Devil’s Dance” from Vienna, the Boston album (I included Violin Concerto No. 2, but I might also make a playlist that omits that as well as Markings from this album, so that it’s just the movie themes), and “Helena’s Theme” from the DOD soundtrack.

 

Oh, I'll definitely be doing that. I don't have Devil's Dance, but I've got all the others.

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I also have a playlist like that. It actually flows better that way. The very end of the original Mutter album never entirely satisfied me. :)

 

Karol

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9 hours ago, Tydirium said:

One of the first things I did after the DOD soundtrack was released was to create an “Anne-Sophie Mutter Plays John Williams” playlist with this album (the Deluxe Edition), “Devil’s Dance” from Vienna, the Boston album (I included Violin Concerto No. 2, but I might also make a playlist that omits that as well as Markings from this album, so that it’s just the movie themes), and “Helena’s Theme” from the DOD soundtrack.

Thats what i did.

22 minutes ago, rough cut said:

Curious - what did you use as the end/finale of your curated playlist?

Raiders march from viena 

 

i arranged the tracks by film-series chronologicaly as possible. I put the indys in the end, which now makes sense as helenas theme is the latest work…

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  • 5 weeks later...

As many other JWfaners, the release of Helena's Theme featuring Anne-Sophie Mutter made me revisit Williams' previous arrangements for her. I had wanted to do a curated playlist for some time but it never seemed worth the hassle with the the limited number of releases that featured her work. Now, with four main releases available (Across The Stars, John Williams In Vienna, Violin Concerto No. 2 and Helena's Theme), I finally thought the time was right to put some effort into it.

I always thought the original track order on "Across The Stars" was a bit perplexing. As much as I love each individual piece in itself, the way it was put together never sat fully right with me. The fact that franchises weren't clustered together robbed the pieces of their thematic meaning a little bit.

 

While still retaining some of the track order from Mutter's album, a lot of my sequencing choices were inspired by the setlist of her 2019 concert in Munich, as well as Williams' 2020 concert in Vienna. Now, it plays in a way that makes some kind of sense - to me at least - and I consider it a very nice listening experience.

 

IMG_1264.gif

My playlist will undoubtably rub some people the wrong way due to the fact that it’s not chronological, but to be fair neither was the album "Across The Stars" nor any of the concerts mentioned above. The edit I included is also sure to irk some fans, but that’s easy to swap out for anyone who wants to use this.

 

01 - Star Wars The Force AwakensRey's Theme

02 - Star Wars Attack Of The Clones: Across The Stars

03 - Star Wars A New Hope: Princess Leia's Theme

04 - Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back: Han Solo And The Princess

05 - Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back: Yoda's Theme

06 - Star Wars Return Of The Jedi: Luke And Leia

07 - Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone: Hedwig's Theme (Single Version)

08 - Sabrina: Theme From "Sabrina"

09 - Memoirs Of A Geisha: Sayuri's Theme

10 - Memoirs Of A Geisha: The Chairman's Waltz

11 - Far And Away: Donnybrook Fair

12 - The Witches Of Eastwick: Devil's Dance

13 - Raiders Of The Lost Ark: Marion's Theme

14 - Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny: Helena's Theme

15 - Schindler's List: Theme From "Schindler's List"

16 - Schindler's List: Remembrances

17 - Dracula: Night Journeys

18 - The Adventures Of Tintin: The Duel

19 - The Long Goodbye: Theme from "The Long Goodbye"

20 - Cinderella Liberty: Nice To Be Around

21 - Munich: A Prayer For Peace

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  • 4 months later...

I have tried to keep track of various existing versions of ASM violin arrangements but I'm afraid I'm totally lost!

How many versions of "Across the Stars" we have at this time? 3 or 4? And what about "Hedwig's Theme", "Theme from Schindler's List", "Nice to Be Around",... etc? How many versions have been already performed?

Does anybody have any detailed overview of how many versions of these ASM violin arrangements are available, how they differ and when (and where) have been premiere performance of each of them?

I would be very grateful for any help to get insight into this confusion.

Thank you very much in advance.

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1 hour ago, E-Wan said:

I have tried to keep track of various existing versions of ASM violin arrangements but I'm afraid I'm totally lost!

How many versions of "Across the Stars" we have at this time? 3 or 4? And what about "Hedwig's Theme", "Theme from Schindler's List", "Nice to Be Around",... etc? How many versions have been already performed?

Does anybody have any detailed overview of how many versions of these ASM violin arrangements are available, how they differ and when (and where) have been premiere performance of each of them?

I would be very grateful for any help to get insight into this confusion.

Thank you very much in advance.

I am sure a list like this can be arranged.   

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Technically this doesn't fall directly under the umbrella of this thread, but I happened to hear the violin arrangement of Helena's Theme on a playlist today, followed very closely by a track from Jenny Oaks Baker's superb Disney album, Wish Upon a Star, and it got me thinking about the several folks who have mentioned they don't care for ASM's playing/tone/sound/insert correct musical term here.  My euphoria over the existence (and increasing multiplicity!) of these new arrangements has blinded me to it thus far, but I'm starting to agree, and it makes me wonder if we'll ever hear other violinists attack these arrangements.  (Baker's playing, for example, seems much smoother and less "harsh" than ASM's.)  Does anyone know if they've been published as scores or made available for others to perform?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 24/01/2024 at 11:42 PM, Tom said:

I am sure a list like this can be arranged.   

 

It would be wonderful if anybody could arrange such a list.

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To get us started, here's a framework to help keep track of all the Williams/Mutter material, including recording and release dates for comparison to live performances. I included all the officially released tracks that I'm aware of. I'm not very familiar with the unreleased early/revised alternate arrangements, so I'll fill in any info that others are able to share. Please let me know if you have anything else to add, and I'll update this!

 

Questions:

- Am I missing anything that was officially released? For example, any alternate arrangements that came out on the Vienna or Berlin releases?

- What unreleased alternate versions (e.g. from live performances) do we know about?

 

The Williams/Mutter Collaboration

 

Film theme arrangements

 

Across the Stars album

Recorded Apr 2019  -  Released Aug 30, 2019

  • Rey's Theme
  • Yoda's Theme
  • Hedwig's Theme
  • Across the Stars
  • Donnybrook Fair
  • Sayuri's Theme
  • Night Journeys
  • Theme from Sabrina
  • The Duel
  • Princess Leia's Theme
  • The Chairman's Waltz
  • Luke and Leia
  • Nice to Be Around
  • Theme from Schindler's List
  • A Prayer for Peace

 

John Williams in Vienna

Recorded Jan 2020  -  Released Aug 14, 2020

  • Devil's Dance

 

Violin Concerto No. 2 album

Recorded Sept and Oct 2021  -  Released Jun 3, 2022

  • Theme from The Long Goodbye
  • Han Solo and the Princess
  • Marion's Theme

 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny OST

Recorded Feb 10, 2023  -  Released Jul 21, 2023

  • Helena's Theme

 

Bach, Bologne, Previn, Vivaldi, Williams

Recorded Jun 2023  -  Released Nov 10, 2023  - album by Anne-Sophie Mutter & Mutter’s Virtuosi

  • Nice to Be Around (Version for Solo Violin and String Ensemble)
  • Theme from Schindler’s List (Version for Solo Violin and String Orchestra)

 

Officially unreleased

 

Concert works

 

Markings (Across the Stars album)

Violin Concerto No. 2 (Violin Concerto No. 2 album - 4 tracks)

 

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You can add the three recent arrangements, as performed in Pittsburgh:

-Scherzo for Motorcycle and Violin

-Anakin's Theme (for Violin)

-The Duel (for Violin and Cello, new arrangement 2023)

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Nevermind. You already mentioned the string ensemble pieces for Mutter's ensemble. They are Williams arrangements, so I'd include them

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Excellent work!

Thanks a lot, Smeltington.

 

I hope that somebody will share more info on existing revised alternate arrangements.

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6 hours ago, E-Wan said:

Excellent work!

Thanks a lot, Smeltington.

 

I hope that somebody will share more info on existing revised alternate arrangements.

 

Yeah, the part you originally asked for is still mostly not there. Haha. Hopefully the list will inspire more people to contribute what they know!

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Nice! Added to the list. I probably should check over all the jwfan.com Mutter concert reviews at some point, for more info like this.

 

Edit: Well, I went through them all and didn't turn up much. Although @Falstaft mentioned here that the Hedwig and Across the Stars arrangements had already been revised by the July 8, 2019 concert at Tanglewood (at which point the album had already been recorded, in April).

 

In the case of Hedwig, from looking through earlier pages of this thread, I think he means Hedwig was different in comparison to this "single version" that was released first?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbbmkxtD3aI

Does anyone know if the single is actually a separate recording vs. an edit of the longer recording that was released on the album?

 

Across the Stars was first performed on Nov 6, 2018 and appeared on YouTube, so that must be the earlier version Falstaft referred to.

 

@Falstaft any other knowledge you're able to share about the versions that were heard at that Tanglewood concert, vs. the versions released on the album?

 

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