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New Arrangement of Leaving Home performed at the Oscars...


King Mark

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I was away to watch the Oscars at a friend and noticed it right away. I was expecting already a thread about it with full of replies when I came back home

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I came here earlier to see but no one had said anything. Lots of JW clips tonight at the oscars throughout :)

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Another one to add to the list for Lockhart's next album! Stunning! 

 

If Williams arranged it, I wonder when? Perhaps he was inspired to write it around the time he approved MM's new Superman assembly in November? Or maybe it was Gustavo's idea when he was looking for a Williams piece to use for this year's montage?

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it's so fascinating listening to Williams' contemporary re-arrangements of pieces he wrote in the late 70s (see Hans Solo and the Princess, as well!). Musically very interesting, this sort of amalgam.

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Lovely arrangement. I really hope these new arrangements are going to be put together on a release. We've got the odd one here and there but it will be nice to have them all together.

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Excellent surprise. I'd love to have  this concert arrangement on cd someday. But there has to be a story on this if Williams himself specifically wrote this arrangement for Dudamel to conduct. 

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3 hours ago, Falstaft said:

it feels much too "Hollywood" and not enough Kansas...

Johnny, we're not in Kansas anymore.


Well, we're in Hollywood anyway.
 

Upon reflection, I do agree that the coda is a little out of place.  The original cue is a masterwork, particularly because of the how stunningly and seamlessly John transitions between the modernistic and Americana elements.  It goes way beyond mere romanticism.  But a little nod to that as we have here is not really unwelcome.

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I think it is a crying shame none of the other pieces from this score ever get performed in concert. Hope this will be rectified some day. This piece would be a lovely addition to the concert repertoire.

 

Karol

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1 hour ago, karelm said:

It was an extended version of Leaving Home from Superman. JW rewrote the ending, with a nice horn solo and renamed the piece "The Journey Home" for the Oscars performance.

Funny juxtaposition of names. 

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6 hours ago, Falstaft said:

A wonderful thing to wake up to! I'd bet money this is a new Williams arrangement.

 

I can't help but feel the new coda sounds out of place, harmonically speaking at least. So much of the effect of the original "Leaving Home" (and The Cowboys-style Coplandia that inspired it) is based on a distinct modality--this austere. unsentimental mixolydian sound, with major IVs and minor v's. To then hear this much more soupy, Romantic Amaj-Amin(add6) plagal cadence at the conclusion, it feels much too "Hollywood" and not enough Kansas...

 

But this is all extremely small potatoes! 

I feel that's a syndrome (not the best connotation in my word choice perhaps) in many of the late rearrangements, esp. Han Solo and the Princess. The added gravitas there seemed entirely appropriate, though it didn't quite complement the harmonic colours of the original.

Isn't the chord after the Amaj an Adim7 with suspensions (even soupier)? I hard to turn the sound way up because I heard a D# in the violas and then thought I imagined an F-nat in the bass (me and my Lydian dominant fascination! Of course there isn't an F-nat). Then we get a Bsus4 in the brass (Cmin7add4 overall), returning to the character of the original, but in a rather jarring, expeditious way. Maybe that one progression around A doesn't fit, maybe it was a more anguished touch by way of salute to Margot Kidder. Not exactly referencing her Lois Lane theme, but -- and it's a stretch, I admit -- it does echo a detail in some places of the score where there is a falling maj-min6 in her theme. I say a stretch, but this came to mind immediately:
 

 

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2 hours ago, crocodile said:

I think it is a crying shame none of the other pieces from this score ever get performed in concert. Hope this will be rectified some day. This piece would be a lovely addition to the concert repertoire.

 

 

Agreed.  I have heard the Superman March umpteen times in concert but was lucky enough to hear the Love Theme once, performed by the Philharmonia under the baton of Carl Davis in a film music concert at Watford Colosseum three or four years ago.  It really is a superb stand alone piece and should be played far more often than it is.  The horn solo that night was played by Katy Woolley, who you might remember played the opening horn solo of Jurassic Park so well in the LSO concert at the Royal Albert Hall last October.

 

Incidentally, on the subject of the title of this new arrangement - it does appear to have three words if one looks closely at the first page of the sheet music in the video as the camera pans over the orchestra.  I have paused the video a few times but it is too blurry to make out exactly, although The Journey Home would seem to fit the shape of the words.

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20 minutes ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

I was extremely pleased to hear this last night. Best part of the ceremony.

 

JW should host next year!

 

JW's Opening Monologue: Welcome to the Oscars ladies and gentlemen. I told the Academy that they need a better host than me. They said, 'We know. But they are all dead.'

 

Cue polite laughter from the crowd.

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Absolutely loved this arrangement. I've heard this score countless times as it's the score that started it all for me. Well, actually, I saw Superman III on TV as a kid first, so technically Ken Thorne's adaptation of Williams' material started my love for film scores, but you get the idea. This is a lovely arrangement and I'm thrilled it exists. Simply beautiful.

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Interestingly, the FYC track for the Falcon rescue from the snow planet after the duel in TFA was also called "The Journey Home." Although it appears from the discovered cue lists that the original JW title was actually "Flying Home." 

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30 minutes ago, Will said:

Interestingly, the FYC track for the Falcon rescue from the snow planet after the duel in TFA was also called "The Journey Home." Although it appears from the discovered cue lists that the original JW title was actually "Flying Home." 

 

Keep in mind that cue had an early alternate so that could be Flying Home. 

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21 hours ago, King Mark said:

I was away to watch the Oscars at a friend and noticed it right away. I was expecting already a thread about it with full of replies when I came back home

Well thats because half of the supposed JW fans didn't know what it was. 

Superman deserves far more respect and love than it receives. 

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12 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Well thats because half of the supposed JW fans didn't know what it was. 

Superman deserves far more respect and love than it receives. 

It is not that, I just find it hazardous to associate beautiful, plaintive music with a son leaving home. 

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