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Music From The Star Wars Saga by Robert Ziegler & the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra


Miguel Andrade

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I’ve created a thread specially for non concert works new re-recording by the way, thanks!

 

Note: To see all my discography related threads, you can click on the « discography » tag which appears at the top of each pages.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This album is up on the streaming sites now.  I think it's weird that it includes two pieces from The Last Jedi, but neither are the one official concert arrangement for it (The Resistance is Reborn).  Both are transcriptions of OST tracks.

 

And yes, this is the premiere studio recording of the new Han Solo and the Princess!

 

 

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I'd say the album is quite good, and I don't mind the selections from TLJ.

 

But that's a tad too slow March of the Resistance!

 

I wish they had chosen Anakin vs. Obi-Wan instead of Battle of the Heroes.

 

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Listening on Spotify now!

BTW, the physical CD is only $7.27 on Amazon US

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZW8WPP9/

 

OK, the recording of Han Solo and the Princess is pretty great!  Only thing I didn't like was the sound of the bells (?) towards the end.

 

On Parade of the Ewoks now, and it has the fun concert opening, like on the Gerhardt album

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You could just make a playlist of the same tracks conducted by Williams or Gerhardt or Kojian in superior performances, just stick in this new recording of Han Solo and the Princess, and you'd have a great album!

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The choirs are just not up to the task of recording DOTF and BOTH.

 

The performances on the album are perfectly adequate if it was a live concert, but not really as a studio album for posterity.

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that was a really nice rendition of the new concert arrangement, listening to it was like discovering it for the first time again - its such a beautiful piece of music that is testament to the sheer transcendental quality that Williams is able to give his music even 30+ years on.

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25 minutes ago, Falstaft said:

 

A cursory listen indicates these are the debut rerecordings of not only the new Han Solo & the Princess arrangement, but Ahch-To Island and The Battle of Crait from TLJ.

 

Yeah why is no one talking about The Battle of Crait!? How many times do we get concert versions of action cues from Williams? 

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45 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

 

Yeah why is no one talking about The Battle of Crait!? How many times do we get concert versions of action cues from Williams? 

 

It's just a re-recording of the OST track, not really a concert version.

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On 11/22/2019 at 5:06 AM, Jurassic Shark said:

Strange they didn't wait a few months to include music from TROS.

 

Just like how Silva Screen released a "comprehensive" Twilight album months before the last one came out

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6 hours ago, Jay said:

 

OK, the recording of Han Solo and the Princess is pretty great!  Only thing I didn't like was the sound of the bells (?) towards the end.

 

 

 The bootleg recordings from Williams have them too.  Also the brass in this new recording is less aggressive in the last section and I like that

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Yes! @Jay Thanks for the heads up on amazon, snagged it right away! I love the new Han Solo and the Princess arrangement, the section from 4:28 onwards following the big statement of the theme is simply stunning!

I put it among my favourite of Williams' output in recent years and would love for it to appear in TRoS.

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Um, not to burst anyone's bubble, but I really do not like the new HSATP recording. Where's the tenderness and emotion that the LSO put into this piece? Here it just sounds like an exercise in note-playing. Come on, Dirk Brossé, release a CD.

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I'm happy that the tempo of the segment I highlighted earlier isn't as fast as some of the live recordings, and much closer to Williams' original performance.

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17 hours ago, Jay said:

BTW, the physical CD is only $7.27 on Amazon US

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZW8WPP9/

 

6 hours ago, King Mark said:

I tried to order this c.d. and it said it didn't ship to my address:(

 

I mean, you live in Canada. Use Amazon CA, not Amazon US.  Like this

 

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07ZW8WPP9/

 

That works for any Amazon link. Just change the .com to .ca.

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3 minutes ago, Jay said:

That works for any Amazon link. Just change the .com to .ca.

 

Only if the album is distributed in Canada, it doesn't work for every CD, but in this case, fortunately, yes.

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2 hours ago, Bespin said:

I just want to add my two cents. The Slovak National SO is not a nobody orchestra, they are well known and some of their recordings with Kirk Trevor (another conductor) are very appreciated among classical music lovers.

 

And? There are plenty of "well known" orchestras that have released bad recordings over the decades. Slovak simply sounds bad here. The trumpet-playing, especially, sounds shoddy and lazy. Not City of Prague levels bad, but bad nonetheless.

 

But the overarching issue is that the orchestra as a whole doesn't feel balanced here; check out for instance the bit at 1:27 of "Battle of the Heroes"; you should be hearing a strong trombone echo of the rhythm the trumpets just played... But what you end up with is muddied and practically nonexistent, volume-wise. Basically, the orchestra sections are not playing like they have a clue what's going on musically.

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2 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

. As for Han Solo and the Princess, I'll keep going back to the live performance from November 2018 in London with Brossé and the LSO.

 

 

 

it's way too slow!

 

I think Tanglewood August 2018 conducted by Williams is the best live performance we have and actually sounds pretty good

 

But I think the new climax section is the best on this new recording (4.15 to 4.50). it doesn't get overly loud and harsh like the other ones

 

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3 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

and going for the shortened version was probably because they really filled the 80 minutes of the CD and couldn't have the concert version there.

 

They packed it full! :)

 

When it comes to The Throne Room, I know I'm not the only one at this forum who prefers the original, short version over the concert arrangement.

 

6 hours ago, Bespin said:

I just want to add my two cents. The Slovak National SO is not a nobody orchestra, they are well known and some of their recordings with Kirk Trevor (another conductor) are very appreciated among classical music lovers.

 

Never heard of him. Could you recommend a few albums?

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Yeah, but it's at least miles better than the old Prague / Silva Screen compilations.

 

In several aspects it's also better than Gerhardt's Jedi.

 

And it's better than some of the tracks on the JW conducted Star Wars Trilogy.

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Don't get your lightsabers in a knot over some recordings, geez. It sounds fine. It's not like there aren't going to be millions more of these types of albums in the future...

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After TROS, isn’t it overdue that Williams resurrected the Skywalker Symphony to do some new recordings with selections from the entire saga?

 

Then he’d include the new arrangements for HSATP and The Jedi Steps among other little odds and ends.

 

Maybe not the Skywalker Symphony part, but it seems likely to me.

 

And... ! We’d finally get new recordings of The Main Title, The Imperial March and Yoda’s Theme. 😂

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