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SPOTLIGHT ON JOHN WILLIAMS: A Prospero Classical CD release featuring new recordings of JW film music


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3 hours ago, TownerFan said:

In the case of JW, he has always been very careful about what’s out there available to perform for orchestras, and the fact he spent such an amount of time supervising his Signature Series is a testament of how much he cares about these things, so we should consider ourselves already very lucky that he continues to put so much stuff out there. Sure, sometimes some choices can be questionable (like the original Star Wars trilogy concert suites that were withdrawn a few years ago, they were brilliant distillations of the three original films), but overall there’s a great breadth of selections available to build programs beyond the usual fare.

 

Also, it looks like that only a few selected conductors/orchestras are granted permission to perform/record stuff that it’s not officially published, and I guess this is something totally up to JW to decide.

Have they said they are being released with updates? the signature series?

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All what was published so far would probably be part of my dream live program of John Williams' filmmusic at the concert hall and these are really good recordings. But when I want to listen to these pieces at home, which is the purpose of such a recording, I see not yet a reason why I would pick them over the original recordings, that I already have. But I am open to change my mind. 

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5 hours ago, TownerFan said:

Also, it looks like that only a few selected conductors/orchestras are granted permission to perform/record stuff that it’s not officially published, and I guess this is something totally up to JW to decide.

 

Indeed, I remember Keith Lockhart saying in an interview that JW had to approve all of the selections for Lights, Camera... Music! and that he even vetoed one or two pieces Keith wanted to include (he didn't say which, of course).

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2 hours ago, King Mark said:

 There's so many Williams compilations or rerecordings out there I'm sure 80% of them didn't ask Williams personal approval for each piece recorded.

 

All we'll be getting here is the "safe" material like Flying Theme ,SW Main titles and Jurassic Park aimed at the casual public again and I'm sure JW has nothing to do with it .

 

As far as I understand, if it's been published, you just get the parts from the publisher, declare what you want to do with them (i.e. record and sell the performance), and pay the resulting fees. Then you can record and sell your performance, and Williams gets his share. No need for asking Williams personally, because that's what the publisher is for.

 

If it hasn't been published, that won't work (obviously). Instead, you either get approval from Williams (and perhaps, if he's supportive, also sheet music). Or you get hold of the sheet music in some other, "unofficial" way, or transcribe it yourself, produce an unlicensed recording, and hope Williams won't care.

 

2 hours ago, King Mark said:

Probably they don't think it won't sell recording any the pieces in an my dream track list posted before.

 

And they're probably right. Not many people buy this stuff. Recordings are expensive. And even if the parts are available, getting them plus recording rights can be expensive, too.

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For the Lights Camera Music c.d. Williams was probably involved because he was recording Spielberg/Williams collaboration  part 3 at the same time and was meant to be a companion c.d. .And it still contained a lot of holy grail tracks.

 

Now this new compilation would have been an amazing opportunity not to recycle the same greatest hits tracks we have countless recordings of especially in the last 5 years .(Dudamel c.d., LSO)

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All I’m saying is that there are always a lot of rumors regarding Williams (over-) involvement in any release that bears his name or is connected to a franchise he’s worked at.

 

I might believe that Lockhart asked Williams for his input, and they had a discussion about it. Williams might have suggested what he thought would work and what wouldn’t, and of course Lockhart would respect that.

 

That’s not the same as vetoed, though.

 

But if there’s a quote, and an official source and interview, where Lockhart says some tracks were vetoed by Williams, then yes, I’ll believe it.

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To veto is not to “express a wish”. At least not by the definition of the word.

 

What you’re suggesting is dialogue. Which, was my point, that I find “dialogue/expressing a wish” more likely to have happened than anything being “vetoed”. Maybe Lockhart consulted JW on the set list, and - if that happened - then Lockhart respected his wishes.

 

A decision being vetoed, is a much harsher process.

 

And I also doubt that Williams could - legally - veto a piece out of a live performance. He’d have no legal right, assuming that the producers paid the appropriate fees and had cleared all legal permissions, copyright etc.

 

So, I’m not saying that Williams absolutely did not have an influence on the set list.

 

I’m only objecting to the use of the word “veto”.

 

So, did he “veto” something? Probably not. Might he have “expressed a wish” and Lockhart listened? Maybe.

 

But show me the source and I’ll change my mind.

 

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/veto

 

Edit: Even if Lockhart did say that Williams “vetoed” some cues, I’d still take that lightly. If that quote exists, maybe he wanted to convey that Williams actually had “expressed a wish”, and then Lockhart used the word “veto” more as an expression than its actual meaning.

 

Kind of like when you say “traffic was murder”. You don’t actually mean it was murder. But you get the point across.

 

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Vetoed could mean that JW simply expressed a wish, which of course Lockhart respected.

 

So, if that’s what you meant, then yeah.

 

And if that is what you meant, then it is also exactly what I meant.

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Lockhart probably forgot to check the dictionary before using the word. ;)

 

On 10/18/2017 at 9:25 PM, Matt S. said:

What I’m more curious about are what pieces were left off of Volume 1.  Lockhart said in an interview that the album was created in consultation with Williams, and in fact there were a few selections Lockhart wanted to record, but Williams vetoed them. He didn’t say what they were, but I wonder if AI or The Lost World were among them.  I still find it odd they were left of Spielberg/Williams III, in favor of two renditions of the same melody from Lincoln. 

 

Don't know which interview he's referring to. It's not mentioned in TownerFan's interview.

 

On 10/19/2017 at 4:17 AM, Amer said:

Maybe these titles were vetoed because they might have clashed with his new Spielberg album at that time.

 

Sounds plausible.

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6 minutes ago, rough cut said:

Well, here’s to hoping that there’ll be a Lights, Camera, Music Vol. 2 and that Williams doesn’t veto any rare tracks! 😉

I vaguely remember Lockhart was considering it but the ongoing certainly messed up the plans. 

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1 hour ago, Matt S. said:

I did find the interview in question, it was from the podcast "The Answered Question" from WCRB, with Brian McCreath.  

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-74-keith-lockhart-and-charles-dutoit/id1046679914?i=1000385851331

Ooh, another podcast to check out! Thanks

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At least it's got the Temple of Doom End Credits!

 

Edit: Strange that all HP tracks except one is grouped together. The Tintin tracks could also have been together.

 

Disc 1

1    Overture (From "The Cowboys")
2    End Credits (From "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom")
3    Main Theme (From "Jurassic Park")
4    The Flight to Neverland (From "Hook")
5    The Chamber of Secrets (From "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ")
6    Fawkes the Phoenix (From "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets")
7    Witches, Wands and Wizards (From "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban")
8    The Duel (From "The Adventures of Tintin. The Secret of the Unicorn")
9    March (From "Superman")
10    Star Wars - The Force Awakens (Suite for Orchestra): I. March of the Resistance
11    Star Wars - The Force Awakens (Suite for Orchestra): II. Rey's Theme
12    Star Wars - The Force Awakens (Suite for Orchestra): III. Scherzo for X-Wings
13    Star Wars - The Force Awakens (Suite for Orchestra): IV. The Jedi Steps & Finale

 

Disc 2
1    Theme (From "JFK")
2    Escapades (From "Catch Me If You Can") For Alto Saxophone & Orchestra: I. Closing in
3    Escapades (From "Catch Me If You Can") For Alto Saxophone & Orchestra: II. Reflections
4    Escapades (From "Catch Me If You Can") For Alto Saxophone & Orchestra: III. Joy Ride
5    Main Theme (From "Born on the Fourth of July")
6    Viktor’s Tale (From "The Terminal")
7    Opening Credits (From "The Adventures of Tintin. The secret of the unicorn")
8    Nimbus 2000 (From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone")

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It looks like a good ”classic” Williams selection which is never bad, even though, as a JWfan, one might’ve hoped for more.

 

I am looking forward to hearing a new, good recording of the Superman march, though. That always puts a smile on my face.

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

7    Witches, Wands and Wizards (From "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban")

This would be the first recording after The City of Prague one, right?

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54 minutes ago, carlborg said:

This would be the first recording after The City of Prague one, right?

 

I was wondering about that.

 

1 hour ago, rough cut said:

It looks like a good ”classic” Williams selection which is never bad, even though, as a JWfan, one might’ve hoped for more.

 

At least there's no E.T. and CE3K.

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That finale looks very anticlimactic. I like the Tintin main titles and Nimbus 2000 but come on, put the TFA suite at the end, finish disc 1 with Escapades! And yeah, kinda meh.

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30 minutes ago, Holko said:

That finale looks very anticlimactic. I like the Tintin main titles and Nimbus 2000 but come on, put the TFA suite at the end, finish disc 1 with Escapades! And yeah, kinda meh.

I'm wondering if there aren't some tracks missing on the second disc listing here... the second disc has only slightly more than half as many as the first, and looking at the selections, I can't see those eight tracks would amount to more than 45/50 minutes whereas the first is well over an hour (just rough estimates here). In other words, the remaining 20/25 minutes on disc 2 is pretty much the ideal space for CE3K and ET. Of course, it's all just speculation... ;-)

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It’s great to see a two-disc set that appears to be aiming for a sort of comprehensivity. I’m not sure there’s been one of those since the Sony Greatest Hits 1969-1999 double album. That program is still the gold standard for an overview of Williams’ career if you ask me, but it misses Potter and the rest of the 2000s, so this set of pieces is a nice alternate “best-of,” with a deeper focus on certain newer works like Potter, Escapades, and the sequel trilogy coming at the expense of more one-off inclusions like Munich, War Horse, or most of the early ‘70s. I think those focused suites are a good idea, though, since it helps this release avoid becoming a straight-up retread of Spielberg/Williams 3. If not for that decision, we wouldn’t have new recordings of “Fawkes” or the Tintin main titles.  
 

Meanwhile, if we ever get a true Williams rarities album, it’ll probably have to be a Kickstarter. 

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Yeah, but, also, no “Jaws”, no “Schindler’s List”, no “Star Wars” except “TFA”.

 

Hmm...

 

Maybe this is meant to be a “beginners” JWFan’s second CD compilation?

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12 minutes ago, rough cut said:

Yeah, but, also, no “Jaws”, no “Schindler’s List”, no “Star Wars” except “TFA”.

 

Hmm...

 

Maybe this is meant to be a “beginners” JWFan’s second CD compilation?

Still think Amazon is missing some of the second CD tracks... it's happened before.

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15 hours ago, rough cut said:

It looks like a good ”classic” Williams selection which is never bad, even though, as a JWfan, one might’ve hoped for more.

 

That's an understatement. This album is not for me. I have enough "classic" Williams compilations already, and I tend to listen to the OSTs anyway most of the time. But I'm sure it will find a wider, more general audience.

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13 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Still think Amazon is missing some of the second CD tracks... it's happened before.

 

I don't think so. It looks like the first disk contains the full orchestra pieces and the second disk has rather the special pieces with the soloists and with chamber ensembles like opening credits of Tintin and Nimbus 2000 (if this is the arrangement from the suite). I guess that's it.

 

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If you could only choose one suite from Azkaban, why would you choose the one that's just a straight medley of film cues instead of the rarely performed alternate arrangement of Window to the Past? Disappointing.

 

Why is it so hard to get studio recordings of the updated Han Solo and the Princess, The Lost World, Irina's Theme, anything from WOTW, AI...

 

About the only takeaway for me is the Cowboys suite. I can live without the 4th re-recording of bloody Viktor's Tale.

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5 minutes ago, crumbs said:

If you could only choose one suite from Azkaban, why would you choose the one that's just a straight medley of film cues instead of the rarely performed alternate arrangement of Window to the Past?!

 

Because it contains the most important themes from the score?

 

5 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Apparently it's just too hard to get modern studio recordings of the updated Han Solo and the Princess

 

Ziegler says hi. :wave:

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Because it contains the most important themes from the score?

The only theme it contains is the Sirius bit in Quidditch, Third Year, I think. Otherwise it's a weird assortment of unique standalone cues barely kept together with scotch tape.

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12 minutes ago, crumbs said:

About the only takeaway here is the Cowboys suite

 

What about the Temple end credits and Tintin main title?

 

8 minutes ago, Holko said:

The only theme it contains is the Sirius bit in Quidditch, Third Year, I think. Otherwise it's a weird assortment of unique standalone cues barely kept together with scotch tape.

 

By themes I meant melodies songs.

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4 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

What about the Temple end credits and Tintin main title?

 

Depends if it has the unreleased section with Short Round's Theme.

 

And I'm not a big listener of Tintin. If I need to hear the opening titles, I'll just listen to the OST. I can't listen to his concert suite of Irena's Theme anywhere.

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