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Steve

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2 hours ago, Steve said:

1980 Filmharmonic - Conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra:

 

 

What a marvellous find!  Thank you for posting this, @Steve.  I remember reading that FILMHARMONIC NINETEEN EIGHTY was broadcast on TV at the time and wondered if any footage would ever resurface.  The concert took place on 18th October 1980 at the Royal Albert Hall in London (which always looks so dark in videos from the 1970s and 1980s!) and I believe that conducting duties were shared between John Williams, John Addison and Geoff Love.

 

The man introducing Williams at the start of the clip is the actor Donald Sinden, a stalwart of British sitcoms back in the day.  On a point of order, the orchestra is actually the National Philharmonic Orchestra, not the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  It is fascinating to see that relatively recently - we are talking only forty years ago - most orchestras had very few, if any female musicians.  Nowadays most of the best orchestras in Britain have at least as many women as men in their ranks.

 

This was the third of four occasions to date on which Williams has conducted his music at the Royal Albert Hall.

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2 hours ago, Not Mr. Big said:

I never knew they used actual tennis balls for "The Tennis Game"

 

That part was cool!

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Wow, I never knew he reworked The Tennis Game for the concert hall- Scherzo for Tennis Balls and Orchestra^  Is this news to everyone? I never knew such an arrangement existed. Why oh why didn't he record it with the other two concert pieces from Witches? Bad Johnny!

 

 

Wait, is it much different than the OST version? I just noticed it's a little shorter, and I might have just thought it different because I haven't listened to it in quite a while. 

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Does anyone know when Johnny revised "Olympic Spirit"? The version on "Summon the heros" has a different orchestration than the original version. Nowdays Williams also seems to conduct the new version, not the version as in the videos above.

10 hours ago, Omen II said:

 

What a marvellous find!  Thank you for posting this, @Steve.  I remember reading that FILMHARMONIC NINETEEN EIGHTY was broadcast on TV at the time and wondered if any footage would ever resurface.  The concert took place on 18th October 1980 at the Royal Albert Hall in London (which always looks so dark in videos from the 1970s and 1980s!) and I believe that conducting duties were shared between John Williams, John Addison and Geoff Love.

 

The man introducing Williams at the start of the clip is the actor Donald Sinden, a stalwart of British sitcoms back in the day.  On a point of order, the orchestra is actually the National Philharmonic Orchestra, not the London Philharmonic Orchestra.  It is fascinating to see that relatively recently - we are talking only forty years ago - most orchestras had very few, if any female musicians.  Nowadays most of the best orchestras in Britain have at least as many women as men in their ranks.

 

This was the third of four occasions to date on which Williams has conducted his music at the Royal Albert Hall.

Thanks for the information about the orchestra. Do you know the other dates when Williams conducted in the Albert Hall?

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23 hours ago, Albus Percival Wulfric said:

That thumbs up and a subsequent ovation at 3:53 though!

 

Oh man, thanks for noticing this gem!

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14 hours ago, Steve said:

Thanks for the information about the orchestra. Do you know the other dates when Williams conducted in the Albert Hall?

 

Yes.  Williams conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Filmharmonic on 30th October 1976, having attended the Royal Albert Hall the previous year to get a few tips when Jerry Goldsmith was one of the conductors.  The programme in 1976 included such wonderful selections as The Eiger Sanction, The Poseidon Adventure, Heidi, Cinderella Liberty, Jane Eyre, Earthquake and others.

 

Williams returned to the Royal Albert Hall less than two years later to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra this time in a concert entitled LSO In Space on 16th February 1978, famously sharing conducting duties with C3PO.  The concert featured music from Star Wars and "other great space music."

 

His next appearance at the venue was again at Filmharmonic, conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra on 18th October 1980 as seen in the video to which you linked above.  As well as the music seen in the clip, Williams also conducted two elections from The Empire Strikes Back at the same concert - Yoda's Theme and The Imperial March.

 

The most recent appearance (but hopefully not the last...) at the Royal Albert Hall was with the LSO again at Filmharmonic on 16th November 1985.  I believe that @Naïve Old Fart was at that one, no doubt having it large.

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3 minutes ago, Omen II said:

 

Yes.  Williams conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Filmharmonic on 30th October 1976, having attended the Royal Albert Hall the previous year to get a few tips when Jerry Goldsmith was one of the conductors.  The programme in 1976 included such wonderful selections as The Eiger Sanction, The Poseidon Adventure, Heidi, Cinderella Liberty, Jane Eyre, Earthquake and others.

 

Williams returned to the Royal Albert Hall less than two years later to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra this time in a concert entitled LSO In Space on 16th February 1978, famously sharing conducting duties with C3PO.  The concert featured music from Star Wars and "other great space music."

 

His next appearance at the venue was again at Filmharmonic, conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra on 18th October 1980 as seen in the video to which you linked above.  As well as the music seen in the clip, Williams also conducted two elections from The Empire Strikes Back at the same concert - Yoda's Theme and The Imperial March.

 

The most recent appearance (but hopefully not the last...) at the Royal Albert Hall was at Filmharmonic on 16th November 1985.  I believe that @Naïve Old Fart was at that one, no doubt having it large.

Thanks again for these very interesting information! I'm collecting information on Williams' conducting history.

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1 hour ago, Omen II said:

 

Yes.  Williams conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Filmharmonic on 30th October 1976, having attended the Royal Albert Hall the previous year to get a few tips when Jerry Goldsmith was one of the conductors.  The programme in 1976 included such wonderful selections as The Eiger Sanction, The Poseidon Adventure, Heidi, Cinderella Liberty, Jane Eyre, Earthquake and others.

 

What a fantastic programme! Wish I could have been there.

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Here is another almost full concert with John conducting the Pops on their Japan Tour 1987.

Programm includes: Olympic Fanfare and Theme, Edward Grieg Suite No. 1 from Peer Gynt, Parade of the Ewoks, Yoda's Theme, Star Wars Main Title, Flying Theme among others.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
3 hours ago, Steve said:

A Pops christmas concert:

 

Williams belting out "O Come All Ye Faithful" brought tears to my eyes--the man loves what he does.  The ET bit was quite cute as well.  

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On 12/24/2020 at 4:33 PM, Falstaft said:

Just discovered this on YouTube today -- hadn't heard this particular, pleasingly bombastic arrangement of "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas" before.

 

 

 

Wow!  New to me as well.  Love that amazing opening and the general pulse of the entire performance.  Very cool!

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Wow! A phenomenal performance. Nice to have that. "Merry Christmas!"

On 12/24/2020 at 4:49 PM, Steve said:

A Pops christmas concert:

 

 

That was great! I love those Christmas compilations by John Williams and the Boston Pops. I play the albums "Joy to the World" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" every year, along with Home Alone 1 & 2 and a few Christmas pieces from Harry Potter 1, 2 & 3.

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40 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I can't see him.

I don't know how Irving Berlin looks like, but since that guy was so emphasized in that piece, I figured that it might be him. Or that might be just a bass player, I have no idea.

 

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10 minutes ago, Biodome said:

I don't know how Irving Berlin looks like, but since that guy was so emphasized in that piece, I figured that it might be him. Or that might be just a bass player, I have no idea.

 

 

Me neither, I just assumed he was gone by then.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is another concert broadcast from Japan 1990 with Johnny and the Pops. This program also features non-Williams stuff. There is a lot to nitpick in the brass for @Jurassic Shark and @bollemanneke in this concert ;)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is another Evening at Pops broadcast. The "The Mission Theme" is played here too (start the video). It's the first time I saw a live video of him conducting this piece. Otherwise, mostly other music.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Long time fan of interviews with Johnny both in print and video.  I can across the youtube interview below which I had never heard before from a radio interview on NPR with Robert Lurtsema, Morning Pro Musica, 1983.  It's split into eight parts and runs over an hour.  Although there probably isn't much here that a jwfan member doesn't know, it's always a delight to listen to gentle conversation from the genius we all love.  Perhaps it's new to you too.

 

https://youtu.be/LmlRvN9A4oo

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6 hours ago, jedijim said:

Long time fan of interviews with Johnny both in print and video.  I can across the youtube interview below which I had never heard before from a radio interview on NPR with Robert Lurtsema, Morning Pro Musica, 1983.  It's split into eight parts and runs over an hour.  Although there probably isn't much here that a jwfan member doesn't know, it's always a delight to listen to gentle conversation from the genius we all love.  Perhaps it's new to you too.

 

https://youtu.be/LmlRvN9A4oo

 

The guy who uploaded that interview posted about it in the "Happy Birthday, Maestro!" thread already.

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On 2/10/2021 at 5:43 PM, jedijim said:

Long time fan of interviews with Johnny both in print and video.  I can across the youtube interview below which I had never heard before from a radio interview on NPR with Robert Lurtsema, Morning Pro Musica, 1983.  It's split into eight parts and runs over an hour.  Although there probably isn't much here that a jwfan member doesn't know, it's always a delight to listen to gentle conversation from the genius we all love.  Perhaps it's new to you too.

 

https://youtu.be/LmlRvN9A4oo

This is the most in-depth I've ever heard JW talk about his process, talking about his orchestrations in great detail, the daily work. He's talked about these things in general terms many times in the past, but here he's quite expansive. I love it!

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On 27/12/2020 at 5:50 PM, Jay said:

 

Wow!  New to me as well.  Love that amazing opening and the general pulse of the entire performance.  Very cool!


Yes it’s very concertised in a brilliant “Hook Banquet” kind of way. The only recording I know of is Keith Lockhart with the BPO and it’s worth seeking out. Especially for “Gloria” by Randol Bass. Adjust your settings for ‘cringe’ when looking at the album cover :-)

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