How familiar is JW with the greatest film composer who ever lived?

[Fabulin 3,511]

2 hours ago, InTheCity said:

well this is much closer to the Azkaban example than your quasi trills 

 

I don't really get the bombast argument, composers use bombast when they wish and don't use it also when they wish 

You don't really get many things...

 

But that's ok. We've all been there.

[Quintus 5,399]

Say I was to get into this composer, what "greatest hits" album is recommended? Or what are the titles of some of Shostakovich's finest, most accessible works/cues? 

 

I always like anything that I hear from this man. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I think JW met James Horner 

[KK 3,307]

34 minutes ago, Quintus said:

Say I was to get into this composer, what "greatest hits" album is recommended? Or what are the titles of some of Shostakovich's finest, most accessible works/cues? 

 

I always like anything that I hear from this man. 

 

Some suggestions that you might like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Just seeing that you were looking for a "greatest hits" album. Hmm I'm not sure. But a great starter work in my opinion is his Symphony No. 11. It's basically a film score in construction, and it's still one of my favourites of his. The new LPO recording is quite good. The Gadfly Suite is also an excellent and accessible piece of music.

 

As for the OP argument above, Shostakovich is indeed one of my favourite composers and I'm sure one of the many influences on Williams' work. But I think Williams DNA draws more broadly from the Russian symphonic tradition than Shostakovich specifically. 

 

 

[karelm 2,912]

3 hours ago, KK said:

 

Some suggestions that you might like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Just seeing that you were looking for a "greatest hits" album. Hmm I'm not sure. But a great starter work in my opinion is his Symphony No. 11. It's basically a film score in construction, and it's still one of my favourites of his. The new LPO recording is quite good. The Gadfly Suite is also an excellent and accessible piece of music.

 

As for the OP argument above, Shostakovich is indeed one of my favourite composers and I'm sure one of the many influences on Williams' work. But I think Williams DNA draws more broadly from the Russian symphonic tradition than Shostakovich specifically. 

 

 

 

That is the problem with a thread like this.  First, there are very few bigger fans than me of Shostakovich but the premise of this thread is he is the best film composer who ever lived.  Ok, that's an opinion that is definitely debatable.  Some people don't even consider his best music to be the symphonies or his film music but his chamber music.  Some consider his string quartets to be the pinnacle of his achievement and the most personal example of what this composer is all about and could claim you don't understand this composer if you don't know his string quartets.  Others say some of his symphonies represent who he is.  But the symphonies are quite extreme in their range.  Some of them are soviet populists.  Some are deeply introspective.  Some are enfant terrible.  So which one is he?  They are somewhat contradictory in style because his biography is a major part of his body of work and that is part of why I adore him...his music talks about his time and place AND how it devoloped.  No. 13 and 14 are very much a product of his late phase just like Mahler's Das Lied von der erde and No. 9, 10 were examples of his late phase.  This contrasts with Mahler or Sibelius who are also biographical but didn't have the geopolitical issues he had to live through.  What work do you think he considered the best he ever composed?  It's not a film score, I'll tell you that.  It's not the most popular symphony either.  It's probably something small and playful that best represents who he was.  I argue the same with JW.  The huge stuff we all love was probably just a gig that didn't represent them that well.  The piece they wish they were remembered for would probably be something fun or light or playful or memorable but not that massive work we know them from.  Sort of like how Tchaikovsky wasn't a big fan of 1812 overture and Ravel hated bolero. 

 

The irony of this thread is I put this composer in my top 5 favorite and most impactful composers but cannot agree that he is the best film composer.  My issue could be the nomenclature and examples of works that don't defend the assertion.  This thread should be called "How familiar is JW with a favorite composer of mine, Shostakovich" and I would have no qualms.  It's a stupid thing to say.  What would you say if I asked "How familiar is JW with Mahler the greatest symphony composer who ever lived?"  It's a stupid thing to say though Mahler and JW are also favorite composers of mine.

[Tom 4,651]

It is amazing what deleterious effects come from rhetorical grandstanding.  Why not just say "How familiar is JW with one of the greatest...," or simply, "How familiar is JW with Shost?"  

[Bespin 8,480]

I wonder if John Williams is familiar with his greatest fan who ever lived, me.

 

[KK 3,307]

1 hour ago, karelm said:

 

That is the problem with a thread like this.  First, there are very few bigger fans than me of Shostakovich but the premise of this thread is he is the best film composer who ever lived.  Ok, that's an opinion that is definitely debatable.  Some people don't even consider his best music to be the symphonies or his film music but his chamber music.  Some consider his string quartets to be the pinnacle of his achievement and the most personal example of what this composer is all about and could claim you don't understand this composer if you don't know his string quartets.  Others say some of his symphonies represent who he is.  But the symphonies are quite extreme in their range.  Some of them are soviet populists.  Some are deeply introspective.  Some are enfant terrible.  So which one is he?  They are somewhat contradictory in style because his biography is a major part of his body of work and that is part of why I adore him...his music talks about his time and place AND how it devoloped.  No. 13 and 14 are very much a product of his late phase just like Mahler's Das Lied von der erde and No. 9, 10 were examples of his late phase.  This contrasts with Mahler or Sibelius who are also biographical but didn't have the geopolitical issues he had to live through.  What work do you think he considered the best he ever composed?  It's not a film score, I'll tell you that.  It's not the most popular symphony either.  It's probably something small and playful that best represents who he was.  I argue the same with JW.  The huge stuff we all love was probably just a gig that didn't represent them that well.  The piece they wish they were remembered for would probably be something fun or light or playful or memorable but not that massive work we know them from.  Sort of like how Tchaikovsky wasn't a big fan of 1812 overture and Ravel hated bolero. 

 

The irony of this thread is I put this composer in my top 5 favorite and most impactful composers but cannot agree that he is the best film composer.  My issue could be the nomenclature and examples of works that don't defend the assertion.  This thread should be called "How familiar is JW with a favorite composer of mine, Shostakovich" and I would have no qualms.  It's a stupid thing to say.  What would you say if I asked "How familiar is JW with Mahler the greatest symphony composer who ever lived?"  It's a stupid thing to say though Mahler and JW are also favorite composers of mine.

 

Well fucking said karelm!

 

With all that said, I vouch for Shostakovich' chamber music as a closer portrait of his musical ethos. But that could be my bias talking, since there's so much to learn from them!