John Williams & Berliner Philharmoniker 14th/15th/16th Oct 2021

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,455]

3 hours ago, MaxTheHouseelf said:

Man, people who attended the first concert we're in for a treat with Princess Leia's Theme, the flutist is fantastic! Strings sound so warm and smooth.

Yeah, this piece was one of my favourite on thursday, too bad Williams didn't find the strenght to play it again for the other concert because it was a truly wonderful performance. In any case I'm glad they recorded it that everyone can experienced it

[TownerFan 4,998]

 

6 hours ago, MaxTheHouseelf said:

The video footage is already a thousand times better than the Vienna recording. So many interesting angles of the musicians (many close ups; harp, celeste etc.). It's much more lively.

 

FYI, the director who did the Vienna concert also did the direction for the Digital Concert Hall. I think he also did the Tanglewood concert of the Violin Concerto premiere.

[crumbs 14,669]

I thought the direction was absolutely superb on the live broadcast. He clearly knew the music and was well prepared with the cameras. 

[Disco Stu 15,501]

I'm guessing a lot of it comes down to the infrastructure that's been put in place in the hall by the management.  Perhaps the Berlin hall just had a better setup for placing more cameras and in better spots than the hall in Vienna?

[aj_vader 560]

Why is the Imperial March so sharp? It's like a quater tone up from G. 

 

I know sometimes Horns pitch themselves up a few cents so they stick out of the mix more, maybe this is what i'm hearing? 

 

 

[heritage 73]

Is the Williams Concert in the Digital Concert Hall to download or only to see an hear ? 

[BB-8 3,842]

1 hour ago, aj_vader said:

Why is the Imperial March so sharp? It's like a quater tone up from G. 

 

I know sometimes Horns pitch themselves up a few cents so they stick out of the mix more, maybe this is what i'm hearing? 

 

 

Maybe it was forced?

[aj_vader 560]

Just now, BB-8 said:

Maybe it was forced?

[Steve 608]

So, after a quick analysis from the "Digital Concert Hall" footage I can confirm as follows:

 

-They used mostly the saturday concert (exceptions are: Leia's Theme, Some applauding audience footage is used from friday)

-Mistakes were corrected (e. g. the intro from "Far and Away")

[bollemanneke 3,541]

And no JP announcement?

[Steve 608]

5 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

And no JP announcement?

Yes, very strange. It' stupid to have separate videos for each title and not the full concert in one video. I really hope they put out a blueray...

[bollemanneke 3,541]

Of course they will, this can't be it. Can you comment on the speeches they did preserve? Did they mess with those?

[Steve 608]

5 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Of course they will, this can't be it. Can you comment on the speeches they did preserve? Did they mess with those?

Not yet. I only watched the titles so far.

[Archive Collection 218]

I've downloaded all of the performances from Digital Concert Hall and converted it into an album for my iTunes library. After removing all of the silences/speech/applause (which I'm not particularly interested in when I'm only listening to a concert), there's around 92 minutes of music. Perfect for a 2 CD set.

 

 

[InTheCity 140]

they were outstanding - some of the best JW ever heard

 

[heritage 73]

@Archive Collection: How have you it downloaded ? I have read, that when the ticket or time for the Digital Concert Hall runs out, then all data (music files) will be deleted from the hard drive. So when i buy a ticket for 7 days, i can download it on my hard drive, but after seven days the files will be delete. Is that so ?

[Archive Collection 218]

10 minutes ago, heritage said:

@Archive Collection: How have you it downloaded ? I have read, that when the ticket or time for the Digital Concert Hall runs out, then all data (music files) will be deleted from the hard drive. So when i buy a ticket for 7 days, i can download it on my hard drive, but after seven days the files will be delete. Is that so ?

Not quite. Officially, you can't download the video from the Digital Concert Hall website, but I downloaded the HLS stream as a M2TS file, and extracted the audio from that.

[crumbs 14,669]

Any thoughts on JW's body language at the end of Princess Leia's Theme? Is he shaking his head because he's so impressed with their performance, or is he unhappy about something?

 

The orchestra played it to perfection, IMO! That horn solo... wow!

[heritage 73]

@Archive Collection Have you a mac program were i can download it from the Digital Concert Hall ? I don´t know how it works

[bollemanneke 3,541]

37 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Any thoughts on JW's body language at the end of Princess Leia's Theme? Is he shaking his head because he's so impressed with their performance, or is he unhappy about something?

 

The orchestra played it to perfection, IMO! That horn solo... wow!

Well, not that this answers your question at all, but I shake my head when I'm impressed with something. No idea why.

[Jurassic Shark 12,826]

[A. A. Ron 1,851]

Damn, I think that Far and Away performance might just be better than the actual soundtrack. The Imperial March is amazing too.

[crumbs 14,669]

It's interesting comparing the audio/video quality of DCH to the Vienna Bluray. This concert is a profound improvement in every aspect, from image quality to orchestral clarity.

[Steve 608]

40 minutes ago, A. A. Ron said:

Damn, I think that Far and Away performance might just be better than the actual soundtrack. The Imperial March is amazing too.

Well, yeah after they edited the mistakes 😉

It was quite magical in the hall. No record can reproduce that feeling.

[Jay 38,872]

Did they fix "mistakes" for this video presentation by grabbing audio from one of the other nights to patch over things from the main concert night it presents?

[bollemanneke 3,541]

It would seem so.

And they also removed his speech before the flying theme (and JP) and the insanely long applause. I hope this isn't the definitive version.

[crumbs 14,669]

After spending some time with it tonight, overall I have to say I really dislike the new presentation. The audio and video quality is marvelous, but the "experience" of a concert is totally lost.

 

The applause and JW's reactions are cut short after every performance, removing his fun interactions with the audience.

 

0:50 of credits at the end of every single video disrupts the musical flow, so you can't place all the videos in a playlist without long gaps between tracks.

 

After the Elegy, they've completely removed the interplay between JW and Bruno (where he insisted he take to the podium, but Bruno refused).

 

Even the final video ends moments after JW is handed flowers, omitting the cute exchange where he handed off the flowers to the violinist and thanked the crowd (the entire extended applause is completely absent).

 

Why would you remove all these moments when there's no time restraints for your videos?! It's like getting a new JW OST and finding all the fun details microedited out!

[Henry Sítrónu 525]

13 hours ago, Archive Collection said:

I've downloaded all of the performances from Digital Concert Hall and converted it into an album for my iTunes library. After removing all of the silences/speech/applause (which I'm not particularly interested in when I'm only listening to a concert), there's around 92 minutes of music. Perfect for a 2 CD set.

 

 

would you be so kind to share your cover? I like it better than mine...

 

[Holko 10,022]

27 minutes ago, crumbs said:

It's like getting a new JW OST and finding all the fun details microedited out!

You mean like getting a JW OST?

[crumbs 14,669]

Yes, like getting a new JW OST.

[bollemanneke 3,541]

Maybe they're giving us this version as an extra incentive to buy the blu-ray? As if we needed one.

[bollemanneke 3,541]

I can confirm they removed sections from his speeches in the concert hall version. Because... they could, I guess.

[Archive Collection 218]

8 hours ago, heritage said:

@Archive Collection Have you a mac program were i can download it from the Digital Concert Hall ? I don´t know how it works

I used Firefox, and a browsers plug-in called Video DownloadHelper to download the files from the site. From there I used Audacity to extract the audio and export it as a 24/48 WAV file.

6 hours ago, Henry Sítrónu said:

would you be so kind to share your cover? I like it better than mine...

 

Sure, here you go!

 

[BB-8 3,842]

Is this it?

[crumbs 14,669]

9 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

I can confirm they removed sections from his speeches in the concert hall version. Because... they could, I guess.

 

I thought some of the speeches seemed shorter than I remembered from the live broadcast!

 

Just... why?!

[bollemanneke 3,541]

Maybe they want to pull a DG on us while they still can.

[BB-8 3,842]

7 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Maybe they want to pull a DG on us while they still can.

 

Now looking at it, a DG CD and/or CD/Bluray release would still be better than this on-demand edition hanging around in the clouds and us guys having to rip, edit and design our own souvenirs.

[bollemanneke 3,541]

Well, copies of Saturday's live stream are floating around too and I just put in Leia's theme to make it all complete.

Also, I'm not sure how I feel about these performance corrections either. Olympic fanfare, okay, but there was a beautiful, very slightly out of sync brass moment in Far and Away on Saturday and now it's gone. GONE! Not modern at all.

[BB-8 3,842]

They should have gone for a direct metal mastering like with Haitink's Bruckner 7...

 

Berliner Philharmoniker, Bernard Haitink – Anton Bruckner Symphony Nr. 7 (2020, Vinyl) - Discogs

 

 

[Remco 687]

23 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Well, copies of Saturday's live stream are floating around too and I just put in Leia's theme to make it all complete.

Also, I'm not sure how I feel about these performance corrections either. Olympic fanfare, okay, but there was a beautiful, very slightly out of sync brass moment in Far and Away on Saturday and now it's gone. GONE! Not modern at all.

 

I'm happy that they did actually put in that work, unlike the recording of another concert.

[Steve 608]

4 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Well, copies of Saturday's live stream are floating around too and I just put in Leia's theme to make it all complete.

Also, I'm not sure how I feel about these performance corrections either. Olympic fanfare, okay, but there was a beautiful, very slightly out of sync brass moment in Far and Away on Saturday and now it's gone. GONE! Not modern at all.

Also the oboe flub in the beginning of Far and away is corrected. It's nice to have a perfect recording. The concert feeling is only represented by the original saturday broadcast though. 

[bollemanneke 3,541]

Yes, but I have a feeling that the Saturday broadcast has a better oboe intro to Flying than the digital concert hall version. My main objection is, this concert was 99% perfect as it is, why not just keep it?

[Luke Skywalker 1,929]

Damn…in the live video one of the most used camera angles of Williams features more than two ugly empty seats. It didnt cross my mind at the moment to go there and use those seats after the intermission….(i would have been filmed with williams very clearly in the that part of the concert….) well missed opportunity….

 

would it have been bad form to do that? 😅 Maybe the actual owner of the seats could arrive late…but an hour late? Would he or she be let get into the concert at that time?

 

 

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,824]

24 minutes ago, Luke Skywalker said:

would it have been bad form to do that? 😅 Maybe the actual owner of the seats could arrive late…but an hour late? Would he or she be let get into the concert at that time?

 

Years ago, when I had a student cycle ticket for the Wiener Philharmoniker (mostly dress rehearsals), they rescheduled one of the concerts, and I didn't notice that they changed not just the day, but also the time, to one hour earlier on the new date. I only noticed something was wrong when I arrived in the middle of the intermission. They let me in without any trouble - why wouldn't they. What they usually won't do is let you in during the performence, except in between pieces (so you're probably in luck with a Williams concert consisting of short pieces, but less so with a Mahler symphony).

[lairdo 739]

On 26/10/2021 at 8:36 AM, Disco Stu said:

I'm guessing a lot of it comes down to the infrastructure that's been put in place in the hall by the management.  Perhaps the Berlin hall just had a better setup for placing more cameras and in better spots than the hall in Vienna?

 

The Berlin Phil has been pretty much at the forefront of streaming and having their own recording label. The Digital Concert Hall started before 2011 (which is when I was introduced to it by friends in Brazil when I visited them). So, yes, they have a number of built in cameras and mic positions that their live and edit team know how to work to perfection. I believe they record every single concert even if they only broadcast one of them when there is a multinight program.

 

I've been a subscriber for years and completely recommend it. There are native apps on a lot of platforms too, and you can download for offline viewing (e.g. airplanes) on the iPad and iPhone app.

 

My only request would be that they have an audio only mode for the phone. Even with the screen off, I think it streams the video. Kind of a waste when listening and running.

 

 

On 28/10/2021 at 10:31 AM, BB-8 said:

Now looking at it, a DG CD and/or CD/Bluray release would still be better than this on-demand edition hanging around in the clouds and us guys having to rip, edit and design our own souvenirs.

 

I don't know if they will do this, but for years the Berlin Phil recording label has been releasing sets with CDs or SACDs plus a Blu-ray video of the concert works in the set, and download codes and a 7-day ticket for the digital concert hall. For example, when John Adams was a guest conductor one year, they collected much of his work into a set. They've just released a series of violin concertos from numerous concerts. The packaging and material are amazing IMO. Even for those who do not want physical copies, eventually the digital versions are available too (sometimes day and date, sometimes offset by a few months).

 

(Example: https://www.berliner-philharmoniker-recordings.com/john-adams-edition.html)

 

No idea if they will consider doing this for the JW concert. I would expect the rights are an issue. But who knows, maybe they will? They do release material (e.g. the John Adams works) that are still under copyright. 

 

 

 

 

[BB-8 3,842]

8 hours ago, lairdo said:

 

The Berlin Phil has been pretty much at the forefront of streaming and having their own recording label. The Digital Concert Hall started before 2011 (which is when I was introduced to it by friends in Brazil when I visited them). So, yes, they have a number of built in cameras and mic positions that their live and edit team know how to work to perfection. I believe they record every single concert even if they only broadcast one of them when there is a multinight program.

 

I've been a subscriber for years and completely recommend it. There are native apps on a lot of platforms too, and you can download for offline viewing (e.g. airplanes) on the iPad and iPhone app.

 

My only request would be that they have an audio only mode for the phone. Even with the screen off, I think it streams the video. Kind of a waste when listening and running.

 

 

 

I don't know if they will do this, but for years the Berlin Phil recording label has been releasing sets with CDs or SACDs plus a Blu-ray video of the concert works in the set, and download codes and a 7-day ticket for the digital concert hall. For example, when John Adams was a guest conductor one year, they collected much of his work into a set. They've just released a series of violin concertos from numerous concerts. The packaging and material are amazing IMO. Even for those who do not want physical copies, eventually the digital versions are available too (sometimes day and date, sometimes offset by a few months).

 

(Example: https://www.berliner-philharmoniker-recordings.com/john-adams-edition.html)

 

No idea if they will consider doing this for the JW concert. I would expect the rights are an issue. But who knows, maybe they will? They do release material (e.g. the John Adams works) that are still under copyright. 

 

 

 

 

So there’s hope!

 

[GerateWohl 4,938]

What might be disturbing in the recording, that in both concerts that I attended there was at least one person in the audience who couldn't wait until the performance was finished and had to applause over the last fading seconds of the piece as if they tried to avoid any kind of uncomfortable silence in the room.

 

Anyway, when Williams announced, that now he is going to play three pieces from Harry Potter, I would even have expected no applause inbetween the pieces. Usually, in the concert hall when there multiple pieces of a suite or a symphony with multiple movements there is no applause between the movements. At that concert nobody cared about those concert hall customs. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,826]

Film music geeks have no clues about such social codes.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,455]

Nah it was just too good

I have to say the only applause that bothered me were those at the beginning of the Imperial March.

I think Williams should either rewrite the intro to last longer that during concert people applause a bit at the beginning and then we can perfectly enjoyed the piece or have a bag of old tomatoes to throw on those who applause 

[Sunshine Reger 3,576]

While I have not participated in such spontaneous crowd combustions, I do enjoy an applause at the beginning of a particularily exciting piece of music. Museal and templar attitudes begone!