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

[Jay 39,764]

I don't know how anybody here would know the answer to that question

 

None of us have heard the new album yut

[MaxTheHouseelf 335]

31 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

I think all we know is that they planned some pickup session, but it never went ahead. I wouldn't really worry about it anyway since they didn't need to re-record anything in the first place in this case. It was all great.

Yes, Sarah Willis said it in the Legacy Conversations Video at 27:50 https://youtu.be/7j3miZqq16M?t=1668

 

[JohnTheBaptist 63]

Harry's Wonderous World sounds lethargic

[bollemanneke 3,624]

Huh? I love it!

[BB-8 4,050]

On 08/01/2022 at 4:08 AM, JohnTheBaptist said:

Harry's Wonderous World sounds lethargic

 

Not lethargic but occasionally molto ritardando.

[bollemanneke 3,624]

I got so used to that ritardando right after Quidditch that the original recording sounds totally off for me now. JW's decision to slow down there was absolutely brilliant.

[Tydirium 1,402]

Wow... They really didn't fix the obvious cracked trumpet note at 3:45? That's very disappointing. I heard it way back on the original Saturday broadcast and figured it would surely get fixed for the commercial release.

 

 

[bollemanneke 3,624]

Yeah I thought that was an error too, but you can hear it on the OST too, just muted.

[Tydirium 1,402]

? I'm not hearing it on the OST, nor on any other recording of the piece... Berlin sounds like a textbook example of a cracked note to me.

 

In concert pitch, the descending notes should be G-F-E, but the Berlin recording sounds like A-F-E, with the trumpet overshooting the first note.

 

EDIT: Yeah, the score has G-F-E. There's a Bb at that moment, but nobody has an A. It's too bad.

[ricsim88 258]

5 hours ago, Tydirium said:

Wow... They really didn't fix the obvious cracked trumpet note at 3:45? That's very disappointing. I heard it way back on the original Saturday broadcast and figured it would surely get fixed for the commercial release.

 

 

Guys….you know what? It was a brutal show for the trumpets. I know, playing trumpet is my job. 
shit happens…get over it. It’s the magic of live music, we’re lucky this even happened.

[Tydirium 1,402]

1 hour ago, ricsim88 said:

Guys….you know what? It was a brutal show for the trumpets. I know, playing trumpet is my job. 
shit happens…get over it. It’s the magic of live music, we’re lucky this even happened.

 

Get over what? I'm a professional horn player. I'm more than well aware that "sh*t happens," and I'm not faulting the players at all. I thought they overall sounded fantastic, and I can't wait for the album. But this is a high-profile Deutsche Grammophon recording, and they had 3 concerts and probably 2 or 3 rehearsals to draw from, when constructing the album.

 

Editing out flubs happens all the time for modern album releases; it's not unreasonable to have heard the live Saturday broadcast months ago and hoped that they would have gone with/patched in a different take for this one. I'm not sure how the fact that "it was a brutal show for the trumpets" is relevant to my point.

[Steve 622]

Wow I didn't notice this mistake until now. Haven't listened to this in a longer time because I want to wait until the Blueray is out.

[bollemanneke 3,624]

5 hours ago, Tydirium said:

 

Get over what? I'm a professional horn player. I'm more than well aware that "sh*t happens," and I'm not faulting the players at all. I thought they overall sounded fantastic, and I can't wait for the album. But this is a high-profile Deutsche Grammophon recording, and they had 3 concerts and probably 2 or 3 rehearsals to draw from, when constructing the album.

 

Editing out flubs happens all the time for modern album releases; it's not unreasonable to have heard the live Saturday broadcast months ago and hoped that they would have gone with/patched in a different take for this one. I'm not sure how the fact that "it was a brutal show for the trumpets" is relevant to my point.

Who says DG means quality? They released that awful Star Wars Main Title recording from Vienna too.

[ricsim88 258]

8 hours ago, Tydirium said:

 

Get over what? I'm a professional horn player. I'm more than well aware that "sh*t happens," and I'm not faulting the players at all. I thought they overall sounded fantastic, and I can't wait for the album. But this is a high-profile Deutsche Grammophon recording, and they had 3 concerts and probably 2 or 3 rehearsals to draw from, when constructing the album.

 

Editing out flubs happens all the time for modern album releases; it's not unreasonable to have heard the live Saturday broadcast months ago and hoped that they would have gone with/patched in a different take for this one. I'm not sure how the fact that "it was a brutal show for the trumpets" is relevant to my point.

The brutal part refers to the missed note itself. Guy was obviously a bit tired. No big deal. But I agree that they probably had the means to fix it artificially, but somehow didn’t. That being said, when I listen to the CD, I will listen to it from a live concert perspective, and if there ensemble or cacks issues, I won’t let that preventing me from enjoying it.

 

[Marian Schedenig 9,151]

9 hours ago, ricsim88 said:

The brutal part refers to the missed note itself. Guy was obviously a bit tired. No big deal. But I agree that they probably had the means to fix it artificially, but somehow didn’t.

 

Perhaps they decided that the take with the faulty note was still overall the best?

[JohnnyD 1,330]

Those two pieces released early only make me more excited to finally have the Blu-Ray/CD set!

[Remco 688]

19 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Perhaps they decided that the take with the faulty note was still overall the best?

A good editor would be able to retain the take and replace that note – but tbh, I somehow hadn’t noticed it until it was pointed out here.

[Marian Schedenig 9,151]

2 hours ago, Remco said:

A good editor would be able to retain the take and replace that note – but tbh, I somehow hadn’t noticed it until it was pointed out here.

 

Without potentially making an awkward cut in the track if it's just for one brief moment? I'm not expert on this, but I know they can be heard on some recordings (and others are far better at noticing them than I am - apparently parts of the Dudamel album are full of poorly done transitions). And keep in mind that these are live performances that might be different each day, not subsequent studio takes that were deliberately made to be edited together.

[bollemanneke 3,624]

I love the Dudamel album and the Berlin performances.

[Joni Wiljami 1,212]

On 13/01/2022 at 4:43 AM, Tydirium said:

 

Get over what? I'm a professional horn player. I'm more than well aware that "sh*t happens," and I'm not faulting the players at all. I thought they overall sounded fantastic, and I can't wait for the album. But this is a high-profile Deutsche Grammophon recording, and they had 3 concerts and probably 2 or 3 rehearsals to draw from, when constructing the album.

 

Editing out flubs happens all the time for modern album releases; it's not unreasonable to have heard the live Saturday broadcast months ago and hoped that they would have gone with/patched in a different take for this one. I'm not sure how the fact that "it was a brutal show for the trumpets" is relevant to my point.

 

You are a professional horn player and this bothers you that much? Seriously? You are a little bit angry. I understand you like it supposed to be perfect in the CD but this is a live recording, wonderful that it sounds like it. Most important is that these concerts happened, this and the one in Vienna. I heard that there was mistakes also. Oh dear. 

 

[bollemanneke 3,624]

Vienna's mistakes were on a whole other level.

[Remco 688]

17 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Without potentially making an awkward cut in the track if it's just for one brief moment? I'm not expert on this, but I know they can be heard on some recordings (and others are far better at noticing them than I am - apparently parts of the Dudamel album are full of poorly done transitions). And keep in mind that these are live performances that might be different each day, not subsequent studio takes that were deliberately made to be edited together.

 

It's surely possible, however, what I kind of forgot is that it is way harder to do edits when the music has to be synced with video. And since the audio release has to be identical to the video release, that's probably why they couldn't do many crazy edits (same with Vienna).

[Tydirium 1,402]

On 14/01/2022 at 6:29 PM, Sibelius6 said:

 

You are a professional horn player and this bothers you that much? Seriously? You are a little bit angry. I understand you like it supposed to be perfect in the CD but this is a live recording, wonderful that it sounds like it. Most important is that these concerts happened, this and the one in Vienna. I heard that there was mistakes also. Oh dear. 

 

 

I'm a little bit confused by your response, and I didn't even expect to still see people talking about this a few days later. Honestly, I think you've misunderstood me, and that you for some reason think that it bothers me way more than it actually does... I'm actually not "angry" about it at all; at the time I simply said I was disappointed that this didn't get fixed for the album.

 

My comment that you quote-replied to was in response to someone who for some reason got very defensive on behalf of the trumpets (which I didn't even have a problem with, and I thought their playing was fantastic; mistakes happen!), as though I didn't realize that JW's music is difficult & taxing for brass players. Of course I realize that. So I wasn't sure why I was being told to "get over" the fact one of them made a mistake, when I didn't even have a problem with the fact that the mistake was made. It seemed like the other user was personally upset at me based on a misunderstanding.

 

I even said that I can't wait for the album; it's not like this one flub is going to keep me from enjoying it. Just as I enjoy (and haven't really criticized much if at all) the Vienna album, while others here have been way more vocal in their criticisms of that, than I have by simply pointing out this one flub.

 

All I was saying is that it's a bummer that this mistake was left in the album release—since it's not exactly a random flub on a technical accompaniment passage, but rather is part of the melody. My only beef was that the editing team didn't take care of it before release, as I thought it might have been possible to fix it. I'm pretty much over it.

 

So, I'm a little bit puzzled by your comment, which comes across as a bit hostile; not sure what I did to warrant it, considering that I'm not angry at anyone here, or even DG. At the time I simply thought I'd point out that the flub hadn't been fixed, which was a bit of a bummer. Not sure why I was told by the other guy to "get over it" (again, the comment you replied to was me defending myself), and not really sure why you replied the way you did, either...

 

It doesn't bother me a fraction of the amount you think it does.

 

The only thing that is actually bothering me at the moment is your comment—and a few days ago, the other guy's—which I feel are both based on a misunderstanding. Sorry, but it's getting a little frustrating to see people misunderstanding and blowing my comments out of proportion.

[JohnTheBaptist 63]

Take a deep breath.

[BB-8 4,050]

On 14/01/2022 at 4:59 PM, Remco said:

A good editor would be able to retain the take and replace that note – but tbh, I somehow hadn’t noticed it until it was pointed out here.

There's no such thing as magic!

[Joni Wiljami 1,212]

19 hours ago, Tydirium said:

 

I'm a little bit confused by your response, and I didn't even expect to still see people talking about this a few days later. Honestly, I think you've misunderstood me, and that you for some reason think that it bothers me way more than it actually does... I'm actually not "angry" about it at all; at the time I simply said I was disappointed that this didn't get fixed for the album.

 

My comment that you quote-replied to was in response to someone who for some reason got very defensive on behalf of the trumpets (which I didn't even have a problem with, and I thought their playing was fantastic; mistakes happen!), as though I didn't realize that JW's music is difficult & taxing for brass players. Of course I realize that. So I wasn't sure why I was being told to "get over" the fact one of them made a mistake, when I didn't even have a problem with the fact that the mistake was made. It seemed like the other user was personally upset at me based on a misunderstanding.

 

I even said that I can't wait for the album; it's not like this one flub is going to keep me from enjoying it. Just as I enjoy (and haven't really criticized much if at all) the Vienna album, while others here have been way more vocal in their criticisms of that, than I have by simply pointing out this one flub.

 

All I was saying is that it's a bummer that this mistake was left in the album release—since it's not exactly a random flub on a technical accompaniment passage, but rather is part of the melody. My only beef was that the editing team didn't take care of it before release, as I thought it might have been possible to fix it. I'm pretty much over it.

 

So, I'm a little bit puzzled by your comment, which comes across as a bit hostile; not sure what I did to warrant it, considering that I'm not angry at anyone here, or even DG. At the time I simply thought I'd point out that the flub hadn't been fixed, which was a bit of a bummer. Not sure why I was told by the other guy to "get over it" (again, the comment you replied to was me defending myself), and not really sure why you replied the way you did, either...

 

It doesn't bother me a fraction of the amount you think it does.

 

The only thing that is actually bothering me at the moment is your comment—and a few days ago, the other guy's—which I feel are both based on a misunderstanding. Sorry, but it's getting a little frustrating to see people misunderstanding and blowing my comments out of proportion.

 

Sorry if I misread your post and sounded hostile, that wasn't my goal. I was just curious about that case. Peace.

 

Pasi- an other pro horn player

 

 

[Jay 39,764]

Any other US residents find it strange that Amazon US still only has the CD edition up, and not the Blu Ray / CD combo?

 

Question for any Americans reading this, are you hoping it'll eventually show up on Amazon US, or have you decided to purchase from another vendor instead?  If so, which one and how much was it?

[JohnnyD 1,330]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

Any other US residents find it strange that Amazon US still only has the CD edition up, and not the Blu Ray / CD combo?

 

Question for any Americans reading this, are you hoping it'll eventually show up on Amazon US, or have you decided to purchase from another vendor instead?  If so, which one and how much was it?

I purchased it back in December 2021 via Classical Center Stage Store which is a direct link from DG. The total was $31.92. Pre-order is already charged, and it will ship on February 4.

[Jay 39,764]

Thank you, I think I'll do the same

 

https://classical.centerstagestore.com/collections/john-williams/products/john-williams-the-berlin-concert-2cd-blu-ray-deluxe-edition

 

EDIT: Wow, it was more expensive for me for some reason

 

[JohnnyD 1,330]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

Thank you, I think I'll do the same

 

https://classical.centerstagestore.com/collections/john-williams/products/john-williams-the-berlin-concert-2cd-blu-ray-deluxe-edition

You’re welcome. I’m surprised you still have not pre-ordered it yet.

[Jay 39,764]

I was waiting for it to show up on Amazon

[JohnnyD 1,330]

20 minutes ago, Jay said:

Thank you, I think I'll do the same

 

https://classical.centerstagestore.com/collections/john-williams/products/john-williams-the-berlin-concert-2cd-blu-ray-deluxe-edition

 

EDIT: Wow, it was more expensive for me for some reason

 

It was originally $21.23 when I ordered it, plus $8.60 in shipping, $.30 for FL county tax and $1.79 for FL state tax.

[KittBash 296]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Thank you, I think I'll do the same

 

https://classical.centerstagestore.com/collections/john-williams/products/john-williams-the-berlin-concert-2cd-blu-ray-deluxe-edition

 

EDIT: Wow, it was more expensive for me for some reason

 

 

I also think I'll do the same as we are in the same boat here in Canada with Amazon. Thanks for the posting the link @JohnnyD!

[Jay 39,764]

I'm sure as soon as enough of us buy it elsewhere, it'll show up on Amazon for cheaper

[KittBash 296]

23 hours ago, Jay said:

I'm sure as soon as enough of us buy it elsewhere, it'll show up on Amazon for cheaper

 

That's pretty much how it works  I just want to ensure I get one and not for the $140+ prices I'm seeing for CAD elsewhere. 

[BB-8 4,050]

I couldn't resist ordering the glossy jewel-case-formatted Japanese edition with extra postcard(s).

 

Expensive - I know.

 

 

CDJapan : John Williams Live in Berlin (Deluxe Edition) [2Hi-Res CD (MQA x UHQCD)+Blu-ray] [Limited Edition] John Williams (conductor) CD Album

[Amer 2,271]

Im curious if they will do a SACD edition?

 

[bollemanneke 3,624]

I'm curious when we're finally going to get the timestamps for the CDs.

[Jurassic Shark 13,365]

Will they do a cassette version?

[bollemanneke 3,624]

In all seriousness, I don't understand why they don't do a DVD version. Films are sitll being released on DVD.

[Jay 39,764]

I guess because DVDS are a 25 year old format, and Blu Ray players are available for $30?

[bollemanneke 3,624]

Yes, but I can still buy every film I want on DVD. They're clearly still selling.

[Jay 39,764]

Perhaps the people funding the filming of these concerts want their work to be seen in HD only

[ciarlese 272]

2 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Yes, but I can still buy every film I want on DVD. They're clearly still selling.

Surely those films sell thousands of copies, either on Blu-ray or DVD.

The same can't really be said about a concert like this.

[Mr. Breathmask 566]

18 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Yes, but I can still buy every film I want on DVD. They're clearly still selling.

 

In all honesty, it's getting harder and harder to find physical media in the Benelux, particularly older catalogue titles. I've been importing my Blurays of older films I want to own from the UK and Germany more and more over the last year.

[bollemanneke 3,624]

Oh, me too. I only buy my stuff in Belgium if I really have to, amazon UK is too convenient.

[victorrt 21]

With every day passing I feel more lucky that we were able to experience this concert. It seems John Williams came to Berlin in that small window of time when COVID was not really high in Germany. I feel that two or three weeks after, the concert would not have happened.

[MaxTheHouseelf 335]

 

 

 

[Dr. Know 367]

That performance of Yoda's Theme is really beautiful.

[Pawel P. 739]

I've had this gem since Friday. I haven't had much time recently – also for contributing to this fantastic forum – because I'm engrossed in caring for my two-year-old twins while trying to work in the journalistic profession, but I managed to watch it twice anyway. And I'm delighted, the memories from three months ago came back, when I was at two concerts, on Friday and Saturday.

 

The impression is better than with the shredded version from the Digital Concert Hall. The concert lasts 115 minutes. Yes, the ovations are a little shortened here, but it was the same with the Vienna concert, there is no speech before the "Jurassic Park", there is no Williams' last thanks from Saturday before the "Flying Theme", and no fifteen-minute ovation at the end - but this is understandable. The concert itself looks and sounds fantastic and although Vienna will always have a special place in my heart, because I saw Maestro live there for the first time, but if I had to choose one concert to show someone who doesn't know or hear Williams, I would bet on Berlin.

The sound from Blu-ray is stunning (although I don't have Dolby Atmos, just the usual 5.1), I haven't listened to the CD yet. The whole thing is beautifully presented - I am attaching a few photos. The 24-page booklet is in English and German. As you can see, the CD and Blu-ray audio versions are without applauses or speeches. It would probably be nice if some extra interview with the Maestro was included, or at least a short conversation with musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic, posted on the Digital Concert Hall. After all, the most important thing is the concert, and it looks wonderful here!

 

We are really lucky to have this masterpiece forever, along with the one from Vienna. Until a few years ago, most of us didn't even dare to dream about something like that. An absolute treat!!