John Williams & Boston Pops Orchestra - Complete Philips Recordings (NEW 2022 21-CD boxset)

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

OK. I will give it a special listen.

 

Well now I think of it maybe my favorite is actually Aisle Seat   It's definitely between those two!

[Jay 37,336]

Aisle Seat and Salute to Hollywood are both a lot of fun

[Thor 7,490]

I hadn't played POPS IN LOVE in probably two decades, but realize as I'm playing it again now that -- despite its cheesy name -- it might be one of my favourites. My taste has veered more towards the calm, melancholic and lyrical, and these evergreens capture that more than they do puppy love. Many of the other Pops albums are a bit heavy on the upbeat, jubilant and splashy (like POPS AROUND THE WORLD, which is kinda headache-inducing), so a very nice change-of-pace.

[rough cut 1,714]

Pops In Love is great.

[Andy 4,117]

On 10/03/2022 at 4:42 AM, Thor said:

I just read that it was a limited run

 

@Thor I'm sorry, but can you clarify.. did you read that in this thread which was speculative in that regard, or is there someplace else that stated the run is limited?

 

 I'm really conflicted on if I should buy this now or the Sony Conductor Box while it's cheap.  I can't do both at once. ($)

[Disco Stu 15,495]

For me personally the Philips run of albums is stronger overall than the Sony run.

[Andy 4,117]

Hmmm... The Sony run has some unique appeal to me for concert works with which I haven't yet explored, like Five Sacred Trees, and the Ma Cello Concerto.

[Thor 7,490]

28 minutes ago, Hedji said:

 

@Thor I'm sorry, but can you clarify.. did you read that in this thread which was speculative in that regard, or is there someplace else that stated the run is limited?

 

I think I read it in this thread (someone had noticed a limited edition number on the box or something), but I might be confusing it with something else.

[Andy 4,117]

Perhaps the Prospero Spotlight CD, which has a hand numbered digibook.

[Thor 7,490]

On 08/03/2022 at 4:42 PM, Luke Skywalker said:

Just for the record. I received my parcel today, and at the bottom of the boxset near the copyright data it says "limited edition" and a series of numbers. 

 

So it truly could be a limited run item. 

 

Here's the quote I was thinking about, Heidi.

[Andy 4,117]

Thank you!  Don't know how I missed that.

[Luke Skywalker 1,794]

yes. I dont know if the number mean any kind of numbered edition but it could be. In mine it says:

 

LIMITED EDITION 485 1590 21 CDs

 

Maybe other member can check if their have a different numeration.

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

11 minutes ago, Luke Skywalker said:

LIMITED EDITION 485 1590 21 CDs

 

Mine has the exact same text.

[Andy 4,117]

Oh well, I purchased it anyway from importcds.com.  It came to about $77 US shipped with a 10% coupon I found.  I'm happy with that.  Now to save up for The Sony Conductor Box before they raise the price!

[The Lost Folio 183]

485 1590 is simply the product catalogue number. Technically speaking, all boxes released by Decca/DG are always limited. They eventually sell out and that's it. It may take a year, it may take five, or more, who knows.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

On 11/03/2022 at 10:18 AM, Disco Stu said:

For me personally the Philips run of albums is stronger overall than the Sony run.

 

On 11/03/2022 at 10:42 AM, Andy said:

Hmmm... The Sony run has some unique appeal to me for concert works with which I haven't yet explored, like Five Sacred Trees, and the Ma Cello Concerto.

 

BTW I should've been more clear: I specifically meant in terms of his Boston Pops discography I prefer the Philips era.  The Sony era includes a bunch of non-Pops albums of course.  And what I really really meant in my head is that in terms of the Boston Pops albums that are not focused on Williams compositions, I prefer the Philips era  

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Just started Ailse Seat. That flying theme is terrible!

[mahler3 478]

On 10/3/2022 at 6:26 PM, Jay said:

Aisle Seat and Salute to Hollywood are both a lot of fun

As Maurizio and I discussed during our Tim Morrison Legacy discussion, the Salute to Hollywood is absolutely the performances with Tim as principal trumpet 🎺 which really made JW take notice. His beautiful solos throughout this album are just stunning and paved the way for his invite to Hollywood!

[Matt S. 493]

7 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Just started Ailse Seat. That flying theme is terrible!

 

 

The BPO Phillips recording happens to be my favorite rendition of "Flying."

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Just started Peter and the Wolf. Oh God, I haven't heard this in AGES.

[Thor 7,490]

I've finally set out to get ALL Boston Pops/JW albums (except the 'best ofs', which would be superflous). Been meaning to do so for decades, but this release spurred the intention to fill the remaining holes in my collection.

[Andy 4,117]

It has arrived!  Very nice set, if the booklet is a little bit lacking.  But that's okay.  This is not only a space saver, but a shelf flex for people who didn't already have these.  I love the gold signature on the top of the box.  Nice touch.

 

I'm looking forward to these.

 

I wasn't familiar with Jessye Norman, but just a quick preview after ripping the disc to iTunes, I was hoping for a voice that was more mellow and less operatic.  Oh well, I'll concentrate on Johnny's piano on the one.

[Jay 37,336]

Jessye Norman.

[Andy 4,117]

Corrected.  I'll be alright. 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Question: what genre is the Swing, Swing Swing album? Can you still call that classical music?

[GerateWohl 4,350]

9 minutes ago, bollemanneke said:

Question: what genre is the Swing, Swing Swing album? Can you still call that classical music?

You can call hardly anything on these discs classical music.

The genre on Swing Swing Swing is basically swing. That is a sub-genre of jazz like bebop, ragtime or free jazz.

[Luke Skywalker 1,794]

So Treesong was Deutche grammophon... Was it between Philips and Sony? Why didnt Williams continue with them?

[Thor 7,490]

8 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

You can call hardly anything on these discs classical music.

The genre on Swing Swing Swing is basically swing. That is a sub-genre of jazz like bebop, ragtime or free jazz.

 

This is true, but all of the Boston Pops "jazz" albums are beefed up with massive orchestral forces that the original compositions do not possess, so I consider them somewhat of a hybrid.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

They’re not really jazz in any traditional sense, even if it is adapting jazz compositions.  I just use the term “light music” for much of the Pops repertoire.

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Oh damn. I have a very limited folder system in my music: classical, modern, film scores, hymns and carols, and traditional Irish music... I hate classifying.

[Thor 7,490]

18 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

They’re not really jazz in any traditional sense, even if it is adapting jazz compositions.  I just use the term “light music” for much of the Pops repertoire.

 

True, but I don't have any "light music" genre in my iTunes. The Boston Pops albums either fall into the 'jazz', 'classical' or 'soundtrack' categories. I want to have as few genres as possible.

[GerateWohl 4,350]

4 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

True, but I don't have any "light music" genre in my iTunes. The Boston Pops albums either fall into the 'jazz', 'classical' or 'soundtrack' categories. I want to have as few genres as possible.

Where are you putting the musical Albums?

[Thor 7,490]

4 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Where are you putting the musical Albums?

 

Ah yes, I do have musical as a genre too. So a few of the Boston Pops albums fall there.

[Matt S. 493]

9 hours ago, Luke Skywalker said:

So Treesong was Deutche grammophon... Was it between Philips and Sony? Why didnt Williams continue with them?

I assume TreeSong was on DG because it’s primarily a Gil Shaham album.  It was released during the Sony years; in fact there is a line in the booklet that states “John Williams appears courtesy of Sony Classical.”

[Luke Skywalker 1,794]

Oh ok. 

[Jay 37,336]

A lot of those Naxos albums of Williams concertos came out during the Sony era too right?  Actually, those aren't conducted by him are they...

[Bespin 8,480]

Treesong (DG) was released in 2001. The following year American Journey and the Yo-Yo Ma album were released on Sony.

 

It was the end of an era!

[Luke Skywalker 1,794]

No I dont think so.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Those Naxos albums were Leonard Slatkin conducting the Detroit Symphony.

[Bespin 8,480]

Yes, and we still wait for a boxset regrouping all these Naxos recordings made by Slatkin between 2010 and 2019.

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

Those Naxos albums were Leonard Slatkin conducting the Detroit Symphony.

 

And I'd say the Sony era was effectively over by the time they appeared, wasn't it? (Not that it matters much, because Slatkin)

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Well there was still the S/W Collab Vol. 3 in 2017 but yeah, I’m not sure how long it’s been since that was an exclusive relationship

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

Yes, I consider that a late addition that was on Sony because the previous two albums were theirs.

[Andy 4,117]

I was wondering how they'd deal with the original track indexing error of Battlestar Galactica from Out of This World.  (An error similar to one of the tracks on the first pressing of Intrada's Eiger Sanction CD)

 

On the original Philips pressing, the first  few milliseconds or so began at the end of track 4 (Star Trek Theme) and then continued as the index of track 5 (Battlestar Galactica) began.  So if you skipped to track 5, it would begin sharply, as if part of it was missing, which it was.

 

On the new box set disc, there is no indexing problem, but the music is still truncated.  They may have smoothed it a bit, but there is definitely part of that initial snare roll missing.

 

I used my sound editor to fix the original Philips error, pasting the two pieces together.  

 

Here is a screenshot of the two, original (fixed) on the left, box set on the right.  On the right, you can see part of it is missing it, and there is no lead in to the cue beginning.

 

I realize this is really trivial, but I listened to this cue a lot over the decades, so I'm happy to still have the original pressing.

 

 

[Jay 37,336]

Wow.  That's pathetic on their part.

[Andy 4,117]

It is quite disappointing that they had an opportunity to right a wrong.

 

Doubly sad because it's a lovely arrangement and a cracking good performance of a piece I love.  (As a youngster, it blew my mind that the "Star Wars" guy was conducting music from its rip-off.)

[Bespin 8,480]

Ask for a replacement disc! 

[Andy 4,117]

Replacement disc? For which one? The original Phillips or the new Decca?  

[Luke Skywalker 1,794]

Damn, these labels do mot invest much in quality control... 

[Jurassic Shark 12,051]

10 hours ago, Andy said:

I was wondering how they'd deal with the original track indexing error of Battlestar Galactica from Out of This World.  (An error similar to one of the tracks on the first pressing of Intrada's Eiger Sanction CD)

 

On the original Philips pressing, the first  few milliseconds or so began at the end of track 4 (Star Trek Theme) and then continued as the index of track 5 (Battlestar Galactica) began.  So if you skipped to track 5, it would begin sharply, as if part of it was missing, which it was.

 

On the new box set disc, there is no indexing problem, but the music is still truncated.  They may have smoothed it a bit, but there is definitely part of that initial snare roll missing.

 

I used my sound editor to fix the original Philips error, pasting the two pieces together.  

 

Here is a screenshot of the two, original (fixed) on the left, box set on the right.  On the right, you can see part of it is missing it, and there is no lead in to the cue beginning.

 

I realize this is really trivial, but I listened to this cue a lot over the decades, so I'm happy to still have the original pressing.

 

 

 

Are you saying that the missing part at the beginning isn't included at the end of the previous track in the box set?