"Violin Concerto No. 2 and Selected Film Themes" Williams / Mutter album & Blu Ray

[Juanki 23]

Found the LP for a fair price but I am seeing a lot of bad comments at Discogs https://www.discogs.com/es/release/23478776-John-Williams-4-Anne-Sophie-Mutter-Boston-Symphony-Orchestra-Williams-Violin-Concerto-No-2

 

Is it a worthy pressing? Already own this thing on blu ray and cd, so I guess it would be a bit redundant.

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

3 hours ago, Juanki said:

Found the LP for a fair price but I am seeing a lot of bad comments at Discogs https://www.discogs.com/es/release/23478776-John-Williams-4-Anne-Sophie-Mutter-Boston-Symphony-Orchestra-Williams-Violin-Concerto-No-2

 

Is it a worthy pressing? Already own this thing on blu ray and cd, so I guess it would be a bit redundant.

 

I confess I listen mostly to it on CD or Blu-ray, but the vinyl sounded decent to me last time I played it.

[Juanki 23]

I guess it isn't worthy the double dip. Thanks for your help!

[bigjimwilson 256]

On 03/12/2023 at 10:45 AM, Juanki said:

Found the LP for a fair price but I am seeing a lot of bad comments at Discogs https://www.discogs.com/es/release/23478776-John-Williams-4-Anne-Sophie-Mutter-Boston-Symphony-Orchestra-Williams-Violin-Concerto-No-2

 

Is it a worthy pressing? Already own this thing on blu ray and cd, so I guess it would be a bit redundant.

 

My copy was dreadful. Loads of loud pops, and some real horrible distortion in some passages. I emailed to report it, along with a video demonstrating the problems. I was refunded straight away, but they didn't offer to send a replacement.... leading me to believe they know it's a bad batch

[Tom 4,664]

9 minutes ago, bigjimwilson said:

 

My copy was dreadful. Loads of loud pops, and some real horrible distortion in some passages. 

That was just Williams experimenting with sounds.  

[bigjimwilson 256]

53 minutes ago, Tom said:

That was just Williams experimenting with sounds.  

 

The result of Mutter cookie crumbs landing on the manuscript, and then into the vinyl itself.

[Toillion 215]

My copy is warped like a bowl. I could eat my cereal out of it. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

That's why they invented the CD to begin with…

[Juanki 23]

With exceptions, I can't really stand the sound of Classical Music and Film Scores on vinyls with all that noise. I think it works fine with other genres but not these.

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

7 hours ago, Juanki said:

With exceptions, I can't really stand the sound of Classical Music and Film Scores on vinyls with all that noise. I think it works fine with other genres but not these.

 

There are some exquisite pressings that are almost as silent as a CD. My copy of Pops Around the World (Dutch pressing) is a great example of that. On the other hand, the French pressing of With a Song in my Heart, despite looking great as a gatefold release, is to be avoided at all costs.

[Bayesian 1,363]

Does anyone else think JW has become ASM’s favorite composer to perform? I mean, if you were to ask her publicly, I imagine she’d be very diplomatic and say that whoever she’s performing at that moment is her favorite among equals. But in her heart of hearts, I bet JW is her favorite. She’s not been shy about being his biggest fangirl and repeatedly goes to him for more music. And JW had written her a fiendishly hard concerto to perform, tailored to her technique. If that doesn’t make him her favorite, nothing will.

[BB-8 3,479]

13 hours ago, Bayesian said:

Does anyone else think JW has become ASM’s favorite composer to perform? I mean, if you were to ask her publicly, I imagine she’d be very diplomatic and say that whoever she’s performing at that moment is her favorite among equals. But in her heart of hearts, I bet JW is her favorite. She’s not been shy about being his biggest fangirl and repeatedly goes to him for more music. And JW had written her a fiendishly hard concerto to perform, tailored to her technique. If that doesn’t make him her favorite, nothing will.

 

I would agree, and her fandom was confirmed in the all-Williams concert last weekend in Leipzig where she played VC2 followed by five selected film themes of which three were kinda love themes.

Benefizkonzert mit Anne-Sophie Mutter: 120.000 Euro für „Leipzig hilft Kindern“ (lvz.de)

 

And not a day goes by without ASM mentioning his name:

Anne-Sophie Mutter has long enjoyed a close association with DG. “From the early days when I started working with the great Herbert von Karajan to my most recent albums with the young players of Mutter’s Virtuosi and the wonderful, inspiring John Williams, my relationship with the label has brought me a huge variety of fascinating and challenging recording opportunities,” says the violinist. “I’d like to thank the whole DG team for their support and their commitment to publishing great music. Happy birthday Deutsche Grammophon!”

Diverse Künstler | News | 125 Years of Deutsche Grammophon

 

 

[BB-8 3,479]

On 04/12/2023 at 3:46 PM, bigjimwilson said:

 

The result of Mutter cookie crumbs landing on the manuscript, and then into the vinyl itself.

 

 

[filmmusic 1,836]

I listened to the first movement of this (the violin concerto) again, but couldn't go on..

I don't know, most Williams concert music sounds to me like random notes, like he's trying too hard to deviate from his film music work.

I admit I'm not a fan of atonal music, but still....

Anyone that shares my sentiments, or will I be crucified for not understanding another "masterpiece"? 

[Thor 7,509]

12 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

I listened to the first movement of this (the violin concerto) again, but couldn't go on..

I don't know, most Williams concert music sounds to me like random notes, like he's trying too hard to deviate from his film music work.

I admit I'm not a fan of atonal music, but still....

Anyone that shares my sentiments, or will I be crucified for not understanding another "masterpiece"? 

 

Well, I like many of Williams' concert works, but his second violin concerto is not among them, I'm afraid. For slightly different reasons than yours, though. I find many of the Mutter virtuoso embellisments offputting and alienating. But maybe it will grow on me. I still haven't acquired the CD, btw.

 

His first violin concerto, though, I really, really like.

[Tom 4,664]

2 hours ago, filmmusic said:

I listened to the first movement of this (the violin concerto) again, but couldn't go on..

I don't know, most Williams concert music sounds to me like random notes, like he's trying too hard to deviate from his film music work.

I admit I'm not a fan of atonal music, but still....

Anyone that shares my sentiments, or will I be crucified for not understanding another "masterpiece"? 

Yes, it is definitely a Williams concert work.  Have you listened to the other movements?  The first is the most abrasive, by far.  

[filmmusic 1,836]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

I find many of the Mutter virtuoso embellisments offputting and alienating.

But it's not Mutter's embellishments. It's Williams's.

 

1 hour ago, Tom said:

Have you listened to the other movements?

I had listened to the whole concerto when it first came out, but I don't remember it.

[Tom 4,664]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

But it's not Mutter's embellishments. It's Williams's.

 

I had listened to the whole concerto when it first came out, but I don't remember it.

I would recommend listening to the second movement.  You won't love it, but you might like it.

 

Yes, Williams's concert works are an acquired taste.  I found them wholly non-accessible 20 years ago.  Now, some of them, anyway, are among my favorite pieces.  While I would still love a full concerto/symphony in his romantic film mode, it is clearly never going to happen.*  The nice thing about being a Williams fan is that one has 100s of hours of his film and ceremony pieces to enjoy, even if his concert music might not speak to one.  

 

*Come on, Williams.  A Cello Concerto/Suite from AI is just begging to exist!  

[JWScores 27]

14 hours ago, filmmusic said:

I listened to the first movement of this (the violin concerto) again, but couldn't go on..

I don't know, most Williams concert music sounds to me like random notes, like he's trying too hard to deviate from his film music work.

I admit I'm not a fan of atonal music, but still....

Anyone that shares my sentiments, or will I be crucified for not understanding another "masterpiece"? 

 

I see what you mean, and I typically prefer JW's film scores over his concertos, but I think this one is very good. I second the suggestion to listen again to the second movement, I find it somewhat reminiscent of Memoirs of a Geisha, and I think it's the best movement of the piece. If anything, my complain with this concerto and several other pieces written for Mutter, is that he exaggerated in his attempt to showcase the solo violin's technical prowess. "Too many notes", and not enough rests. Other than this, the piece has plenty of beautiful orchestral and harmonic ideas. Maybe Treesong is a bit more balanced, from what I recall. 

 

[Richard Penna 3,694]

10 hours ago, filmmusic said:

But it's not Mutter's embellishments. It's Williams's.

 

Yes, I was initially going to comment regarding my dislike for ASM's style in general, but of course the piece is written by Williams - he wants all those embellishments on top of his orchestral arrangements. I'm with Thor on this one - they're over the top and unnecessary for large sections of those pieces. It doesn't really bother me for his concert material as Williams' concert music isn't my thing, but as nice as Helena's Theme is, the ASM version is a pure indulgence for Williams, reflecting what he wants to write with the melody reorchestrated to fit what the film needs.

[Thor 7,509]

Yes, I'm aware it's written down in Williams note sheets. So he's partly to blame, of course. But mostly, I have issues with the way ASM performs those embellishments, with excessive rubato (is that the right word?) phrasings. It's very much "here, look at me" rather than an organic fusion with the orchestra, disallowing the music to shine as music. While I'm aware that's probably its intention -- it was intended as a showpiece for Mutter, after all -- It just takes me out of it on a pure listening level.

 

At some point, I'd love to hear the piece performed by someone else. Maybe Gil Shaham. Or if Perlman is still performing, maybe him. 

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

10 hours ago, Tom said:

I would recommend listening to the second movement.  You won't love it, but you might like it.

 

Yes, Williams's concert works are an acquired taste.  I found them wholly non-accessible 20 years ago.  Now, some of them, anyway, are among my favorite pieces.  While I would still love a full concerto/symphony in his romantic film mode, it is clearly never going to happen.*  The nice thing about being a Williams fan is that one has 100s of hours of his film and ceremony pieces to enjoy, even if his concert music might not speak to one.  

I have to admit that even seeing ASM perform it live in London a few weeks ago I still found it very hard work; I made a point of giving it a few listens in the run-up, but have to admit that I still couldn't really recall much of it before or after. I'd certainly put it up there as one of his most challenging concert works, most of the other concertos have a much greater proportion of more lyrical material, even if none of it quite reaches the level of melodic inspiration as his film music.

 

As I commented when I reviewed the aforementioned concert, if this was by anyone else, I doubt more than a handful of people here would be even aware of it, let alone bother to listen to it. While we can never know, my sense is that if he'd stuck to concert music, he might be fairly well regarded in smaller classical circles - clearly he would have written a considerably greater volume of work for the concert hall - but wouldn't have especially stood out amongst the many other contemporary composers writing slightly astringent, angular, modern classical (which, don't get me wrong, can be terrific, but it's clearly much more of an acquired taste).

 

10 hours ago, Tom said:

*Come on, Williams.  A Cello Concerto/Suite from AI is just begging to exist!  

That would be lovely. I doubt he ever would write such a thing and he or his estate are unlikely to officially endorse such an endeavour unfortunately. As an alternative, I highly recommend his suite for cello and orchestra from Memoirs of a Geisha performed by the CSO with Yo-Yo Ma conducted by JW (http://www.jw-collection.de/compilations/geishasuite.htm). As a 28 minute cello concerto/tone poem, it's splendid. Shame it doesn't have a slightly wider release. I'm still surprised that, aside from the piece on the original Cello Concerto recording, he's never returned to Seven Years in Tibet as inspiration for a cello based orchestral suite.