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

[Thor 7,452]

Just now, Steve said:

According to the text the recording is not from the Tanglewood premiere.

 

That's OK. 

[Amer 2,078]

So these pieces didn't make the cut? 

 

Devil's Dance (2020)

Across The Stairs (2021 update of 2019 arrangement

 

[Jay 37,255]

Yea

[Once 604]

12 minutes ago, Amer said:

So these pieces didn't make the cut? 

 

Devil's Dance (2020)

Across The Stairs (2021 update of 2019 arrangement)

So these pieces didn't make the cut? 

 

Devil's Dance (2020)

Across The Stairs (2021 update of 2019 arrangement)

So these pieces didn't make the cut? 

 

Devil's Dance (2020)

Across The Stairs (2021 update of 2019 arrangement)

Only Williams could make a piece called Across the Stairs interesting, hehe!

I'm sad Devil's Dance didn't make the cut, though.

[Jay 37,255]

It is a bit surprising they didn't lay down a recording of Devil's Dance for this, considering the 7 tracks we're getting come to about 50 minutes of music. 

 

There was room for Devil's Dance AND the updated Across The Stars.

 

Oh well. 

[GerateWohl 4,321]

Like for Across the Stars they could publish a deluxe edition including the missing tracks. But I guess, that is not going to happen.

[Jay 37,255]

Just noticed on the JPC.DE site that Shawn Murphy is listed as the producer

 

Anne Sophie Mutter violin

Boston Symphony Orchestra Orchestra

John Williams conductor/bandleader

Bernhard Guettler Producer (Music)

Shawn Murphy Producer (Music)

[igger6 894]

Wait, so there's a version of Devil's Dance that's newer than the one in Vienna?  And there are three versions of Across the Stars?  Wasn't there an "original" one that Mutter performed somewhere in Europe like a year before the album came out?

[Falstaft 2,132]

3 minutes ago, igger6 said:

Wait, so there's a version of Devil's Dance that's newer than the one in Vienna?  And there are three versions of Across the Stars?  Wasn't there an "original" one that Mutter performed somewhere in Europe like a year before the album came out?

 

Yep! 

 

 

Not too shabby, for a theme that Williams "can't for the life of me remember" where it came from.

[MaxTheHouseelf 324]

Nice! Just preordered the edition with signed booklet by ASM from DG Store.

https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/p50-a157404/john-williams-anne-sophie-mutter-boston-symphony-orchestra/index.html?onChangeLanguage=1&language_id=EN

[Jay 37,255]

2 hours ago, igger6 said:

Wait, so there's a version of Devil's Dance that's newer than the one in Vienna?

 

No, no one ever said it was different than the Vienna one.  It was simply speculated that it could be on this album, since it wasn't on Across The Stars.

 

Now, we know it is not.  John Williams In Vienna remains the only album you can buy to hear it.

[JohnnyD 1,220]

10 hours ago, Jay said:

 

 

The joint albums and performances by the legendary film composer John Williams and the star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter are undoubtedly among the highlights of recent years. This album is the latest in a longstanding friendship and collaboration between the world's acclaimed artists: Mutter performs John Williams' Violin Concerto No. 2, which the composer wrote for her.

 

Williams says of his Violin Concerto: “For me, this piece is primarily about Anne-Sophie Mutter and about the violin as a masterpiece of the art of violin making. (...) Ultimately, this great artist herself became my inspiration and driving force.” The present recording for Deutsche Grammophon, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Williams himself, was written shortly after the world premiere of the Second Violin Concerto in Tanglewood in July 2021.

 

The Boston Globe wrote, "Even in this premiere, Mutter carried the solo like an old friend, shaping every phrase with purpose and panache." The lyrical and deeply personal concerto follows the album with three fantastic encores: Popular film themes from Williams, including from Star Wars and Indiana Jones, all of which he has completely re-arranged for Anne-Sophie Mutter. The expressiveness of Mutter's playing is reflected in various details of the violin concerto, but also in the beautiful film melodies, as is her virtuoso brilliance and the lyrical warmth of her violin tone. 

 

Track listing:

Violin Concerto No. 2

1 I. Prologue (Violin Concerto No. 2)

2 II. Rounds (Violin Concerto No. 2)

3 III. Dactyls (Violin Concerto No. 2)

4 IV. Epilogue (Violin Concerto No. 2)

5 Theme (From "The Long Goodbye")

6 Han Solo and the Princess (From "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back")

7 Marion's Theme (From "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark")

 

Artists: Anne-Sophie Mutter, Boston Symphony Orchestra, John Williams

Label: DGG , DDD, 2021

Order number: 10860297

Release date: 3.6.2022

 

Anne Sophie Mutter violin
Boston Symphony Orchestra Orchestra
John Williams conductor/bandleader
Bernhard Guettler Producer (Music)
Shawn Murphy Producer (Music)

 

https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/p51-i0028948616985/john-williams-anne-sophie-mutter-boston-symphony-orchestra/violin-concerto-no-2-selected-film-themes/index.html

 

 

SWEET! I just pre-ordered my copy with the booklet signed by Anne-Sophie Mutter!

[igger6 894]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

No, no one ever said it was different than the Vienna one.  It was simply speculated that it could be on this album, since it wasn't on Across The Stars.

 

Now, we know it is not.  John Williams In Vienna remains the only album you can buy to hear it.

 

Gotcha.  So there's also no known studio recording of it, then.

[Jay 37,255]

6 minutes ago, igger6 said:

Gotcha.  So there's also no known studio recording of it, then.

 

Exactly.

[rpvee 805]

So none of these would be taken from the live performances in Boston last year, right? More likely a separate recording session?

[Jay 37,255]

I *think* this was recorded at Symphony Hall with no audience present, while they were there to do the concerts, and not a presentation of the music as played at those two concerts, but I don't know if we definitively know that for sure yet?

[rpvee 805]

Makes sense.

 

Also, I keep getting “an error occurred in the processing of the payment” when just choosing any payment format. Anyone else?

[Jay 37,255]

As a USA resident I see no benefit in ordering it from DG or JPC.DE, so am waiting for it to be for sale at a USA-based store

[rpvee 805]

2 minutes ago, Jay said:

As a USA resident I see no benefit in ordering it from DG or JPC.DE, so am waiting for it to be for sale at a USA-based store

What if the signed edition is only available there, and I assume rather limited?

[Jay 37,255]

Oh sure, the signed edition, yes.

 

Not something I'm personally interested in myself, but yes, I imagine it will only ever be available at that link

[Smeltington 1,436]

So you either preorder the edition now, to get a signed copy, and risk missing out on a later deluxe edition... or wait for a deluxe edition, and miss out on the signed copies. DAMMIT!

[Jay 37,255]

I can't imagine there will be a Deluxe Edition of this.

 

They clearly didn't record anything else for it

[rough cut 1,714]

I ordered the signed edition as well. It’ll sit nicely next to my signed edition of the first album. 

 

Am I also the only one who found it super funny how Jay’s google translate of DG’s press release translated Mutter to Mother in a number of places! 

 

8 hours ago, Jay said:

Mother performs John Williams' Violin Concerto No. 2, which the composer wrote for her.

 

8 hours ago, Jay said:

The Boston Globe wrote, "Even in this premiere, Mother carried the solo like an old friend, shaping every phrase with purpose and panache."

 

8 hours ago, Jay said:

The expressiveness of mother's playing is reflected in various details of the violin concerto, but also in the beautiful film melodies, as is her virtuoso brilliance and the lyrical warmth of her violin tone.

 

(Also the last paragraph is repeated x3 in the post, which it isn’t on DG’s page. )

[Jay 37,255]

Yea. that made me laugh too.  I fixed it up in my post.

 

I also found this funny: The LP version only contains the Concerto No. 2 and not the the other 3 cuts, and also splits the Concerto in half so you have to flip the disc over halfway through it...

 

https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/p51-i0028948617050/john-williams-anne-sophie-mutter-boston-symphony-orchestra/violin-concerto-no-2/index.html

[rough cut 1,714]

That’s annoying for the vinyl fans…

 

Also odd, because I guess that Devil’s Dance wasn’t included because they wanted a sensible track list with a certain flow. And then a choice like this?

[Lord Montague 42]

21 minutes ago, rough cut said:

That’s annoying for the vinyl fans…

 

Also odd, because I guess that Devil’s Dance wasn’t included because they wanted a sensible track list with a certain flow. And then a choice like this?

Uhmm, a vinyl LP simply has a time limit for each side. Not sure why that's annoying, that's the way vinyl works.
Devil's dance was live recorded in Vienna. Why live record it again in Boston?

[Jay 37,255]

We don't yet know if this album is a live recording or not.

[rough cut 1,714]

If it had fit, then it would have been better to put it on one side.

 

If not, I guess it’s fine.

[Lord Montague 42]

5 minutes ago, rough cut said:

If it had fit, then it would have been better to put it on one side.

 

If not, I guess it’s fine.

vinyl holds about 20 to 25 minutes max each side. depending on the level. so obviously the whole concerto never could have fit on one side. neither could the film themes have fit on it as well. the way DG did it, is the only way that makes sense for one LP.

[Jay 37,255]

3 minutes ago, Lord Montague said:

vinyl holds about 20 to 25 minutes max each side

 

*ahem*

 

 

 

https://www.discogs.com/release/2968778-James-Horner-Willow-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack

[Smeltington 1,436]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

They clearly didn't record anything else for it

 

What makes you say that?

[Jay 37,255]

Because the only other arrangements he's written for her that we know about are Devil's Dance and a small update to Across The Stars, and those are short enough they could have been added to this album.

 

They're not gonna release a Deluxe Edition unless they had like, 5 more pieces and could bring the disc to 75-80 minutes.

[Holko 9,491]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

and those are short enough they could have been added to this album.

Like all the pieces that were only on the deluxe Across the Stars which was still only 1CD?

[Jay 37,255]

Yes, but there was 5 of those.

[Smeltington 1,436]

Well, I wouldn't put it past them to withhold something. But it would be nice if that's not the case. At any rate, it's good to get some more details about this release, I'm excited to hear it! And it was nice of Mutter to wear a DG-colored yellow dress. Coincidence??

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

Perhaps we'll get an iTunes exclusive track.

[bigjimwilson 248]

5 hours ago, rpvee said:

Makes sense.

 

Also, I keep getting “an error occurred in the processing of the payment” when just choosing any payment format. Anyone else?

I had the same problem in multiple browsers. Got round it by ordering through the Bravado.de site instead. Exact same offerings as the DG store. 

[King Mark 3,624]

Han Solo and the Princess BETTER be on  this album

[crumbs 14,287]

Just now, King Mark said:

Han Solo and the Princess BETTER be on  this album

 

It is. Check the previous page.

[lairdo 726]

8 hours ago, JohnnyD said:

 

SWEET! I just pre-ordered my copy with the booklet signed by Anne-Sophie Mutter!

Me too!

[pete 902]

I was actually wondering if Marion's Theme would get the Mutter treatment. I wonder if that will be the version played in Vienna. 

[Jay 37,255]

Oh I'm sure it will 

[Toillion 212]

As a vinyl collector I hate that it’s missing the film themes. I guess they didn’t want to make it a double lp just for the three extra songs. 

[GerateWohl 4,321]

Interesting to at last get to hear Han Solo and the Princess and Marion's Theme side by side. The first time I heard Marion's Theme I thought, that's pretty close to Han Solo and the Princess. Even though they both just start of with the same two notes in almost similar harmony. To me these two were always related as they also were created hardly a year apart.

[Lord Montague 42]

11 hours ago, Jay said:

 

*ahem*

 

 

 

https://www.discogs.com/release/2968778-James-Horner-Willow-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack

OMG. what a disgrace. which label executive okayed that? the sound quality is horrific for the levels one can cut into the grooves with that play time. DG would never do that. Anything above 20 minutes per side, you are going to make compromises regarding sound quality. 38 minutes like side A of that is just...wow... so bad. THD, SNR, Pre- and Post-echo... all over the place... Poor James Horner.

[Gurkensalat 336]

I remember the Willow vinyl, I bought it at the time, and the sound was quite horrible, lots of distortion in the inner part. For dynamic orchestra recordings more than 20-25 min per side is a no go. On the other hand, I have a vinyl of the Paganini caprices by Frank Peter Zimmermann which sound quite good, although more than 1 hour total length. But violin solo is not as loud or dynamic as orchestra, so it worked in that case.

[Lord Montague 42]

12 hours ago, Jay said:

We don't yet know if this album is a live recording or not.

'Live recording' is a diffuse term these days. Usually when a recording happens in the context of a rehearsals&concert week, like here, 'live recording' means all good (enough) material, rehearsals and concerts, is used to compile a best possible result in the final edit. How much of that is actually from the concert(s), and how much from rehearsals, varies wildly. There can also be a so called patch session. 'Live recording' only means, that recorded concerts were part of the edit, how much so only the producers know. Can be 100%, can be almost nothing from the actual concerts.
I doubt there were also dedicated recording sessions for other material than that of the concerts in that project, since those  - in particular with American orchestras - cost the label a huge additional amount of money.

[Jay 37,255]

8 hours ago, Toillion said:

the three extra songs

 

[MaxTheHouseelf 324]

DG removed the regular CD (not signed by ASM) from their store and increased the price of the signed one by 2€ (now 18,99€).  https://store.deutschegrammophon.com/p50-a157404/anne-sophie-mutter-amp-john-williams/index.html

So preordering yesterday saved me 2 bucks. Nice.

Also, there's this new package shot:

[Steve 589]

It is a live recording. At least ASM said that before the recording.