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FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: 50th Anniversary Remastered Edition from La-La Land Records (3-CD)


Chewy

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What's there to discuss? It's brilliant.

 

It took me to read the liner notes to this set to realise Williams wrote the lovely Russian theme for this film. I should know really because I've seen the stage version some years ago. It's one of my favourites. I loves how he weaves it into Tradition. Speaking of that theme, it's a shame a couple cues, most notably brilliant The Russian Church, had to be sourced from poor sources but I'll will still take it over not having them at all. 

 

Karol

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Isn't it amazing what film studios keep pristine and their vaults and what they don't?  There's no rhyme or reason to it.  Often it seems like the more popular the film, the less-good-condition the materials are in

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An amazing talk again! Insight into the assembly and background, fawning over JW, connections with other scores, analysis of parts of the film, fascinating instrumentals (hopefully convincing some people that while very interesting, they can be very empty without the vocals and wouldn't have a great place on the LLL).

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Just enjoyed the movie for the first time. In the German synchronization (which is really well done by the way) and was surprised that all the songs were there translated and actually sung in German. But it makes sense as the musical exists in a German translation for stage anyway. But therefore, I thought that all the songs, including Tradition, should somehow exist as pure instrumental recordings. I guess the tapes with the pure instrumental recordings, that were used as basis for the singers are lost somehow? Or was it a decision on pupose to just go for the sung versions? I wonder, as we know from the "Can you read my mind" discussions, that went on for ages, that JW fans are highly interested in the instrumental versions. And I think, for Tradition it really would have made sense to have at least one instrumental version.

 

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Mike, of course, had all the fully instrumental recordings, and discussed on Maurizio's podcast how he'd love to build a music only track for a blu ray release of the film if MGM was interested. JW would never approve of them being released on an album. 

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Tradition especially has stretches of repetitive minimal material for Tevye's speeches, and like for many of the other songs, sections where the music just works around and supports the main melody which is only set for voice(s).

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45 minutes ago, Jay said:

Mike, of course, had all the fully instrumental recordings, and discussed on Maurizio's podcast how he'd love to build a music only track for a blu ray release of the film if MGM was interested. JW would never approve of them being released on an album. 

 

For Tom Sawyer he approved the karaoke tracks on the expansion!

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  • 1 month later...

Listened again to my assembly (chrono, switching between versions here and there, Tradition EQd to be less bright). This is such a fantastic score, JW's new material fits seamlesly between his lovely big orchestral arrangements of these great songs, and Mike's booklet with Jim's design is almost worth the price of admissiom on its own!

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  • 3 weeks later...
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14 hours ago, karelm said:

I've never seen the movie.  How good is it?

 

I think it is a must-see movie.  Especially as a fan of John Williams, it's very important to see the full context for this early, important work of his.

 

But beyond that, it's important to get the context for all the huge songs in this that have been in pop culture ever since.


But beyond that, it features an interesting and relevant story about a people forced to leave their homes behind

 

Whether or not in the end you will like it or think it was a "good" film, you'll be happy you saw it at least once for sure.  Just be prepared to set aside 3 full hours, and to be depressed at the end :lol: 

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

I think it is a must-see movie.  Especially as a fan of John Williams, it's very important to see the full context for this early, important work of his.

 

But beyond that, it's important to get the context for all the huge songs in this that have been in pop culture ever since.


But beyond that, it features an interesting and relevant story about a people forced to leave their homes behind

 

Whether or not in the end you will like it or think it was a "good" film, you'll be happy you saw it at least once for sure.  Just be prepared to set aside 3 full hours, and to be depressed at the end :lol: 

Sounds like my kind of movie.  I recently saw Cleopatra for the first time in its original theatrical cut and absolutely loved it!  Saw it in a single sitting it was so engrossing, and it was nearly 5 hours long!!!!  But wow such a film.  I can probably handle 3 measly hours for this film then.  Will add to my watch later list.  

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3 hours ago, Jay said:

But beyond that, it features an interesting and relevant story about a people forced to leave their homes behind

I found it to be much more than that. Especially interesting I found it from the view point of a globalized world and all related problems including increasing streams of refugees, global shortage of resorces, all the struggles and predjudices but also the joy and the values they had in that village micro cosmos with basically just two different cultures sharing one enviroment.

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It's about a closed world with a seemingly comfortable enough set of values gradually opening up and evolving to be more modern, the opposition of free youth and conservative parents, both layered and eventually understanding.

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24 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yea, it's a drama with some comedic elements in the first hour or so


Have you seen it?

 

Many times and I have the DVD.

 

I'm not a fan of musicals, of USA musicals, like Broadway, etc. It's a cultural thing, very american. Even in Canada, we don't have this tradition (TRADITION!). Even less so in French Canada. 

 

When we produce a musical here in Quebec (some people seems to enjoy them...), it’s always a french adaptation of a well-known American musical. Annie, The Addams Family, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Irma la douce, Cabaret, My Fair Lady... and indeed Fiddler on the Roof.

 

In Québec, Luc Plamondon wrote some very sucessfull "musicals", like STARMANIA (he prefers to use the term "Opera Rock", music by Michel Berger), but then again, it's very different from "American" musicals. He also wrote the lyrics of "Notre-Dame de Paris" (music by Riccardo Cocciante), maybe you heard about it...

 

Then, to come back to Fiddler on the Roof, you can't ignore the fact that it's an humoristic story about a very conservative jewish community of the beginning of the 20th century. Here in Québec, the members of the important jewish community we have (in Montréal) is english speaking for the most part. We live "side by side", unfortunately, not together...

 

Long story short, I’ll tell you there’s a big cultural divide between me and Fiddler on the Roof! Of course, the "message" of this musical is international... and that's why it is liked by people all around the world.

 

But... John Williams... that's the only reason I kind of "like" this musical!

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16 hours ago, Holko said:

or why it's a comedy

 

?

 

When I was a kid I thought of Sweeney Todd as a comedy. It has some truly hilarious bits in it. But "A Little Priest" doesn't make it a comedy.

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1 hour ago, Tallguy said:

 

?

 

When I was a kid I thought of Sweeney Todd as a comedy. It has some truly hilarious bits in it. But "A Little Priest" doesn't make it a comedy.

Tell that to Bespin who says Fiddler is a comedy for some reason.

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53 minutes ago, Holko said:

Tell that to Bespin who says Fiddler is a comedy for some reason.

 

I thought I just did! :P

 

I've never gotten into the film of Fiddler, the illustrious Oscar winning composer notwithstanding. I think the play is alright so it's not like I hate the source material.

 

But what do I know? I love The Sound of Music but I never liked Wise's West Side Story. My Fair Lady is one of my favorite films ever. I really really want to like Camelot a lot more than I do. I have a sneaking suspicion I liked Oliver but I haven't seen it since I was 10.

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Play the nightmare scene to torture me. This is one of the most annoying piece of film and music ever created! I guess in the theater play (which I never saw) it was sureley not THAT intense, well I hope!

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The most striking addition by JW is the Main Title (concerto for violin virtuoso), which is just not present at all in the stage musical.

 

I have seen the movie many times (love it), and I also saw it off-Broadway a decade or two back. Was nonplussed by the stage show. Tiny orchestra more like a band, nobody could sing, the acting was rushed and hokey. But then I saw it at Chicago Lyric Opera this year, WOW was it good. Tears streaming down my face the entire time. Large orchestra, of course, and absolutely magnificent chorus (full disclosure: my wife is in it). They really captured the pathos of the movie. And the dancing really is something else to behold in person.

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5 hours ago, karelm said:

The first 30 minutes or so were frankly jarring because of how over the top the acting was.  It came across as silly caricatures. 

It does start very much as stage acting, yes. But glad you stuck with it!

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I went in having no clue it was such a dark and depressing movie, so was really surprised by where the story goes, and the massive tone shift when I saw it. 

 

As time has gone on since I've found myself thinking about this movie often, more than I was expecting. And it turns up everywhere - just this weekend I was listening to a House of the Dragon podcast, and one of the hosts likened a scene to Do You Love Me? 

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35 minutes ago, Jay said:

Do You Love Me?

It's not one of the Big Ones, but it's still one of my favourite songs/scenes - how after a quarter of a century of just accepting Tradition and the way things are, now that through their daughters societal change is starting to bleed into their lives, they're suddenly starting to look at their relationship through a whole new perspective.

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10 hours ago, Pellaeon said:

The most striking addition by JW is the Main Title (concerto for violin virtuoso), which is just not present at all in the stage musical.

 

I have seen the movie many times (love it), and I also saw it off-Broadway a decade or two back. Was nonplussed by the stage show. Tiny orchestra more like a band, nobody could sing, the acting was rushed and hokey. But then I saw it at Chicago Lyric Opera this year, WOW was it good. Tears streaming down my face the entire time. Large orchestra, of course, and absolutely magnificent chorus (full disclosure: my wife is in it). They really captured the pathos of the movie. And the dancing really is something else to behold in person.

 

There are lots of entr'actes that you can immediately tell are pure JW.  Like this one was quite memorable and probably the most epic/dramatic musical moment from Johnny up to that point before he started doing the blockbusters.

 

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  • 1 year later...

Is it just me, or does the volume sort of awkwardly dip and then slide back up towards the end of “Miracle of Miracles (Alternate),” at around 1:49 when he sings “God has given you to me”? It sounded fine with my laptop speakers, but listening with headphones it is kind of jarring… There is a split second at the start of “God” where it sounds almost like someone pushes the volume slider up, from nothing.

 

EDIT: For those who don’t have it, you can hear it at 0:49 of the preview clip posted on LLL’s site:

 

https://johndadlez.com/MP3/Fiddler_On_The_Roof/2_06_MOM_A.mp3

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Anyone? The more I listen to it, the more unsure I am of whether I’m just imagining things, or whether the volume actually does jump up really quickly at that spot. My understanding is that this ending is an insert that was recorded separately and tacked onto the end of the main song recording, so I’m wondering if that has something to do with it?

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I hear the music stop.... then start again. Fairly sure you're just hearing a performance thing. Doesn't sound like a mix thing to me. 

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1 hour ago, bigjimwilson said:

I hear the music stop.... then start again. Fairly sure you're just hearing a performance thing. Doesn't sound like a mix thing to me. 

 

I wondered that, but in the film itself his voice seems a bit louder/more immediate, right at the start of the note (1:47).

 

 

Who knows, though; it could be my ears playing tricks on me...

 

1 hour ago, mstrox said:

I hear it.  Don’t know enough about the recording, sourcing of elements, mixing, etc for this score, but there’s definitely a weird shift mid-word that doesn’t seem related to the performance itself.

 

Yeah, I wonder too if it could be something due to the elements MM was using. It’s hard to imagine it just being an oversight, but then again nobody’s perfect. For the most, part the sound on this release is absolutely fantastic; this was just something weird I noticed and wasn’t sure what to make of it.

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