Popular Post Jay 37,372 Posted February 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 14, 2022 I figured we should have a thread dedicated to Williams' upcoming piano concerto. We learned about it's existence via this article, which states: "In his next phase, he plans to focus more intensely on another passion: writing concert works, of which he has already produced several dozen. He has visions of another piece for a longtime collaborator, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and he is planning his first proper piano concerto." I wonder how long we should expect it to be? How many movements? What other instruments might be involved? Once, Tom Guernsey, Will and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 Considering he always writes his concerti for specific soloists, I wonder who he is planning this with. The most obvious candidate is Gloria Cheng, but it could be Lang Lang or someone else I suppose. MrJosh 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tom 4,670 Posted February 14, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 14, 2022 It is interesting that the reporter uses the term "visions" for the Cello piece, but "planning" for the concerto. It reads as if it is his next big project--presumably after he finishes Indy. I still think the scherzo and now prelude will be morphed into a larger concerto--the scherzo, in particular, plays as its own movement. I am not heard the prelude, so I am less confident about that. Either way, I think it will be a "big" concerto, along the lines of the recent one for violin. A full half hour, generous use of the orchestra, impressionistic and dissonant at the edges but with a tonal center. And, probably really, really difficult to play. Bayesian, Will and Cerebral Cortex 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,372 Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 1 minute ago, Tom said: I still think the scherzo and now prelude will be morphed into a larger concerto I was wondering about that too 1 minute ago, Tom said: And, probably really, really difficult to play. You really think so? Tom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonb 118 Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 A bit premature don't you think. Could be next year ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,372 Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 What? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antonb 118 Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 It could be ages away, I would wait until we know when its coming out thats all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,372 Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 ... MikeH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce marshall 1,315 Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 This is the first non- score I'm excited about!😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayesian 1,363 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 3 hours ago, Tom said: It is interesting that the reporter uses the term "visions" for the Cello piece, but "planning" for the concerto. It reads as if it is his next big project--presumably after he finishes Indy. I still think the scherzo and now prelude will be morphed into a larger concerto--the scherzo, in particular, plays as its own movement. I am not heard the prelude, so I am less confident about that. Either way, I think it will be a "big" concerto, along the lines of the recent one for violin. A full half hour, generous use of the orchestra, impressionistic and dissonant at the edges but with a tonal center. And, probably really, really difficult to play. Agreed on all points. I would love if he also incorporated jazz elements into this concerto (jazz rhythms, progressions, colors…). Several of us here have hoped for awhile he would reach back into his jazz roots more often. QuartalHarmony and aviazn 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 907 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 5 hours ago, Jay said: and he is planning his first proper piano concerto." That sounds like he wrote an earlier one that was shit^ Jurassic Shark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p0llux 398 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 I want a big romantic piano concerto like Tchaikovsky's, but I also want a jazz infused one that sounds like Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. I'm asking for too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Disco Stu 15,495 Posted February 15, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 15, 2022 1 hour ago, p0llux said: I want a big romantic piano concerto like Tchaikovsky's, but I also want a jazz infused one that sounds like Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. I'm asking for too much. If you want a contemporary piano concerto that combines influences of both Russian romantic and Gershwin I highly recommend Michael Torke’s Three Manhattan Bridges Jurassic Shark, Will, p0llux and 3 others 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulin 3,514 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 2 hours ago, pete said: That sounds like he wrote an earlier one that was shit^ or just leisurely in form Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BrotherSound 2,242 Posted February 15, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 15, 2022 9 hours ago, Jay said: What other instruments might be involved? Whether or not the Scherzo turns out to be part of this full concerto, or just a preliminary exercise of sorts, I hope timpani are featured prominently again. There’s a bit of a tradition for piano concertos with prominent timpani parts all the back to Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, and including works like Richard Strauss’ Burleske: Falstaft, BB-8 and Will 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TownerFan 4,983 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 The piano is indeed also a percussive instrument so it makes sense 🙂 The Scherzo has some very interesting percussion breaks dialoguing with the piano. I think JW will write something completely new and won’t repurpose/adapt the Prelude and Scherzo into a larger work. Or maybe he will, who knows. I’m fairly confident he will write it for Gloria, as it seems they have a special relationship going on since a few years, plus she’s always been at the forefront performing new music. As for the style, it very much depends on the person he has in mind. I’d love something in which he could channel also his love for jazz. Once and BrotherSound 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-8 3,482 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Emanuel Ax would deserve a John Williams Piano Concerto. He's cut from the right stuff. Emanuel Ax - Wikipedia Emanuel Ax - The Complete RCA Album Collection (23 CDs) – jpc BrotherSound 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 4 hours ago, TownerFan said: I’d love something in which he could channel also his love for jazz. Of course when jazz has been an acknowledged reference point in his concert works in the past, it’s always in a very oblique or metaphorical way. I’d similarly love for it to be a bit more explicit for once. igger6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerateWohl 4,371 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 I am expecting something like Conversations but with the orchestra in addition illustrating the environment of the conversations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 That’s definitely one of the concert works I had in mind where jazz influence is acknowledged but quite obscure in the music itself. Edit: Just to be clear, I’m not saying jazz influence being obscure is a weakness of or detriment to works like Conversations or Violin Concerto No. 2 (3 actually, if you please). I’m only saying that it would be awesome to have a Williams concert work where that part of his musical foundation was made more explicit. TownerFan and Jurassic Shark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jurassic Shark 12,083 Posted February 15, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 15, 2022 18 hours ago, Jay said: "In his next phase, he plans to focus more intensely on another passion: writing concert works, of which he has already produced several dozen. He has visions of another piece for a longtime collaborator, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and he is planning his first proper piano concerto." A piano concerto for Yo-Yo Ma would be fun. Cerebral Cortex, igger6, GerateWohl and 2 others 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-8 3,482 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Or a piano duet for Harrison Ford: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,518 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Just a few years ago, I remember waiting impatiently for Williams to write that piano piece, since he seemed to write concerti for every other instrument except the one he was specialized in, which was kinda frustrating. After all, nobody had heard his early piano sonata (and nobody ever will, probably). Then came both "Conversations" and "Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra". I'm not totally in love with either, but they have grown on me. I still dream of a new piano piece that is more lyrical in tone, and slightly less aleatoric/experimental/impressionistic (choose whichever term you want). Maybe this will be it. igger6 and Jurassic Shark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,083 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherSound 2,242 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 4 minutes ago, Thor said: After all, nobody had heard his early piano sonata (and nobody ever will, probably). If the manuscript is still extant and in his possession, it should be possible to at least have a look at it someday at the Juilliard library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,518 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 7 minutes ago, BrotherSound said: If the manuscript is still extant and in his possession, it should be possible to at least have a look at it someday at the Juilliard library. We can always hope! If my deduction is correct, it was only performed once -- as an exam concert on the UCLA campus in the early summer of 1951. So maybe UCLA has it in some archive. BrotherSound 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Stu 15,495 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 I bet it's super derivative, just a technical exercise. Copland's piano sonata he wrote as the capstone to his studies with Rubin Goldmark, just before moving to France to study with Mme. Boulanger, was like that. Just to demonstrate a grasp of sonata form, counterpoint, harmonic structure, etc. Copland's sonata was eventually recorded after he died, something he probably would've been embarrassed of had he been alive lol BrotherSound and Jurassic Shark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,518 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 1 minute ago, Disco Stu said: I bet it's super derivative, just a technical exercise. Copland's piano sonata he wrote as the capstone to his studies with Rubin Goldmark, just before moving to France to study with Mme. Boulanger, was like that. Just to demonstrate a grasp of sonata form, counterpoint, harmonic structure, etc. Probably, yeah. BrotherSound 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,083 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 Perhaps Herrmann heard the sonata and dissed it. BrotherSound 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GerateWohl 4,371 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 24 minutes ago, Thor said: I still dream of a new piano piece that is more lyrical in tone, and slightly less aleatoric/experimental/impressionistic (choose whichever term you want). Maybe this will be it. I love impressionistic music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherSound 2,242 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 13 hours ago, TownerFan said: The piano is indeed also a percussive instrument so it makes sense 🙂 The Scherzo has some very interesting percussion breaks dialoguing with the piano. Which reminds me: I still hope there ends up being something to that rumor about a percussion concerto for Martin Grubinger, but I haven't heard any stirrings in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,372 Posted February 15, 2022 Author Share Posted February 15, 2022 The rumors were always wrong, it was a garbled idea of what "John Williams: The Special Edition" actually is. BrotherSound 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-8 3,482 Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 I've found a potential slow movement. 17 hours ago, Jay said: The rumors were always wrong, it was a garbled idea of what "John Williams: The Special Edition" actually is. Wasn't Grubinger about to retire? Soloist retires 'exhausted' at 40 - Slipped DiscSlipped Disc | The inside track on classical music and related cultures, by Norman Lebrecht (slippedisc.com) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marian Schedenig 8,207 Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 21 hours ago, Jay said: The rumors were always wrong, it was a garbled idea of what "John Williams: The Special Edition" actually is. Wasn't there one instance of Williams himself indicating that he was writing *something* for Mr "Grublinger"? Or am I just mixing that up with his comments on him from the third Spielberg/Williams album? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,372 Posted February 16, 2022 Author Share Posted February 16, 2022 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,083 Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 18 hours ago, BB-8 said: Wasn't Grubinger about to retire? Soloist retires 'exhausted' at 40 - Slipped DiscSlipped Disc | The inside track on classical music and related cultures, by Norman Lebrecht (slippedisc.com) Well, it takes a lot of energy to pretend that JW has written a new piece for you. BB-8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-8 3,482 Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 JW - Catch him while you can Jurassic Shark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,083 Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 Quote Grubinger’s proudest moment was coming on as the interval act in the Eurovision Song Contest. Such a populist. BB-8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-8 3,482 Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 Grubinger has been announced to feature in this year's Tanglewood-JW@90-do. Catch me if you can ensemble - what else? An appearance like in Berlin last year (Waldbühne) would be utter blasphemy. Jurassic Shark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jay 37,372 Posted February 24, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 24, 2023 An update: While there are no more features on Williams’ docket, he’s still writing music. He is planning a concerto for pianist Emanuel Ax, which he plans to start “almost immediately” https://variety.com/2023/artisans/news/indiana-jones-5-john-williams-score-1235534772/ Bayesian, pete and BrotherSound 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor 7,518 Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 I had completely forgotten about this. Hope it comes to pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karelm 2,914 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 On 24/02/2023 at 11:25 AM, Jay said: An update: While there are no more features on Williams’ docket, he’s still writing music. He is planning a concerto for pianist Emanuel Ax, which he plans to start “almost immediately” https://variety.com/2023/artisans/news/indiana-jones-5-john-williams-score-1235534772/ He also said he was open to future film scoring. So come on Spielberg! Make two and three films at the same time just like you did in the '90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tom 4,670 Posted February 26, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted February 26, 2023 22 minutes ago, karelm said: He also said he was open to future film scoring. So come on Spielberg! Make two and three films at the same time just like you did in the '90's. All Williams has to do is to commit to a SW movie, and Spielberg will make sure he has a film that needs to be scored at the exact same time. Cerebral Cortex, Jurassic Shark, Jay and 2 others 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muad'Dib 1,802 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 I'm guessing he could make the main titles (and maybe provide a couple of themes) for the Napoleon series Spielberg is trying to make. Bayesian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filmmusic 1,838 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 4 hours ago, Muad'Dib said: I'm guessing he could make the main titles (and maybe provide a couple of themes) for the Napoleon series Spielberg is trying to make. Why not compose the music for the whole thing? It would be the first TV mini series he would compose the score for, wouldn't it? As a non-fan of his concert work, I'd prefer it if he was assigned film scoring work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePenitentMan1 744 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 5 minutes ago, filmmusic said: Why not compose the music for the whole thing? It would be the first TV mini series he would compose the score for, wouldn't it? As a non-fan of his concert work, I'd prefer it if he was assigned film scoring work. But what if... and hear me out on this.... JW didn't want to be assigned to any more film work? Not a whole lot could be done about it at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filmmusic 1,838 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 10 minutes ago, ThePenitentMan1 said: But what if... and hear me out on this.... JW didn't want to be assigned to any more film work? Ok, of course he can do whatever he likes. I just mentioned it because @karelm said Quote He also said he was open to future film scoring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Shark 12,083 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 1 hour ago, ThePenitentMan1 said: But what if... and hear me out on this.... JW didn't want to be assigned to any more film work? Send him cookies until he agrees to do it. ThePenitentMan1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tom 4,670 Posted February 26, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted February 26, 2023 2 hours ago, filmmusic said: As a non-fan of his As yes, the sister site: JWNONFAN.com. Cerebral Cortex, michael_grig and JTN 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muad'Dib 1,802 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 2 hours ago, filmmusic said: Why not compose the music for the whole thing? It would be the first TV mini series he would compose the score for, wouldn't it? I don't know if Williams would want to commit to scoring a 8-hour film at this point in his career. Even if it had a short score. ThePenitentMan1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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