What JP track would you rather like to hear in a JW concert?

[GerateWohl 4,357]

I am personally a fan of hearing original film tracks at concerts instead of special concert suites. Of course on both sides there are exceptions. And different people have different tastes.

"Journey to the Island" always used to be my favourite track from the Jurassic Park OST. And it has it all, the Island fanfare, the main theme, but it misses the nice intro with the french horn motif and the great ending from the T-Rex Rescue. On the other hand it has vital great music for the helicopter flight that works billantly towards the island fanfare. And with eight and a half minute JTTI is a little longer than the suite.

Anyway, I am interested in knowing, what of these two pieces you would prefer to hear in a concert.

 

[Thor 7,495]

Either is fine, but if I had to choose one, "Journey to Island", I suppose. Would also be neat to hear something less played at some point.

[Steve 591]

The Hunt

[Amer 2,102]

Journey to the Island is kinda covered in the current thematic representation of the "Theme" But as a coda how about using the T-Rex Chase cue from JP synched live to film would be awesome.

 

from THE LOST WORLD -Id love the main Theme ( not the revised concert version) and The Hunt. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,067]

Welcome to Jurassic Park or Journey to the Island.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

Of those mentioned so far, Welcome to JP as it has the wonderful piano intro along with the island theme.

 

And the Lost World concert piece. I'm not sure I've ever seen it in a concert playlist.

[GerateWohl 4,357]

3 hours ago, Steve said:

The Hunt

I mean, that was not exactly the question. But it would be interesting for sure to see such a percussion section at work with the orchestra.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

Of those mentioned so far, Welcome to JP as it has the wonderful piano intro along with the island theme.

 

And the Lost World concert piece. I'm not sure I've ever seen it in a concert playlist.

 

The only video I've ever seen of a live performance:

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,067]

2 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

I mean, that was not exactly the question. But it would be interesting for sure to see such a percussion section at work with the orchestra.

 

He's confusing this with The Hunt from Lady Jane.

[Jay 37,353]

T-Rex Rescue and Finale

[Jurassic Shark 12,067]

5 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

I mean, that was not exactly the question.

 

[Richard Penna 3,686]

That performance is a decent attempt but doesn't hold a candle to the original, and particularly the wonderful string work at 1:40 in the original doesnt come through very well.

 

It also uses the alternate opening (still don't see what you guys see in that  ) and seems to put a few extra bars in a few places - not my favourite arrangement.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

6 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

That performance is a decent attempt but doesn't hold a candle to the original, and particularly the wonderful string work at 1:40 in the original doesnt come through very well.

 

It also uses the alternate opening (still don't see what you guys see in that  ) and seems to put a few extra bars in a few places - not my favourite arrangement.

 

Yeah that orchestra is pretty amateurish in its best videos.

[Jurassic Shark 12,067]

4 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Yeah that orchestra is pretty amateurish in its best videos.

 

But they've got such a spirit, man!

[Andy 4,123]

I saw Johnny premiere the Lost World at the Hollywood Bowl, which was bloody awesome.

 

I'll always advocate for more scene specific versions to be played live.  Perhaps with the live to projection events being so popular, we could be seeing more excerpts used as demonstrations of how the music impacts a scene in the future.

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

I've noticed a lot of times with orchestras, even newly formed ones, they can sound really good with a really good conductor. That guy comes off as a super tool to be honest....not to mention his tempo is horrific. I'm guessing the only thing getting applause is his terrible impersonation of a sith lord, and the orchestra's valiant attempt at trying to follow his none sense. The worst one is The Asteroid Field, the tempo is really all over the place.

 

There are also arrangments like this:

where I wonder where they came from. This one sounds like somebody copied the beginning from a scene in ESB and then just made their own kind of arrangement.

Speaking of the "signature edition" arrangements though. A lot of them are as they appear on the Pops albums or whatever, but some of them are totally different. Like for example the signature edition of Syuris Theme is just not very good, and I'm actually very confused by it given the suite he did for cello and orchestra that isn't published. I mean I get he did an "orchestral" version without the cello but.....there this one still has a lot of solos in it...just not cello for some reason? This almost feels like a rejected cue than a new arrangement, and even in some spots sounds like he didn't write it because it is very out of context with the original score.

There are some others too like the Lost World theme mentioned, or The Asteroid Field, where I feel like the originals on the OST were better. I also think its weird that sometimes he plays arrangements of stuff that are not the hal leonard edition, like Geisha or I believe also the published Far and Away Suite is not the same as the one he plays live often (I could be wrong).

Jurassic Park is my favorite of his though, I just watched it yesterday. Journey to the Island and the Finale (in it's OST version) are the best parts, but the whole score is really a masterpiece. I would love to see the entire thing live, but those events seem all too rare.

[Thor 7,495]

Williams has been fairly good at performing recent pieces in his concert performances. But many of them have not been around for long. I do know that he performed, say, NIXON live at some point, because the score was brand new at the time. I'm very envious of those who were around to hear these rare (in a concert setting) pieces performed live. Someone should make a list of these pieces, i.e. those that were performed around the time of the film's release, but then almost never again.

 

So the chance of hearing anything other than the main JURASSIC PARK theme(s) -- glorious as it may be -- is rather farfetched at this point.

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

34 minutes ago, Thor said:

Williams has been fairly good at performing recent pieces in his concert performances. But many of them have not been around for long. I do know that he performed, say, NIXON live at some point, because the score was brand new at the time. I'm very envious of those who were around to hear these rare (in a concert setting) pieces performed live. Someone should make a list of these pieces, i.e. those that were performed around the time of the film's release, but then almost never again.

 

So the chance of hearing anything other than the main JURASSIC PARK theme(s) -- glorious as it may be -- is rather farfetched at this point.

 

I think I heard him do a few one time only:  Book Thief, another piece from Last Jedi which was pretty elaborate and not short and very dark sounding, that time he did an entire Harry Potter night at Tanglewood, most of those I'm not sure he ever played again. There is a video online of him with the Pops playing a wonderful arrangement of Accidental Tourist, never recorded or played again probably. Yes Giorgio, Sugarland Express, Presumed Innocent, JFK, several pieces from Hook apart from Flight to Neverland, Angela's Ashes, Jane Eyre, (Dracula he has actually whipped out a few times over the years), Witches of Eastwick (minus the ASM version), Always, AI, Stepmom, Patriot, Towering Inferno (I think I saw him do once). Did I miss any? I think a lot of these were on TV specials and then never played again. Pieces with chorus obviously don't get played a lot understandably, but even so he's broken out Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and Empire of the Sun on occasion. Did I miss any? Did Seven Years in Tibet even get one?? Also, I know there is obviously a concert version of The Terminal, but has he ever actually programmed that? I feel like he did it in Boston, maybe Jay will know I think he's been making the annual pilgrimage as long as I have.

Also, there is an album that is sold in the Symphony Shop at Tanglewood and Boston which I think may be very difficult to find elsewhere. They are arrangements of JW film pieces for oboe and small ensemble by Keisukei Wakao (still principle oboe for the Pops). I THINK JW did those arrangements because the booklet offers pictures with them recording it with other BSO members and he's on the cover with Keisukei, but the entire booklet is in Japanese, which silly me I have never bothered to have translated.

But alas, I think all the hardcore JW fans will agree, when it comes to an original film cue done in concert, we want HEARTBEEPS!!!

[Thor 7,495]

Ha, ha....yeah, HEARTBEEPS live would be awesome.

 

There's SABRINA too. In fact, someone recently shared the video with him performing the piano himself in some live performance. Again, I'd love a complete list of these "rare" pieces, but one have to define "rare" first.

 

I'm glad that CINDERELLA LIBERTY, for example, got some kind of ressurection with the Mutter collab. I'm not sure if it was ever performed in concert before, but then I don't have total control of Williams' 70s concerts, wherein it would be "current".

 

Sorry for going off-topic here, but it was tangential to the topic.

[Bellosh 3,418]

Dennis Steals The Embryo

[GerateWohl 4,357]

I remember someone sharing here a video of one of Williams concert performances from the early 80s featuring music from Dracula and Jaws 2. That was pretty cool.

[Thor 7,495]

Just now, GerateWohl said:

I remember someone sharing here a video of one of Williams concert performances from the early 80s featuring music from Dracula and Jaws 2. That was pretty cool.

 

Yeah, JAWS 2 would be awesome. But as Starship alluded to above, DRACULA has became relatively regular on the concert repertoire over the years.

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

13 minutes ago, Thor said:

Ha, ha....yeah, HEARTBEEPS live would be awesome.

 

There's SABRINA too. In fact, someone recently shared the video with him performing the piano himself in some live performance. Again, I'd love a complete list of these "rare" pieces, but one have to define "rare" first.

 

I'm glad that CINDERELLA LIBERTY, for example, got some kind of ressurection with the Mutter collab. I'm not sure if it was ever performed in concert before, but then I don't have total control of Williams' 70s concerts, wherein it would be "current".

 

Sorry for going off-topic here, but it was tangential to the topic.

Funny, I was also thinking about that too but I thought my rant was long enough already, ha! Sabrina has always been a favorite of mine but for years I NEVER heard it played. I think I may have heard it once as the violin version, but really only once if that. He would regularly play pieces from the Cinema Serenade album, usually Laura, but never Sabrina. The original version would rarely get played by Lockhart, or a couple times when the split the show. It was only recently in the last years it started to become a regular thing. In that vein too, I have never seen him conduct Jurassic Park. in the 25 years or whatever it is I've been going to see him do the Pops, he did it one time (when I wasn't there), and that was it. I believe the only other time it was broken out was for the ASM concert at Tanglewood in 2019, but David Newman conducted.

Now THAT was the greatest concert ever, sadly I doubt there is any hope that will get released.

13 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

Dennis Steals The Embryo

 

I hate to say it's one of my favorites because the whole score is one great cue after the next, but i have listened to that track more than the others (not including Journey and finale). Since they did do the whole film live though, I am really curious how it was performed with all the electronics on the OST.

[Thor 7,495]

7 minutes ago, WilliamsStarShip2282 said:

. In that vein too, I have never seen him conduct Jurassic Park. in the 25 years or whatever it is I've been going to see him do the Pops, he did it one time (when I wasn't there), and that was it.

 

Really? He played it with the Pops when I was there in 2014, and it moved me to tears (both due to my proximity to the stage and the indelible connection I have to that score). I can't remember if he played it at the Hollywood Bowl in 2012 (which was a very troublesome experience to me, despite being the first time I saw him live), but then he played it in Berlin last year. So I guess I've been lucky to hear and see him conduct a cue from my alltime favourite score on two occasions, at the least. I thought it was fairly common at this point, so if you've been at it for 25 years, I'm surprised you haven't encountered it.

[Bellosh 3,418]

24 minutes ago, WilliamsStarShip2282 said:

I hate to say it's one of my favorites because the whole score is one great cue after the next, but i have listened to that track more than the others (not including Journey and finale). Since they did do the whole film live though, I am really curious how it was performed with all the electronics on the OST.

 

Same.  After Journey to the Island, if i'm not doing a full listen through, I will go straight to that track.  Easily my 2nd favorite JP cue out of both JW's scores.

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

12 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Really? He played it with the Pops when I was there in 2014, and it moved me to tears (both due to my proximity to the stage and the indelible connection I have to that score). I can't remember if he played it at the Hollywood Bowl in 2012 (which was a very troublesome experience to me, despite being the first time I saw him live), but then he played it in Berlin last year. So I guess I've been lucky to hear and see him conduct a cue from my alltime favourite score on two occasions, at the least. I thought it was fairly common at this point, so if you've been at it for 25 years, I'm surprised you haven't encountered it.

That was the year I wasn't there!

[Andy 4,123]

49 minutes ago, WilliamsStarShip2282 said:

But alas, I think all the hardcore JW fans will agree, when it comes to an original film cue done in concert, we want HEARTBEEPS!!!

 

Man, I would kill for the Heartbeeps End Credits to be performed by a live orchestra, without synth.  The composition is pure vintage, golden age Williams, it's just undervalued because of the dated synth and the associated film.  But if they were to miraculously resurrect that from the ether, it would breathe new appreciation into the piece.

[Fabulin 3,511]

At this point, the biggest barrier to the performance of John Williams's music is not the audience, musicians, or even orchestra managements, but John Williams himself. Those several-minutes-long suites and themes hardly do his work due. Conductors, especially young ones, would love to perform tracks from the films as written and arrange unique presentations, but they will only be able to do so after the composer departs to Valhalla, provided his estate does not turn out to be one of those irrationally protective ones.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

JOURNEY TO THE ISLAND. it's my favourite cue, from the score.

[igger6 894]

I’ll be hearing it tonight from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, along with every other cue in the film! 

[Bellosh 3,418]

damn! hearing this at a big 5 symphony!  super jealous.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Which orchestra should be kicked off the old "big 5" list so that the LA Phil can take its rightful place?  I guess Cleveland (sorry Cleveland).

[Bellosh 3,418]

Just now, Disco Stu said:

Which orchestra should be kicked off the old "big 5" list so that the LA Phil can take its rightful place?  I guess Cleveland (sorry Cleveland).

 

great trivia question btw if you ever do that.  NOBODY EVER GUESSES CLEVELAND!!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

It does pain me to kick them off, as it was the Cleveland Orchestra that commissioned my favorite JW concerto (the trumpet)

 

 

I'd also argue that at this point, as great as the Philly Orchestra is, the big 5 should really be:

 

New York Phil

Chicago Phil

Boston Symphony

LA Phil

San Francisco Symphony

[Fabulin 3,511]

50 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Which orchestra should be kicked off the old "big 5" list so that the LA Phil can take its rightful place?  I guess Cleveland (sorry Cleveland).

Why Cleveland? I agree they aren't what they used to be, but they still remain peerlessly precise and synchronized (only Concertgebouw seems to be on that level afaik), and suffer mostly from years of uninspired leadership and lack of record presence.

 

What distinguishes Chicago or NY?

 

Btw. agree about LA Phil, absolutely. Not just American, but world top 5 in my book.

[artguy360 1,843]

I'd love to hear Dobby the House Elf performed live. I think it would be fantastic with the bright orchestration and lively progression of the concert arrangement.

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

10 hours ago, Fabulin said:

Why Cleveland? I agree they aren't what they used to be, but they still remain peerlessly precise and synchronized (only Concertgebouw seems to be on that level afaik), and suffer mostly from years of uninspired leadership and lack of record presence.

 

What distinguishes Chicago or NY?

 

Btw. agree about LA Phil, absolutely. Not just American, but world top 5 in my book.

 

See now that is interesting, I think this boils down to reputation and preference. There are a lot of orchestras that are technically very good, but for me personally NY and LA have very dead sounding orchestras. Boston has a very rich, old school European sound still. Seattle Symphony has made some unbelievable remarkable recordings of a variety of music that I would swap them into the top three in the USA. I think Cleveland was in top ranks for a long time when Boulez was there, but after he left I don't think they ever had a music director that was so present and kept the orchestra in a national/international spotlight. The Boston Symphony sounded pretty bad during the Levine years (as all orchestras except the MET did under him) but he wasn't even there the last year or two, with him cancelling his season performances at the last moment. But once they got a proper music director, they have sounded great ever sense, and they sounded amazing when both Seiji and John were music directors.

I think there are a lot of orchestras now that should be put in contention and are not simply because of publicity and location. The Shangahi Symphony is a very good orchestra that doesn't get much press, NHK, and a TON of orchestras in Europe that are amazing.

I think there are a ton of orchestras now that are able to play anything but are kind of like a blank slate, meaning like the Berlin Phil carried on the "Karajan" sound for years, and these orchestras have no tradition and it largely has to come from the music directors/ conductors, which often reveals how good or bad the conductor is, as very clearly shown above in the FSO videos. And anyway, the orchestras that were originally famous from their sound usually came from a diverse group of musicians and largely how their sound was shaped by a very present music director, which then the orchestra carries on until that person is long gone and then the orchestra is famous for being "the best" although most people won't be able to tell you why, and then the cycle repeats.

I don't know how I got on this tangent. Whoopsie.

[pete 907]

19 hours ago, WilliamsStarShip2282 said:

 

I think I heard him do a few one time only:  Book Thief, another piece from Last Jedi which was pretty elaborate and not short and very dark sounding, that time he did an entire Harry Potter night at Tanglewood, most of those I'm not sure he ever played again. There is a video online of him with the Pops playing a wonderful arrangement of Accidental Tourist, never recorded or played again probably. Yes Giorgio, Sugarland Express, Presumed Innocent, JFK, several pieces from Hook apart from Flight to Neverland, Angela's Ashes, Jane Eyre, (Dracula he has actually whipped out a few times over the years), Witches of Eastwick (minus the ASM version), Always, AI, Stepmom, Patriot, Towering Inferno (I think I saw him do once). Did I miss any?

 

Hell's Kitchen from Sleepers was a surprise encore piece at the 1998 London concerts, and it sounded great! I don't think he's performed it live much - if any - since then. We were also treated to The Lost World Theme, and he passed on any music from the first film. 

[crocodile 8,006]

On 25/03/2022 at 9:42 AM, Richard Penna said:

Of those mentioned so far, Welcome to JP as it has the wonderful piano intro along with the island theme.

 

And the Lost World concert piece. I'm not sure I've ever seen it in a concert playlist.

I heard it once performed by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

 

What about this one?

 

 

Karol

[rough cut 1,714]

Remembering Petticoat Lane.

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

4 hours ago, crocodile said:

I heard it once performed by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

 

What about this one?

 

 

Karol

 

This is probably the only Hal Leonard addition I don't have, but I'm pretty sure this is it. There is actually an alternate version of the theme released on the extended edition album and that is probably where it came from.

 

This score is on equal par with me though with the original, what a fantastic work. Would be expensive to reproduce live though with all the percussion, but what JW score wouldn't be?

Now that I am thinking about it though, somewhat off topic, has anyone here read the original JP books? Personally, I think they should have stuck with the original book plot for Lost World, but it was still good.....except for the Godzilla ending.....but otherwise both films are still today amazing, and JP is an eternal masterpiece for me. They shouldn't even be remade, however I feel like both book would make an excellent one of TV series by HBO or something. Both books are easily long enough for two or three movies.

[Tom 4,654]

20 hours ago, igger6 said:

I’ll be hearing it tonight from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, along with every other cue in the film! 

This is an either/one thread, so please wear noise canceling headphones for every piece other than your favorite.  

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

5 hours ago, pete said:

 

Hell's Kitchen from Sleepers was a surprise encore piece at the 1998 London concerts, and it sounded great! I don't think he's performed it live much - if any - since then. We were also treated to The Lost World Theme, and he passed on any music from the first film. 

 

Thats a really nice piece. The main motif is very similar to the theme for The Book Thief. I wonder if he decided to re-work it for that, or it was completely subconscious.

[Thor 7,495]

Would have loved to hear "Hell's Kitchen" live. Or how about "The Football Game" with an actual drum kit on-stage, rockin' it up? The mind boggles.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

The Football Game would be terrific live. It was the only track from Sleepers with which I immediatly connected and always have been a favourite of mine

[Tom Guernsey 2,284]

10 hours ago, pete said:

 

Hell's Kitchen from Sleepers was a surprise encore piece at the 1998 London concerts, and it sounded great! I don't think he's performed it live much - if any - since then. We were also treated to The Lost World Theme, and he passed on any music from the first film. 

I remember that too! I don’t think Sleepers interested me much at the time but it’s certainly grown on me but I remember being amazed at how epic and grandiose that cue was at the concert. It certainly sounded much more impressive live than it does on CD (even more so than the usual extra buzz you get from a live performance).

 

As to the original question, given that Journey to the Island is basically the reason why I love film music there’s pretty much no contest. The only real issue is that it comes to a quiet and slightly ominous conclusion which isn’t necessarily ideal for a concert. I don’t quite know how you’d rework the ending. Or maybe it doesn’t matter, not everything needs an epic conclusion (Jaws theme concert arrangement, I’m looking at you…).

[Thor 7,495]

SLEEPERS is an underrated masterpiece. 'nuff said.