Flying Theme - best version?

[QuartalHarmony 542]

Having just received the HL score for ET's Flying Theme (ordered last October, so better late than never), I thought I'd go through all the versions I had on my shelves. My thoughts are below and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there have been a few changes to the arrangement over the years. I'm limiting myself to recordings conducted by JW himself, though I'm sure there are other good versions.

 

OST album

The obvious difference is the ending (2:28/bar 69 onwards) which, as far as I can tell, was changed almost straight away for the more familiar version.

Apart from that, the bass part at 0:13 (bar 9) onwards is considerably less interesting in this early version - here, it's just straight Cs without the octave switching that comes in on later versions, and they stay pizzicato at 1:57 (bar 55) where the score says they should be bowed.

 

Boston Pops (1982 Philips recording)

This is much closer to the HL score, so it seems JW made quite a few editorial changes very soon after the OST album was recorded. I don't own the LLL OST release, so can anyone tell me when the OST album was recorded? This Boston Pops recording for Aisle Seat was done around June, I think.

The performance here is fine, but it's ruined for me when the timpani is horribly late at 3:07 and, worse, very flat which ruins the whole climax.

 

Boston Pops (1995 Sony recording)

This is very similar, but there are still a number of issues that have plagued all the recordings so far, such as the horns dragging the tempo at around 1:45. I'm still waiting to hear the flute flourishes at 1:01-1:05 which don't seem to be being played at all.

 

LSO (1996 Sony recording)

The best of the lot, for my money: horns don't drag and I can just about hear the flute flourishes!

 

The HL score seems to have some differences with all these versions, which seems odd to me. For example, the piano part switches to celeste at bar 18 but the score says that shouldn't happen until bar 25. Changing earlier makes the fast flourishes between phrases really cut through and overpower the winds: something more subtle, as notated, might be better. Also, every version has what sounds very much like a flute playing the solo part towards the end (bars 69-72, around 2:30-ish) but the score says it should be a piccolo. It's possible these were changes made since 1996, though I can't be certain because the HL score doesn't have a publication date. Are there any other commercially available recordings conducted by JW that I've missed?

 

Mark

[Matt S. 492]

He conducted it as an encore in Berlin, so it is available on that release.

[Jay 37,281]

8 hours ago, QuartalHarmony said:

can anyone tell me when the OST album was recorded?

 

The main scoring sessions where all the film cues were laid down occurred on March 25, 30, 31, April 1, 2 1982.  The OST tracks "Three Million Light Years From Home", "E.T. Phone Home", and "Adventure On Earth" came from those sessions.

Then, they came back on April 27 and April 28 to record the new opening (really the majority of the cue) to "9M2 Stay With Me" that went into the movie, as well as 5 tracks recorded specifically for the album: "Abandoned And Pursued", "E.T. And Me", "E.T.'s Halloween", "Flying", and "Over The Moon"

 

I don't know if its known when the OST LP hit store shelves, but the film played in Cannes on May 26 1982 and then opened in theaters wide on June 11th 1982.

 

"Aisle Seat" was very likely recorded in June or July 1982, yes.

 

So it seems it really didn't take JW long to realize "The Flying Theme" needed a stronger ending for concerts and re-recordings than the one he had written for the initial album track "Flying"

 

I had never noticed a difference in the brass part you mentioned; Now I want to compare!

[Jay 37,281]

7 hours ago, QuartalHarmony said:

Are there any other commercially available recordings conducted by JW that I've missed?

 

He conducted it at a concert in Berlin in October 2021, which was released on an album called "The Berlin Concert" in 2022

 

 

And that should be it, in terms of commercially released JW-conducted recordings..

 

 

Of course, various other live concert performances have been broadcast on local radio and/or TV, like this Boston Pops performance from 2002:

 

 

 

PBS must have broadcast a performance of him conducting the Boston Pops in the 80s for sure, though I don't see any on youtube right now

[QuartalHarmony 542]

Ah, of course, the Berlin Concert one. I was certain there was a recent version with a ‘big name’ band and was scratching my head as to why it wasn’t on either Across the Stars or the Vienna concert releases.

 

Having just listened to it, it matches the HL score exactly (AFAI can tell), so the arrangement has clearly been tweaked since 1996. At 0:35, you can hear the piano instead of celeste, the little solo flute flourishes are there at 1:04, and it’s clearly a piccolo at 2:43.

 

Good to know!

 

Mark

[Jay 37,281]

So it's possible that people who bought the Hal Leonard release prior to a certain date have a different version than what you bought?

[Quintus 5,399]

Anyone else think Adventures on Earth is crap compared to Adventure on Earth? 

[Jay 37,281]

I think everybody feels that way

[Quintus 5,399]

One of two baffling bad choices made by Williams over his performance career. 

[Andy 4,079]

What's the second?

[Quintus 5,399]

Fast tempo Jurassic Park. Totally undermines the piece to the point of my disregarding it entirely. The original recording remains absolutely essential to a particular generation of fans, which makes Williams directed concert performances all the more frustrating. 

[Andy 4,079]

I agree on both!

[QuartalHarmony 542]

5 hours ago, Jay said:

So it's possible that people who bought the Hal Leonard release prior to a certain date have a different version than what you bought?

Good question, but I don’t think so. Firstly, I have other HL scores which say they are 2nd Editions but Flying Theme isn’t one of them so it seems it’s only ever been published in its current form. Secondly, ISTR the HL scores only started to be published in the late 90s/early 2000s (please correct me if you know different!), by which point the changes I’ve noted could already have been made. Someone (other than me) will need to trawl through all the bootlegs of performances between 1996 and 2021 to be certain!

 

Mark

[Jay 37,281]

Ah OK that's interesting.

 

Well, I posted a JW-conducted performance from 2002 up above - does that match?

[QuartalHarmony 542]

One yes, and two nos: there’s a glock part early on that’s not in my score; the solo flute flourishes are present (but quiet); at 2:40, it’s clearly a flute being played, not a piccolo.

 

Maybe the changes were made gradually and the HL version is from later. It’s a real pain they don’t have publication dates on them.

 

Mark

[bigjimwilson 252]

Whilst not Williams conducted versions (of which I think I might like Berlin the most.... once the tempo picks up a little after the beginning. The '96 version is brilliant, but there's a rushed timp bit which always bugs me) .... I think the Greenaway version is pretty nice and powerful, on an album I really overlook most of the time. But I adore the recording of the LSO with Richard Kaufman on the Varese album "The High and The Mighty, a Century of Flight." It's a corker. 

[King Mark 3,624]

I prefer the OST ending

[p0llux 392]

Above are the prominent performances of the Flying Theme I listen to. The LSO performance from "The Hollywood Sound" is my absolute favorite. The tempo was faster and more steady than the others. All sections of the orchestra were near perfect. What really did it for me were the timpani hits, they hit much harder or mixed louder than the other versions, which really helped accentuating certain phrases like in the beginning when the theme first enters. The Gavin Greenway LSO version took the ending a bit slow for my tastes, but that recording was the cleanest one of the group. The Berlin Phil and Boston Pops fall slightly behind, because of small inconsequential things like tempo change, softer timpani hits, and general mixing issues.

 

PS To me, the best version of the Star Wars Main Title suite is also on The Hollywood Sound.

[King Mark 3,624]

I also want to say "The Flying Theme" is in my bottom tier of Williams concert versions for some reason . i never liked it much and prefer to hear the theme within the score like E.T.'s haloween and Adventures on Earth