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John Williams at Tanglewood On Parade (August 2, 2022)


TownerFan

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Wow, thanks for posting that video!

That was not only a wonderful performance, but the video was nicely shot, and the introduction by Williams ahead of it was nice to see.  The man just does not look 90 year old!

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1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

"The second piece we'll play for you is also about a bird, it's 'Fawkes the Phoenix,' beautiful bird that Harry rode that seemed to always have great luft and lift and glided and the music glides along with him"

 

Starting to wonder if JW is getting Fawkes and Buckbeak confused haha

I imagine if one of us told Williams this, his response would be similar to Liam Neeson's reaction to Warwick Davis talking about how they worked togheter:

 

 

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1 hour ago, mrbellamy said:

Starting to wonder if JW is getting Fawkes and Buckbeak confused haha

 

I guess he'd rather keep vaguely introducing the piece than actually check into the details :P back when he came to Atlanta he described Fawkes as "another beautiful bird" and left it at that. It's kind of remarkable to me, because I read so much meaning into the piece, about how it represents things in the story that Fawkes represents, it can represent the presence or will of Dumbledore, his relationship to Harry, how Harry sees him, etc etc. You could write a whole essay. And I'm sure JW had all that in mind when he wrote the piece, but I guess his concert introductions don't go any deeper than just a fun anecdote with obvious, broad impact for the audience. And now he probably doesn't even recall all the things the piece originally signified.

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6 minutes ago, Tom said:

I imagine if one of us told Williams this, his response would be similar to Liam Neeson's reaction to Warwick Davis talking about how they worked togheter:

 

 

 

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I've always loved "Fawkes the Phoenix" and I'm glad it's become a concert staple, but it's crazy to me that "Buckbeak's Flight" has never been programmed and was excluded altogether from the POA signature edition.

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4 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

I've always loved "Fawkes the Phoenix" and I'm glad it's become a concert staple, but it's crazy to me that "Buckbeak's Flight" has never been programmed and was excluded altogether from the POA signature edition.

He seems to shy away from all of the POA pieces in favor of SS and CoS.  

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11 hours ago, Fabulin said:

I hope we will all be here 10 years from now, listening to JW's anecdotes about Hedwig, the wonderful pet owl of Indiana Jones's — or how Han & the Princess was supposed to be a love theme, but they turned out to be siblings!

And the Schindler’s List anecdote 😅

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1 hour ago, rpvee said:


He definitely doesn’t consult anyone beforehand. One of my favorite concert memories seeing him was at Carnegie Hall earlier this year when he was introducing Across the Stars. He couldn’t remember which Star Wars it was from, even going so far as to say he hadn’t looked it up prior, so I held up two fingers right in front of him, and he looked at me with a laugh and announced it’s from Episode II. Then he looked at me and asked if it was the movie “associated with Natalie Portman, I think - is that right?”, which I confirmed. Just casually confirming Star Wars trivia with John Williams from the podium at a legendary venue. Even better, it’s in the radio broadcast! Life highlight right there.

 

Now you are legend

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2 hours ago, rpvee said:


He definitely doesn’t consult anyone beforehand. One of my favorite concert memories seeing him was at Carnegie Hall earlier this year when he was introducing Across the Stars. He couldn’t remember which Star Wars it was from, even going so far as to say he hadn’t looked it up prior, so I held up two fingers right in front of him, and he looked at me with a laugh and announced it’s from Episode II. Then he looked at me and asked if it was the movie “associated with Natalie Portman, I think - is that right?”, which I confirmed. Just casually confirming Star Wars trivia with John Williams from the podium at a legendary venue. Even better, it’s in the radio broadcast! Life highlight right there.

Any chance you can send a link?

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I believe John Williams knows exactly what movie “Across the Stars” is from. It’s written on the score [“Across the Stars (Love Theme from Star Wars: Episode II)”], so even if he forgot, which I’m sure he doesn’t, he would only need to take a look at the cover to refresh his memory. It’s just his lovely sense of humor why he keeps making that joke at his concerts, funnily indicating there are so many Star Wars episodes he can’t even remember which movie it’s from. But of course he knows exactly. He wrote the score, adapted it recently, and conducts it all the time, with rehearsals.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Gibster said:

Any chance you can send a link?


Here’s a clip of that moment:

 

https://imgur.com/t/johnwilliams/2uxTZ30

 

40 minutes ago, JTW said:

I believe John Williams knows exactly what movie “Across the Stars” is from. It’s written on the score [“Across the Stars (Love Theme from Star Wars: Episode II)”], so even if he forgot, which I’m sure he doesn’t, he would only need to take a look at the cover to refresh his memory. It’s just his lovely sense of humor why he keeps making that joke at his concerts, funnily indicating there are so many Star Wars episodes he can’t even remember which movie it’s from. But of course he knows exactly. He wrote the score, adapted it recently, and conducts it all the time, with rehearsals.

 

 


You’d be surprised. No doubt, the man is a genius, but these scores are just jobs. He isn’t a trivia detailed nerd about things like that. He’s certainly mixed up bits of trivia during concert speeches before, frequently about what happens in which Star Wars film. Plus, I don’t think he would fake a moment like that.

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1 hour ago, rpvee said:


Here’s a clip of that moment:

 

https://imgur.com/t/johnwilliams/2uxTZ30

 


You’d be surprised. No doubt, the man is a genius, but these scores are just jobs. He isn’t a trivia detailed nerd about things like that. He’s certainly mixed up bits of trivia during concert speeches before, frequently about what happens in which Star Wars film. Plus, I don’t think he would fake a moment like that.

I'm not trying to take away your moment, only trying to say that John Williams knows his scores. The very fact that he did this same "mistake" more than once, makes it seem deliberate, a jest. When you pointed it out to him, he reacted to it because he didn't want to appear ignorant, but trust me, he knows exactly which Star Wars movie "Across The Stars" is from. Like I said, he does it all the time, has the score with him. He could maybe forget it once or twice, but I'm sure sooner rather than later someone from his staff would tell him.

He does it on purpose, and again, I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but correcting the composer of Star Wars at a concert is a little, for the lack of a better term, bold move. Thankfully he took it in the best way possible, and that shows what a true gentleman he is. 

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21 minutes ago, BB-8 said:

Harry Potter riding Fawkes

 

Download.png

The nice think about riding a Phoenix is that if you kill it, it doesn't matter.  

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Harry Potter may not have "ridden" Fawkes, but the bird certainly DID take him for a fly (and Ron and Ginny and Lockhart).
"Fawkes leads the way to the Chamber tunnel; he carries Harry, Ron, Ginny and Lockhart back up the pipe." (From Potter Wiki)

So, I guess the old man IS right in a way, and it's some of you younger nitpickers who are getting more forgetful. :P

How were Ginny and—later—Ron and Hermione able to return to Hogwarts after  they visited the Chamber of Secrets? - Quora

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21 hours ago, Darth Mulder said:

He's 90 years old and his forgetfulness is perhaps the beginning of something worse.  :crymore: :crymore: :crymore:

 

23 hours ago, JTW said:

I'm not trying to take away your moment, only trying to say that John Williams knows his scores. The very fact that he did this same "mistake" more than once, makes it seem deliberate, a jest. When you pointed it out to him, he reacted to it because he didn't want to appear ignorant, but trust me, he knows exactly which Star Wars movie "Across The Stars" is from. Like I said, he does it all the time, has the score with him. He could maybe forget it once or twice, but I'm sure sooner rather than later someone from his staff would tell him.

He does it on purpose, and again, I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but correcting the composer of Star Wars at a concert is a little, for the lack of a better term, bold move. Thankfully he took it in the best way possible, and that shows what a true gentleman he is. 

 

Or as can be pretty well noticed, first he himself has said he doesn't watch most of this stuff after he's done with it. Second, he's not super fans like the rest of us. People get way to wrapped up this type of thing. Somebody go ask Harrison Ford what his favorite scene from Star Wars is. I would bet he can't even tell you the basic plot, let alone a favorite scene.

I also think there probably isn't anything wrong with his memory for sure, he's a very active person. I think its another point people obsess over far too much. He's slower, but not by much. But think about how many times hes asked about the same things time and again. People rag about the Schindler's list story. Well, in reality, there probably isn't much more to say about it since he sat every day for a period of time just writing. Not everything is very memorable.

And "jesting" with the audience, I doubt. I think he really just doesn't care. When he's done with something, for the most part thats it hes much more interested in other things. That, and you can always tell which pieces he was most interested in. He played Harry Potter music a lot for years, as well as Memoirs of a Geisha. Very rarely can I ever remember him playing live any of the prequel music, with the exception of Duel of Fates, and Anakin's theme (one time). He also, more or less, only played the recent trilogy stuff as it came out and then not again (with music from ROS never being played even).

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