BSO Digitizing John Williams' Radio Broadcasts

[igger6 929]

Wait, what?  Did we know about this?  Are these the same performances as his unavailable PBS specials?

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/bso-plan-to-digitize-john-williams-concerts-almost-complete/

[Jay 38,871]

Sweet!

[Marian Schedenig 8,824]

Quote

The BSO has completed the digitization process and is currently creating access files for public use. 

 

Very nice. Would be even nicer if they continued the project with later Williams/BPO recordings after the end of his regular Pops tenure. That might even give us a good sounding Call of the Champions.

[rough cut 1,739]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Very nice. Would be even nicer if they continued the project with later Williams/BPO recordings after the end of his regular Pops tenure. That might even give us a good sounding Call of the Champions.

Or, as it’s also known - if there is a single release - Call Of Champions.

[Jurassic Shark 12,825]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Very nice. Would be even nicer if they continued the project with later Williams/BPO recordings after the end of his regular Pops tenure. That might even give us a good sounding Call of the Champions.

 

You don't like the recording on the Sony album?

[Andy 5,006]

This is splendid news!  Would be wonderful if they also preserve the Evening at the Pops videos.

[Marian Schedenig 8,824]

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

You don't like the recording on the Sony album?

 

I've been complaining about it for 22 years. The rest of the album (recorded by Rhodes, except for Summon the Heroes, which is an earlier Murphy recording) sounds very good, but Call of the Champions itself sounds neither good nor real. I've seen a clip from a Pops concert that sounded much better, even though it was technically an inferior recording.

[bollemanneke 3,541]

Nice news, but those years aren't really very interesting for me, personally.

[Thor 8,121]

28 minutes ago, Andy said:

This is splendid news!  Would be wonderful if they also preserve the Evening at the Pops videos.

 

Oh gosh yes, that would be something. But for the moment, this is already pretty good news.

[Andy 5,006]

Yes yes. I don’t mean to come across as the “great but what we need is…” guy. 

[Drew 593]

Is this going to give us Fanfare for Michael Dukakis?

[Tom 4,975]

8 minutes ago, Drew said:

Is this going to give us Fanfare for Michael Dukakis?

I think Dukakis was 10 years old when Williams wrote this, or I might be confusing it with something else.  

[WilliamsStarShip2282 318]

This is very exciting, they have recordings of literally every performance though that never got released so preserved as they may be, released in their complete states I am not as hopeful.

[Andy 5,006]

14 hours ago, Tom said:

I think Dukakis was 10 years old when Williams wrote this, or I might be confusing it with something else.  

That is a deep pull right there.

[Thor 8,121]

15 hours ago, Drew said:

Is this going to give us Fanfare for Michael Dukakis?

 

It's already out there as a video, albeit in a shoddy performance during the Democratic convention. If the Boston Pops ever recorded this, in better quality, and said performance hides anywhere in these radio programs, that would be swell, of course. Then I can chuck away my audio rip of that Democratic convention video.

[BB-8 3,842]

Egomaniac as ever, I want this extended to 2022 so that I can archive those concerts I actually attended.

 

And a CD print-on-demand shop would be cool.

 

Something like Opera-Depot - Opera CDs and MP3s of live performances (operadepot.com)

 

[Tom 4,975]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

That is a deep pull right there.

That is the best part of JWfan--having a joke that only 15 people on the entire planet could possibly get, and all of them are on this board.  

[JohnnyD 1,290]

On 8/2/2023 at 10:16 AM, igger6 said:

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/bso-plan-to-digitize-john-williams-concerts-almost-complete/

Wow; that is phenomenal news!

 

Wait, so in order to access said concerts, one has to fill out a request form? Am I reading that right?

[lairdo 739]

On 9/2/2023 at 2:18 PM, JohnnyD said:

Wow; that is phenomenal news!

 

Wait, so in order to access said concerts, one has to fill out a request form? Am I reading that right?

 

Agreed. Amazing news!

 

So, from looking at the form, a person can request specific tracks from concerts - not concerts themselves. The linked form notes that performance rights prohibit sharing full concerts. One can find the specific concerts and programs on the BSO site by searching for John Williams under the conductor field. The first entry is May 25, 1979 and they go from there. May 26, 1979 shows that audio is available for it. (May 25 does not.) There is a limit of 15 tracks per month from one person. 

 

Oddly when I bring up the concert detail page, it does appear that there are links to play the tracks, but they don't. Is that just me? Actually, I found that some concerts have two speaker icons - a red one indicates you can likely sign up for an account to play the tracks. The other I think means you can use the form to ask.

 

Hopefully, outside of a crowds sourced effort to ask for every track from all those years, the BSO makes a deal with a music label to pubish the concerts in box sets or make them available on streams - some music deal that would pay for the administrative work to obtain the clearances needed. I am sure it's a lot of work. I won't live long enough, but these will all enter public domain at some point for 2100. Unfortunately, I hesitate to think there is a market for them though. 

 

 

 

 

[bollemanneke 3,541]

I am going to say it. This is a stupid system.

[Turbo 61]

I made a quick and dirty spreadsheet where John Williams was listed as the conductor. I've separated it into three tabs. The first is the complete list, the second shows the music he arranged, the third lists the works he is noted as composing. If a date/season is shown, that means he performed that piece no more than 4 times. The date it was first performed is listed.  Those without dates/seasons he performed at least five times or more.