John Williams is the guest on this week's "For Scores" podcast with Jon Burlingame

[pete 907]

And many many articles in the 80s and 90s for The Boson Globe

[Erik Woods 555]

Exactly... he's had a lot of access to John Williams which was my point all along without listing every single time Burlingame interacted with Williams.

 

-Erik-

[Yavar Moradi 2,601]

41 minutes ago, karelm said:

Also, Burlingame did that three hour USC interview with Johnny that included lots of talk of his early life, intro to the industry, etc.

Is that available somewhere online?

 

Yavar

[Thor 7,520]

16 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Is that available somewhere online?

 

Yavar

 

I don't think so, unfortunately. I had it as a video file once (so it DOES exist on video), but it was among the casualties in my hard drive crash a few years ago.

 

I also remember there was a page on the USC site that had a picture and a little text underneath (I think this was a kind of news story, as in "JW was here and talked"), the first place I discovered that JW only spent one semester at USC.

[KittBash 282]

@Yavar Moradi & @Thor Are we talking the 2006 talk in like 7 parts with USC Thornton? (screenshot below)

 

[Yavar Moradi 2,601]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

I don't think so, unfortunately. I had it as a video file once (so it DOES exist on video), but it was among the casualties in my hard drive crash a few years ago.

 

I also remember there was a page on the USC site that had a picture and a little text underneath (I think this was a kind of news story, as in "JW was here and talked"), the first place I discovered that JW only spent one semester at USC.

I didn’t know that, but it’s funny because I think Jerry Goldsmith also just spent one semester there (two tops)!

 

Yavar

[mrbellamy 6,291]

59 minutes ago, KittBash said:

@Yavar Moradi & @Thor Are we talking the 2006 talk in like 7 parts with USC Thornton? (screenshot below)

 

 

Well at least that's still on YouTube

 

That one's not 3 hours, though, more like 1:45

 

I should watch this again, for some reason the quote I remember is him musing at some point about using math in music and that music's easy because you're only dealing with factors of 12 lmao 

[Thor 7,520]

I realized I just conflated two things earlier.

 

The video that is on YouTube, from 2006 and with Burlingame, is the one I had as a video file. Wasn't aware that it had been put up online.

 

That's different from an earlier USC visit/talk/Q&A he had (the one that was displayed as a news story on their site for a while in the early 2000s; not available anymore), which was hosted by someone else and NOT shot on video (I know this because I remember contacting the institute at the time and asked if there was any footage), but where I learned -- in the small text -- that he was there for one semester.

 

[Edit: Sorry, guys, I'm REALLY losing it. I just realized the "earlier talk" I mentioned wasn't at USC at all, but LACC (Los Angeles City College). That's where he spent one semester. He never went to USC. Geezes, I've been out of the "JW education game" for too long....]

[KittBash 282]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

[Edit: Sorry, guys, I'm REALLY losing it. I just realized the "earlier talk" I mentioned wasn't at USC at all, but LACC (Los Angeles City College). That's where he spent one semester. He never went to USC. Geezes, I've been out of the "JW education game" for too long....]

 

 No worries, we all have our off days.

[Fabulin 3,514]

Hearing the mysterious and unnerving underscore under the conversation was great. It makes Williams's storytelling that more epic when you realize he composed all that.

It can recontextualize words too... at 14:00 the underscore makes Burlingame's serene "of course" seem sinister haha

[Naïve Old Fart 9,553]

Sorry, @crumbs, but he bailed on us in London, in 2018. We deserve recompense.

It would also be nice for him to conduct down under 

Friends? 

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

13 hours ago, Thor said:

I know, but I've noticed sometimes that something is called a concerto even if doesn't have 'concerto' in the title. So I'm curious if the pieces I mentioned are technically a piano concerto, even if they don't have the name. Especially "Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra".

 

a lot of composers have also just written a "scherzo"piece, like scherzo fantastique. But also, "Markings"is not included as a concerto either, and especially in the "contemporary" realm, there are a lot of concert works for solo instrument and some kind of group that isnt a concerto, or labeled as such. His concerti are usually multiple movement works as well, with sime kind of theme or principal idea to them, whereas the "Prelude & Scherzo" although working well (at least for me) together, its kind of clear they were not part of one thing as they are quite different in style and playing technique.

 

I am still kind of surprised since I feel like he's been saying he's "about to start" the piano concerto for a while. I am curious what he is "finishing up now"

 

 

13 hours ago, Jay said:

 

 

I put six different places it can be found in the main post. None of them work where you guys live? 

 

Gotta love how Disney finds a way to make everything difficult... 

 

 

I can usually get everything with a VPN in China, but Disney is really aggressive here about controlling their stuff.

[GerateWohl 4,373]

And it is still unclear to me why Treesong is not considered Violin Concerto No. 2. But probably it's the missing sonata form. 

Or just Williams' intention. 

[WilliamsStarShip2282 308]

On 13/10/2023 at 11:52 AM, GerateWohl said:

And it is still unclear to me why Treesong is not considered Violin Concerto No. 2. But probably it's the missing sonata form. 

Or just Williams' intention. 

 I would say it is more like what I mentioned above, it is more of "free form"contemporary, whereas the first violin concerto actually follows a classical form, even if it doesn't sound it. Another example would be the Scherzo for Piano, which is in actual traditional scherzo form.

 

However, Treesong is more of a free styled piece. I never delved too deeply into it, but I'm certain a form would be uncovered there that's more classic. But it's heavily inspired by Dutilleux's "not concerto" for violin and orchestra,  L'arbe des songes (with some little homages from this piece even hidden in Tree Song). Dutilleux considered his piece more like a tone poem, common in his works, and I am quite certain Williams thought of his the same way.
 

Interestingly though, he has mentioned before that even thought Five Sacred Trees and the Horn concerto are noted as a "concerto" he considers these more as suites or tone poems.

 

But anyway, here is the program note for Tree Song if you don't have it.

 

[Matt S. 493]

On 11/10/2023 at 1:41 PM, LB Makes Stuff said:

Piano concerto should be finished by 2024…interesting.

I hope this means they’re aiming for a Tanglewood summer 2024 premiere!  Even better would be if they repeat what they did with ASM’s concerto; replay it that fall in Boston and record it there as well.

[Martinland 360]

On 11/10/2023 at 10:49 PM, Damien F said:

His voice has aged

Naaa, it's just the compression...

 

[Jay 37,373]

I forgot to post that I downloaded and listened to this interview and enjoyed it.  How cool would it be if Williams had been doing something like this for every new score he's written during the podcasting era?