John Williams Reimagined Album (Arranged for flute, cello & piano)

[Nemesis 280]

The lack of cello in Dracula is a missed opportunity!

[GerateWohl 5,875]

Anyway, I wish there was more cello and a little less flute on the album.

[ymenard 60]

The Face of Pan is a really beautiful arrangement.

[kingtolkien 24]

Love the album, my only complaint is that nobody ever cares about The Fury. I adore the score and even Williams has never performed any music from that film in concert. I think it is a masterpiece.

[Thor 9,304]

Who doesn't care about THE FURY?

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

Nobody.

[kingtolkien 24]

I meant that producers and conductors do not care about the Fury. No rerecording whatsoever from this film and no performances of any of the tracks from the album even by Williams. I think that the Main Title, Epilogue, death on the carousel, For Gillian, Hester's theme and the house, Gillian's escape are absolutelly incredible and I would personally be delighted to have a new rerecording. I prefer it to Dracula. I think that it is one of his best scores. Probably in his top 10. Although I hate top ten lists especially in film scores. 

[scoreman36 153]

Williams liked it enough to quote it in “The Witching Hour”

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

The problem might be that the main theme is among his lesser themes.

[Miguel Andrade 1,495]

2 hours ago, kingtolkien said:

I meant that producers and conductors do not care about the Fury. No rerecording whatsoever from this film and no performances of any of the tracks from the album even by Williams. I think that the Main Title, Epilogue, death on the carousel, For Gillian, Hester's theme and the house, Gillian's escape are absolutelly incredible and I would personally be delighted to have a new rerecording. I prefer it to Dracula. I think that it is one of his best scores. Probably in his top 10. Although I hate top ten lists especially in film scores. 

 

The City of Prague Philharmonic did record it for Silva Screen and has been released numerous times through many Williams oriented compilations:

https://www.discogs.com/release/20194102-John-Williams-4City-Of-Prague-Philharmonic-The-Music-Of-John-Williams-The-Definitive-Collection

[kingtolkien 24]

Wow. I really didn't know that. Is the recording of the Fury any good?

Still I think that Williams has forgotten about The Fury score. The BFG part mentioned earlier I think that it was done accidentally by Williams. I mean I don't think that he remembers every theme from a film he has worked on, especially 50 years ago at his age. He is a genius but memory loss is another thing.

[Tom 5,562]

Temp tracks have a way of jogging one's memory.  

[igger6 989]

My Barnes & Noble order of this CD has been delayed twice, now to Nov. 15, and I just noticed the Amazon listing now says "Currently unavailable."  Has anyone gotten this on CD successfully, and from whom did you order, and when?  I'm curious what the breadth and severity of the problem is.

[80sFan 128]

Just got this from Amazon - any US ordering options? 

 

[igger6 989]

My Barnes & Noble order has been delayed again and again, now to Dec. 20, and the only CD purchasing option listed on the Warner Classics site is Amazon, which has been showing Currently Unavailable for weeks. Did Warner just radically curtail the pressing of the discs for this release? Seems bizarre for new material related to one of the bestselling names in the classical market.

[Bayesian 1,509]

On 18/11/2024 at 8:48 AM, igger6 said:

My Barnes & Noble order has been delayed again and again, now to Dec. 20, and the only CD purchasing option listed on the Warner Classics site is Amazon, which has been showing Currently Unavailable for weeks. Did Warner just radically curtail the pressing of the discs for this release? Seems bizarre for new material related to one of the bestselling names in the classical market.

Yeah, there’s something weird going on here. I ultimately decided to cancel my Amazon preorder because I’m pretty sure now they won’t ever have it in stock. Your best bet—do what I did and buy a copy from a third party seller on eBay or someplace similar. The best available price right now on eBay is $21.65 including shipping via Rarewaves. It’s $5 more than the Amazon preorder price, but probably worth it to avoid the risk that it really is OOP already. (The other listings are considerably worse, price-wise, because those sellers want $20+ for shipping on top of the cd price.)

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

Guys, I recommend broadening your horizon with regards to CD stores. This album is available from Europadisc, among others, for a decent price.

 

https://www.europadisc.co.uk/classical/241605/John_Williams_Reimagined.htm

 

[fommes 159]

It is still available from European Amazons, too.

[scatmanjack 3]

My Amazon USA order was just officially cancelled after several delay notifications...

 

pretty sure I won't be able to find it at the low price I had ordered it at originally...

[Sandor 857]

Ordered my copy on a Dutch site (Bol), and it arrived last week. 

[artguy360 2,007]

I like this album a lot. It's nice to get so many unique arrangements and performances of JW work.

[80sFan 128]

I ended up ordering from Presto Music Nov 22 and it's currently in transit (UK to US). Looking forward to receiving it!

 

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9637991--john-williams-reimagined 

[Jay 42,232]

Thanks for the tip, I ordered from Presto

[Miz 146]

On 22/03/2024 at 8:29 AM, QuartalHarmony said:

Lovely - could be a really good, interesting release.

 

In the excerpt posted, Pedroni does a bang-up job of what is a very challenging piano part, and the cello and flute are incorporated imaginatively and sensitively. Shame the flute starts dragging the tempo, especially around 1:00!

Is that because a flute doesn't have sharp 'attack'? Or not... they seem to nail it at the end with the Keys theme.

[bollemanneke 3,973]

I am LOVING the HP3 suite! Far and Away really did not work for me, but lots of stuff like Images, going to School, HSATP and A Tree for my Bed are so gorgeous.

[Jay 42,232]

My physical copy arrived in the mail this week in great condition from Presto.

 

Recommended to anyone else in the US who got screwed by Amazon never actually selling it

 

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9637991--john-williams-reimagined

[Dr. Rick 1,294]

I just ordered this through an Amazon retailer / reseller for about $22 after tax and free shipping.  It will take a couple weeks to arrive but I've got a healthy supply of $$ in Amazon gift cards to use  

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZ16ZSTN

 

 

[igger6 989]

Barnes & Noble came through as (eventually) promised! My twice-delayed shipping notice was true to its Dec. 20 date, and I got it just in time for Christmas! Can’t wait to open it, along with my copy of The Post, when I give up Christmas music on Monday. 

[scatmanjack 3]

CD seems to be available from Amazon USA again…

[igger6 989]

Finally finished listening through and ripping this CD yesterday, and man, what a treat.  The new musical context really allows the melodies and counterpoint to shine in a new way.  And the fact that it's a double album going beyond the usual suspects is an incredible gift.  It would have been easy to bang this out with twelve tracks of mega-hits plus Schindler, but they really went the extra mile.  I'm ready for John Williams ReIImagined!

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

5 minutes ago, igger6 said:

twelve tracks of mega-hits plus Schindler

 

Theme from SL is a mega-hit.

[igger6 989]

It's not a chest-thumping blockbuster film like the ones for which Williams is often stereotyped, though.  It's not a "major-fifth" film, if you will.

 

[Waits for someone to rise from the throng and timestamp all the places where the Schindler score does, in fact, feature a major fifth.]

[filmmusic 2,575]

I generally don't listen to John Williams's arrangements but I was curious about that Images track, so I listened to it.

I was wondering:

Is this based on the original sheet music or is it a transcription by ear?

Also, is it approved by John Williams himself?

I was curious mostly about those atonal parts..

@TownerFando you know?

[Miguel Andrade 1,495]

While transcribing, Simone did have access to some of Williams' scores. I know there was a few exceptions were he had to go by his ear, I think one was The Tennis Game from Witches of Eastwick. But for the most part he had access to some material.

 

Williams did gave his blessing to the project. They did a promo for Williams, recording just some two or three pieces. After Williams approval, they went ahead with the remaining arrangements. During the week they were recording, the trio was invited to Williams office and played for him several of the pieces. That's from where the wonderful pictures come from ( taken by Simone's wife).

 

This is a gem of an album and should be in every serious Williams fan collection.

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

7 minutes ago, Miguel Andrade said:

I know there was a few exceptions were he had to go by his ear

 

Was this done for the promo pieces before JW was inboard?

[Miguel Andrade 1,495]

I don't think so. Remember that some of the pieces have the full scores available for purchase and/or renting. Can't remember right now which were those first arrangements that were previewed for Williams.

 

That transcript by ear might have been a situation for which the sketches or finished scores weren't easily available.

[GerateWohl 5,875]

20 minutes ago, Miguel Andrade said:

That transcript by ear might have been a situation for which the sketches or finished scores weren't easily available.

Whch might apply for Images.

[Jurassic Shark 14,820]

The shouting was improvised anyway.

[filmmusic 2,575]

4 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

The shouting was improvised anyway.

Which makes those atonal parts in the Images track especially interesting. Still I'd like to know if they are original by Pedroni or maybe dictated by Williams?

[Miguel Andrade 1,495]

1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

Whch might apply for Images.

 

If memory serves, Images wasn't the case.

39 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Which makes those atonal parts in the Images track especially interesting. Still I'd like to know if they are original by Pedroni or maybe dictated by Williams?

 

From what I've seen, the score has everything notated. Even the improvised stuff has some indication on how to and what to improvise.

[filmmusic 2,575]

2 hours ago, Miguel Andrade said:

Even the improvised stuff has some indication on how to and what to improvise.

Yeah, I have seen it too, but the improvised stuff are for percussion (and voice).

Here we have melodic instruments..

 

[Mr. Hooper 4,953]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/general/general/john-williams-reimagined-and-interstellar-in-concert-among-soundtrax-film-music-festival-lineup/ar-AA1CGcfZ

[Andy 5,864]

My home town!!!

[Tom Guernsey 3,191]

Finally got round to listening to this and broadly very enjoyable. Must admit that I somehow missed that it's almost 3 hours! Some lovely arrangements and a decent enough range of left field choices and some actual score tracks rather than just the standard suites and themes.

 

 

I only wish it had included a couple of slightly crazier choices such as, maybe The Asteroid Field or T-Rex Rescue and Finale or Indy's First Adventure or Flight to Neverland had been included. Hearing really detailed stuff like that pared back to a trio would likely be revelatory.

[JazzyNips 75]

On 22/03/2024 at 5:13 AM, Davis said:

The album looks nice, but these kinds of albums

always remind me that nothing can ever top the original versions. A score and cue like E.T. and Over the Moon begs for the grand orchestration.

What a strange thing to say about film music. Lots of cues have multiple versions, and most of JWs soundtracks are chopped up and microedited. The concert arrangement isn't the "original version" either.

[Meredith McKay 7,783]

1 hour ago, JazzyNips said:

What a strange thing to say about film music. Lots of cues have multiple versions, and most of JWs soundtracks are chopped up and microedited. The concert arrangement isn't the "original version" either.

I don't see how it is strange to consider the first recording assembly, the original...

[scoreman36 153]

5 hours ago, JazzyNips said:

What a strange thing to say about film music. Lots of cues have multiple versions, and most of JWs soundtracks are chopped up and microedited. The concert arrangement isn't the "original version" either.

Not strange at all. Rearrangements like this I find are more of a curiosity, albeit ones I might revisit quite a lot. But you can’t beat the original - unless any of these tracks are superior to JW’s original arrangements, do you think?