John Williams in New York

[Indiana_Fett 0]

At the Hollywood Bowl, they sold CD compilations of his works, and occasionally, OSTs from the year before.

[JWfangirl1992 18]

and how deep would I have to reach into my wallet for one of them?

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

damn, sounds like a great time to nab those CDs you don't have.

Burga - who wishes he doesnt live halfway around the world so he has a chance to attend these concerts

[nightscape94 965]

Come to America!

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Tim

[JWfangirl1992 18]

Come to America!

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Tim

ARGH!!!! We just had a test on that annoying poem!!

[JWfangirl1992 18]

For tomorrow, is it a very formal event, like a nice dress or a skirt and shirt. I know most (if not all you guys are dudes) but if you've been to a couple you notice what people normally wear.

[nightscape94 965]

All of us guys are dudes? LOL

Anyway, it's not overly formal, but it should definitely be nice attire. I'm wearing dress pants and a sweater, but I imgine some men will be decked out in a shirt and tie. Let's just say that it's not a T-shirt and jeans event. You be the judge.

Tim

[JWfangirl1992 18]

Ok I can also see people wearing black turtle necks, and they are all probably from here.

[Miguel Andrade 1,263]

For tomorrow, is it a very formal event, like a nice dress or a skirt and shirt. I know most (if not all you guys are dudes) but if you've been to a couple you notice what people normally wear.

I love to use ties. If i was going, I would likelly use one.

Other than that, I usually use black turtlenecks with dark pants -- just a curious coincidence.

Does that qualifies me as a dude or not? And more important, what the heck is a dude?

[nightscape94 965]

I'll be leaving in a few hours

Horray!

Tim

[JWfangirl1992 18]

I'm leaving in about an hour!!! Whoo-hooo!!!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I just wanna say good luck, we're all counting on you...

[mahler3 478]

I just wanna say good luck, we're all counting on you...

Classic! LOL Nice one Steef, you just cheered up my otherwise dull day!

Tim - who is extremely jealous all all seeing Williams in New York with one of his favourite orchestras AND his two favourite directors!!!!! I hope the concert is being filmed!

[ashinyobject 0]

I hope the concert is being filmed!

if even illegally

[mahler3 478]

I hope the concert is being filmed!

if even illegally

Indeed!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I just wanna say good luck, we're all counting on you...

[ashinyobject 0]

I just wanna say good luck, we're all counting on you...

LOL

you better say it when they come back.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Surely you can't be serious?

[mahler3 478]

Surely you can't be serious?

.....and how do you take your coffee again?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Hot, like my women.

[ashinyobject 0]

i like my women like i like my milk, white and fat free. LOL

[King Mark 3,631]

So this thing is tonight?

K.M.

[vincehardy 0]

It was tonight.

I'll have more later.

[DigitalfreakNYC 59]

In addition to the "set list" posted, he started the 2nd act with the Jaws theme.

Encores included the Star Wars theme, 1 from Munich, a suite for Leonard Bernstein and the NBC Nightly News theme.

Here's the review I just wrote for another board:

Just got back from seeing John Williams conduct New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. For those who didn't know, this was all about film music. The first act was dedicated to Bernard Herrmann and the second to the films John has scored with Steven Spielberg.

Martin Scorsese was on stage for all of the first act.

Steven Spielberg was on stage for all of the second act.

Set List:

Act One

Death Hunt - Dangerous Ground

The Inquirer - Citizen Cane

Ball of Springfield Mountain - Devil and Daniel Webster

Gallop: The Whip - "Currier and Ives" Suite

Scene d'amour - Vertigo

Prelude - Psycho

The Murder - Psycho

Night Piece for Orchestra - Taxi Driver

Prelude/Night Owl - Taxi Driver

Prelude - North By Northwest

Intermission

Act Two:

Main Theme - Jaws

Excerpts - Close Encounters

Out To Sea/Shark Cage Fugue - Jaws

Indy's Very First Adventure - Last Crusade

Main Theme - Schindler's List

Finale - ET

Encores:

A Prayer For Peace - Munich

Main Theme - Star Wars

Tribute to Leonard Bernstein

NBC Nightly News Theme

Just some thoughts:

Saw Kate Capshaw in the lobby. No security around her or anything. Surprised people weren't hounding her. She's very pretty in person but a lot older than Temple of Doom, that's for sure. She needs to eat a burger or two as well.

Saw Chris Martin of Coldplay during intermission. He might have been with Gwenyth as I saw a blonde with him but was too busy looking at him.

Psycho and North By Northwest were accompanied by film clips. Both were shown in widescreen.

The piece from Last Crusade was cool because we got to see the unfinished film first. It was only dialogue and special effects. No music. Throughout it, Spielberg was doing a commentary of sorts, telling us where he would need "hits" and certain things accentuated with the music. Something was wrong with the print that they screened because the video was jumping all around. I half expected Spielberg to comment. And, yes, it was full screen. After we saw it "raw," they then showed the same 3 minute clip over again and John added the music. It started from Young Indy jumping out of the cave to just after Fedora says "Damn" and Indy is running away from the train. This included all the unreleased music from the Lion/whip scene as well as the magic car. Nice to hear it solo.

For ET, we saw the last 10 minutes of the movie the same way. The end of ET always gets to me but hearing it and seeing it this way, tears were streaming down my face. It's definitely one of my favorite pieces of music and was only made better by hearing it live with the film being projected. It ran from the stealing of the van to the very end of the film. I'm actually listening to it right now. And yes, it was full screen.

There isn't much to say about Martin or Steven's contributions. Everything was primarily scripted. Steven made a comment about another Indy movie and the crowd went nuts...as they did when John came out for the encore and said "well, George Lucas can't be there but we'll do this one anyway." Huge roar from the crowd.

An amazing night.

And made even more amazing because I got to sit next to my parents who bought me my first score when I was probably about 3 or 4. It was fulfilling to hear a part of that score, "Star Wars," together. Much love to them.

[nightscape94 965]

Man, I am tired as hell. I just stepped in the house after a 2 hour drive. The concert was about 3 hours long since there about 800 encores....alright, there were a few.

I'll just try to add to what was already mentioned, instead of repeating. The theme from Jaws was not in the program, and as soon as I heard the low piano notes, it was obvious they weren't sticking to the script (it was supposed to start with CE3K).

Speaking of CE3K, the "excerpts" was outstanding. I love this piece, and it was perfection.

The Herrmann half of the concert was great. Williams conducted the Psycho music to film. The night drive scene (in the rain) and the murder. Since the two cues were merged, the film was more or less a montage (they edited out the actual murder) and put in some additional shots of the Bates' motel and Norman, etc...to fill the void, and so the music and film ended at the same time. Oh, and when the shrieking strings came in when the shower curtain opened, people started laughing. I'm sure that's what Herrmann was going for. Idiots!

North by Northwest was conducted to film as well. It started out with the airplane chase (and subsequent explosion) then went into a montage of all the other Hitchcock/Herrmann film collaborations.

The Spielberg/Williams half was incredible...but of course it was. That's what I went there for, and it was great, fantastic, utterly superb. The Indy thing, as described by DigitalfreakNYC above, was neat. Williams spotted it right on with the film. After it was shown the first time, without music, Spielberg then said.."and now let's see why I can't make a movie without John Williams...", and then JW did his thing.

The Schindler's List solo was fine, the performance by violinist Glenn Dicterow was a little different then what I'm used to. There were many spots where his mood and emotion in his playing resulted in the notes being bunched up, creating strange rhythmic patterns as he started and stopped and so on, but it didn't detract from the music. Spielberg's intro to this was almost word for word what is on the back of the OST jacket. Thankfully neither of them told "the joke" (you people know what I'm talking about). Steven also said that this was his favorite score of John's.

The E.T. finale was a dream come true. Literally...15 straight minutes of film and music. Considering the daunting task of keeping everything together, I think he did a beautiful job. The only place that was noticeably off was the finger lighting up. The chord strike was a good 1.5sec late. It ended up on the shot of E.T. saying "I'll be right here..." which then made him hurray a bit more when E.T. goes back up the ramp. Other then that, he was right on.

There was also a little, tiny flub in the "Prayer for Peace". When the music suddenly halts near the end, and then the bass comes back in with that long, solid note, the violins, for whatever reason, didn't join the rest of the strings in playing the melody. They came in a beat or two late. Williams turned to them and started conducting right at them, like "get your ass on the ball!

I think a lot of the concert-goers were not aware of the fact that Williams wrote the NBC Mission theme. First, when he mentioned missing the news due to the concert running late (that one never gets old either...) and said, "this is the Mission theme..." the woman behind me said, "what did he say? NBC? But did he write that music? Are you kidding.." then she got cut off by the violins doing their mad-dash in the beginning. Then when the horns chime in with the main statement, people, again...laughed. I suppose it's all in good fun, but seriously folks... :roll:

The Bernstein tribute was the variation of themes from Westside Story that was done for LB's 70th birthday in the late 80s.

And yes, Star Wars was freakin' cool. It got the biggest applause of the night, so much so that it drowned out the opening blast!

I could go on and on, but I'm really exhausted. Later on my fellow JWFan.neters!

Tim

P.S. Just rememberd something that might be important about the Mission theme. It wasn't a new one with the new theme from the video link on the main page. It was the normal one, that I know from the "By Request..." CD.

P.P.S. Another thing. JW split about an hour after the concert ended. How do I know? Becauase about two dozen of us were waiting for him at the stage door that long. Eventually, word got to us by someone who had left the group, and was going to their car to leave, that Williams was making a quick getaway from the parking garage. So we all ran down to the there, where a gathering was forming around Williams. I got within 5 feet of the guy before he got into his car. One of the staff members or personnel that was with him said that he had to go. His driver had to make a U-turn and come back passed us. Oddly, I was standing on the curb, sorta heart-broken, out in front of the group (the others were already turned around and beginning to leave behind me, and he waved at me. I quickly took my hand out of my pocket and returned the gesture as I held my unsigned score inserts in the other hand. I figured he was probably tired, or wasn't up to standing there, signing autographs at 11:30pm in a parking garage, trying to remember that he's 74, and just really isn't up to it anymore.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Come to America!

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Tim

One day I will!

Anyway, seems like you guys enjoyed the concert!

[vincehardy 0]

Lights! Camera! Music!

John Williams with the New York Philharmonic.

April 24, 2006

Program of the event can be found online.

The first half of the concert was about the music of Bernard Hermann and started with Death Hunt from “On Dangerous Ground” a soundtrack that I have to admit I was not familiar with but very Hermannesque and quite a good concert opener.

Then John Williams introduces his first guest: Martin Scorsese.

Scorsese started a little stiff just reading from his script giving a brief description of Bernard Hermann’s childhood and early years.

“The Inquirer” from Citizen Kane. If you have seen “Evening at Pops” aired on August 3, 2003 this is it and the New York Philharmonic was just as good as the Boston Pops.

Immediately followed by “Ballad of the Springfield Mountain” from the Devil and Daniel Webster and “Gallop: The Whip” from Currier and Ives Suite.

At this point you could already tell that Williams was in a playful mood and so was the Orchestra. Everything was flowing nicely and I guess it started to get to Martin Scorsese because he was noticeably more relaxed when he introduced the next segment dedicated to Hermann’s collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock.

“Scène D’amour” from Vertigo. Scorsese reminded the audience of how strongly the four simple notes of this theme were expressing guilt and obsession. Again great rendition from the New York Philharmonic featuring a passionate and animated John Williams.

“Prelude” and “The Murder” from Psycho was the first time the screen came down. It got a lot of laugh from the audience but I personally felt it was a bit of a letdown, not because of the execution which was impeccable but because it was a montage. I just feel that if you are going to have a concert about film music with a screen on stage you should play an unedited scene from the movie not a montage. Still it was quite enjoyable.

Then Martin Scorsese introduced the Music of Taxi Driver and this time was completely relaxed explaining how Bernard Hermann got involved with the project. He mentioned that originally Hermann did not want to compose the score because after learning what the title of the movie was he said he wasn’t composing music for movies about cabbies. He also told the story of how Hermann after finally reading the script was fascinated by Travis Bickle pouring Peach brandy on his cereals. Scorsese went on to explain that after finishing the editing of taxi Driver he felt that something was missing in the final scene when Travis look at Betsy in the rearview mirror and asked Hermann if he could come up with something, and the composer said “you need a sting”. Scorsese had no idea what he was talking about but said yes anyway. Ultimately Bernard Hermann came up with the sting and after putting it in the scene Scorsese went back to the composer and said “you know it’s OK but it’s not exactly that” and Hermann walked out on him saying “Then Play it backward!” which Scorsese did and it worked, unfortunately Hermann never saw the result, he died the next day.

The Selection from Taxi Driver was made of “Prelude/Night Prowl” and “Blues” with Albert Regni playing Alto Saxophone. Excellent performance.

The first part (bringing us to one hour already) concluded with “Prelude from North by Northwest” this was to me the weakest moment of the concert. This is by far my favorite Bernard Hermann composition and I can not understand why the screen came down for the second time and started playing random scenes from various Hitchcock movies (North by Northwest, The Birds, The Trouble with Harry, Rearview Window, the Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo,…) mixed with an assortment of photos from the director. I just thought it was incredibly distracting.

End of the first part.

Intermission.

(More later I promise but I gotta go to work)

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

how big was the crowd?

[DigitalfreakNYC 59]

I'd say it was to capacity (even though there were 3-4 seats behind me that were empty). I'm not sure how many seats Avery Fisher Hall holds.

[vincehardy 0]

2738 seats... good crowd.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Come to America!

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Tim

Can't we just say, "Hey, the door's open. We'll take whoever you got." Do we have to specify "The wretched refuse?" Why not just say, "Give us the unhappy, the sad, the slow, the ugly, the people that can't drive, people that have trouble merging, if they can't stay in their lane, if they don't signal, they can't parallel park, if they're sneezing, if they're stuffed up, if they have bad penmanship, if they don't return calls, if they have dandruff, food between their teeth, if they have bad credit, if they have no credit, missed a spot shaving..........In other words, any dysfunctional, defective slob that you can somehow cattle prod onto a wagon, send them over. We want them."

[DigitalfreakNYC 59]

Question:

does he ever do Superman any more? Has he stopped since Christopher passed away?

[tpigeon 3]

What a concert! The Scorsese half with the Herrman music was terrific, especially the sequence from Vertigo; spot-on perfection. The piece from Taxi Driver was incredible as well. Williams and the orchestra really captured the right sound for it.

The second half of the concert, as many have pointed out, really was like a dream. Spielberg was full of enthusiasm and the selection of pieces was perfect. Close Encounters was elegantly performed, especially the finale. I also loved how Williams silenced the pre-emptive audience. The Out to Sea/Shark Cage Fugue selection from Jaws was one of the most memorable pieces I've ever heard at a Williams concert. The Out to Sea section was a new arrangement that I especially liked, and the Shark Cage Fugue was the version from the OST which never appears in the movie, where it just keeps building, only Williams expanded on it even more with this arrangement. A truly magnificent piece of adventuruous music. I always think it's great when Williams will perform pieces like this, which may not be as popular as main themes, but are a treasure for his true fans.

The Last Crusade section was so entertaining, though I didn't like how Spielberg said exactly what Williams would do in some parts. I remember when Williams do something of the sort with Boston Pops a few years ago, he talked more about how the music needed to change direction here or there and talked about how he'd keep up with the action. I loved Spielberg's humorous asides about the film too. When it was playing without music and they were running from car to car, he said, "I'm bored. Are you?" And then I almost fell off my chair laughing when he explained the magic car, in how he sees the magic sign and then says, "Magic?" In just the perfect tone, Spielberg says, "I put that line in, you know, in case the audience can't read." He said with such a dry sarcasm, like a comedian almost, that I found hilarious.

Schindler's List was of course terrific. I still would like to hear something other than the main theme some day, perhaps I Could Have Done More or something like that. The soundtrack has so many more emotional variations of that theme, I don't know why he always plays the main theme. Anyway, seeing E.T. was when it set in for me, when I realized I was experiencing the same magic I did as a kid seeing the film, watching the film and the orchestra, seeing Williams conduct and Spielberg sitting next to him. It was a moment I will never forget.

Overall, this was the best Williams concert that I've ever been to. There was a great energy to most of the pieces and the commentaries from Scorsese and Spielberg added much to the show.

Ted

[nightscape94 965]

Come to America!

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Tim

Can't we just say, "Hey, the door's open. We'll take whoever you got." Do we have to specify "The wretched refuse?" Why not just say, "Give us the unhappy, the sad, the slow, the ugly, the people that can't drive, people that have trouble merging, if they can't stay in their lane, if they don't signal, they can't parallel park, if they're sneezing, if they're stuffed up, if they have bad penmanship, if they don't return calls, if they have dandruff, food between their teeth, if they have bad credit, if they have no credit, missed a spot shaving..........In other words, any dysfunctional, defective slob that you can somehow cattle prod onto a wagon, send them over. We want them."

Maybe it wouldn't fit on the plaque.

Tim

[DigitalfreakNYC 59]

The Out to Sea/Shark Cage Fugue selection from Jaws was one of the most memorable pieces I've ever heard at a Williams concert. The Out to Sea section was a new arrangement that I especially liked,

Nope.

It's exactly the same as it is on the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration CD.

[JWfangirl1992 18]

It was AMAZING!!! I loved it. It was absolutely amazing!!!! Did anyone else almost cry when they played E.T.??? If not then I feel retarded.

[nightscape94 965]

I believe DigitalfreakNYC already admitted he was a cry baby during that too

Tim

[shadowbox 0]

I was at the concert last night and as everyone else has said it was a great night.

I was a little surprised that Martin Scorsese didn't mention the "Tristan and Isolde" connection in the introduction for Vertigo. Hermann purposely adapted music from Wagner's opera, the story of which has parallels with the story of Vertigo. The performance of the music from Vertigo was one of the highlights of the night and certainly the high point of the first act.

I'm a huge Bernard Hermann fan, but I've never been a big fan of the score from Taxi Driver. It never seemed right for the move. Also, I wish they would have played either the prelude or finale from Citizen Kane instead of the Inquirer music.

What can be said about the second act? I was so thrilled to hear the music from Close Encounters. One of Williams' most complex and original scores. And to see the entire final scene from ET (I think uncut), was incredible.

Hearing the Main Theme from Star Wars was a great treat. But, while I'm a big fan of the NBC music (especially Meet the Press, which he did not play), it didn't really seem to fit the night's program. Nonetheless, it sounded great and was interesting how many people in the audience had no idea that he wrote it.

One of the things I love about John Williams--and just shows you what a great guy he is--he loves to please his audience. He really just loves to perform. You could tell he was thrilled by the crowds reaction to Star Wars, and he was very gracious to come out for several encores. Bravo!

[nightscape94 965]

I also found his antics quite amusing. After Star Wars, he came back out for what would be the third encore and started flexing right arm biceps muscle and said, "if you're all not too tired..." and then went into his NBC story. Then, after the fourth encore (the Berstein selection) he put his hands together and put his head down on them as if to motion "it's time for bed...", then left the stage for the final time.

Tim

[King Mark 3,631]

It was AMAZING!!! I loved it. It was absolutely amazing!!!! Did anyone else almost cry when they played E.T.??? If not then I feel retarded.

It's ok,any self respecting JWfan cries during the end of E.T.

k.M.

[nightscape94 965]

From my seat, I could see the TV monitor he was using, which would count down from 6 each time, before the films began. It was like a flat screen computer monitor. And he was still using that big, clunky, old-school clock, which sat by his right leg, so he could cue up the beats in correct sync.

Tim

[tpigeon 3]

The Out to Sea/Shark Cage Fugue selection from Jaws was one of the most memorable pieces I've ever heard at a Williams concert. The Out to Sea section was a new arrangement that I especially liked,

Nope.

It's exactly the same as it is on the Spielberg/Williams Collaboration CD.

I only have the Williams on Williams Pops CD, not the Spielberg/Williams collaboration. Though I may now purchase that CD since I love that arrangement.

Ted

[nightscape94 965]

Was anyone else on these boards waiting for Williams at the W. 65th street stage door?

Tim

[tpigeon 3]

Unfortunately, I was not. I had to catch my train so that I could be home at somewhat reasonable time. I would have liked to, though.

Ted

[jon614 0]

This was an AMAZING concert!!!! I LOVED every second of it! It was awesome to see John Williams and Steven Speilburg themselves on stage together!

[futuremartymcfly 0]

wow, sounds like a great night, makes all the bigger shame for me that Miami isn't exactly this genre's prime location, lol

[JWfangirl1992 18]

Was anyone else on these boards waiting for Williams at the W. 65th street stage door?

Tim

I was until my damn bus showed up, and my stupid mom wouldn't wait for the next one. Did he ever come out?

[jon614 0]

I'm also curious if anyone was able to meet him that night. I waited around for a little bit, but nothing was happening and I had to catch my train. When we left, we saw some limos waiting out front and they might have been for him, but I'm not sure.

[nightscape94 965]

I talked about this in my concert review post, but he ended up coming out through the parking garage that was right next to us. What none of us realized is that his car was parked right next to the underground entrance to Avery Fisher Hall, so he didn't have to come out of the stage door street exit. Meanwhile we were all standing there for like an hour in the wrong place LOL. We got word of this happening so we all rushed down the stairs to the garage but it didn't really matter because he didn't stop for more then 10 seconds to sign autographs. He basically got right into his car. One of his assistants said he had to go, so you were better of leaving when you did, it was kinda wasted time standing there that long. Technically, my fanboy heart was overjoyed with the fact that I was within 5 feet of the man, but I was saddened that I didn't get my E.T. and Jurassic Park inserts tagged

Tim

[JWfangirl1992 18]

I'm gonna kill someone if I dont get to meet him...