A must have for all Williams fans

[indy4 155]

I just listened to The Denver Brass' recording of Williams music, and it is absolutely phenomenal! The DB took some liberties with Williams' original material. For instance, 5 of the 6 Star Wars pieces start with a unique variation of Yoda's Theme (in an admitted reference to the structure of "Pictures at an Exhibition"). Obviously the arrangements of the pieces are different, as all of the selections require woodwinds and strings. Imagine hearing an all brass version of "Window to the Past," or "Cantina Band," or "Marion's Theme." It's a wonderfully new way to listen to Williams music, it is much more than just another compilation. It includes a piece of Williams music that is not available anywhere else ("Winter Games Fanfare"), and while it is great, the CD would still easily be worth twice its price without the new material. I'm surprised at how unknown this CD seems to be. I especially recommend it to fans of Marc's wonderful JW Horn Tributes. So the first part of this thread is just to draw attention to this wonderful and forgotten gem of a CD.

This CD got me thinking of other unique arrangements of Williams music. I thought of Meco's "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk," "ESB Medley," "The Asteroid Field/Finale," and "Raiders March." The 12 Cellists of The Berlin Philharmonic have an album title As Time Goes By that features all string versions of "Catch Me If You Can" and "I Could Have Done More" (in addition to the only available recording of "Family Portrait," as Datameister pointed out). Williams on Williams, John Williams: Greatest Hits, and The Spielberg/Williams Collection all include pieces of music that are expanded beyond their previous film or concert versions. Any other good ones?

[Incanus 5,734]

First thing that comes to mind is Keisuke Wakao Plays Music of John Williams: A wonderful album of arrangements of Williams most famous melodies for oboe, piano, harp and a string quartet. I think all the performers are part of the BSO, including the harpist Ann Hobson Pilot for whom Williams' Harp Concerto was written. Williams himself plays piano on the last track (which he has also arranged for oboe and piano) of the disc, The Days Between from Stepmom, which came out at that time. Wonderful performances and great orchestrations that really capture the flavour of the original pieces but give a new spin to them.

A CD called American Spectrum has the Escapades suite from Catch Me If You Can with Branford Marsalis on alto saxophone that is a great interpretation of 3 pieces from that score.

Mezzo soprano Katherine Jenkins has recorded Hymn to the Fallen from Saving Private Ryan that can be found on an album that was released under the name USA as "La Diva" and in the UK as "Second Nature".

Enguerrand-Friedrich Lühl released an interesting CD (Titled simply John Williams) in 2003 with piano interpretations of Williams themes. Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra is particularly impressive played on grand piano.

[indy4 155]

I'm listening to samples for some of these, and they sound great! I'll have to put these on my "To Buy List," though unfortunately I doubt I'll get around to it anytime soon. Thanks for the suggestions!

Is Enguerrand-Friedrich Lühl's CD available only as a digital download? I can't seem to find Keisuke Wakao Plays Music of John Williams anywhere (at least not legally).

[King Mark 3,631]

A lot of us bought Denver Brass to get Winter Games Fanfare

But overall it's a pretty good album

[Joe Brausam 216]

There is an album by the Folden Brass Band called John Williams: Epic Themes that contains recordings of Born on the Fourth of July, The Phantom Menace, Luke and Leia, ET, and others. All in the British brass band style, all unique arrangements. It's a nice album and I also own the sheet music for their Born on the Fourth of July arrangement!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,493]

Pops Britannia (conducted by Williams) features three marvelous pieces from Jane Eyre, expanded from album versions. Performance is top-notch. Couldn't recommend it more.

[indy4 155]

Wow...these all sound great! I've got at least 4 more albums to add to my To Buy List.

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

Yeah, I bought this one for the Winter Games Fanfare. Haven't listened to the rest of the album in a long time, though. Gonna give it another play right now though!

[Mark_73 0]

Wow...these all sound great! I've got at least 4 more albums to add to my To Buy List.

This is the Jane Eyre Suite:

[Incanus 5,734]

The Jane Eyre suite is truly wonderful. And if memory serves correctly the suite was reorchestrated by Williams by ear alone as the original parts of the score had been destroyed like so many others as the studio insurance people thought they were a fire hazard or some such. Williams himself says in a Boston Globe interview with Richard Dyer:

Another prominent presence in Williams' living room is a long row of leatherbound pencil sketches and scores for most of the films he has composed; it stretches all the way across one wall. "It's been a working life," Williams says, without exaggeration. "Even though the point is speed, writing music for films is a very time-consuming thing. I sometimes think to succeed it's just as important to be strong as it is to be good. It's a lot to turn out 10 to 15 minutes of music for full orchestra every week."

Williams acknowledges, "There's even more music upstairs, spilling out of filing cabinets, but even so I don't have all of it -- the early stuff is probably better off lost. It's probably immodest of me to save all of this, but always in my ear, I hear the voice of my colleague and friend Bernard Herrmann, who wrote so many great scores for Hitchcock, and he said, 'Keep your music. You can't trust anyone else to.' And as usual, Benny was right.

"Did you know that the whole great MGM music library is gone? Sometime in the '70s, an insurance inspector came along and wondered what all that dangerous-looking yellow molding paper stuff was doing lying around, and it was destroyed -- not only the orchestral scores like 'Dr. Zhivago' but also the great musicals. The only way they are preserved is on the sound tracks, and if you want to perform those arrangements, you have to listen to them and write them down. I had to do that myself when I wanted to pull out my music for 'Jane Eyre' for the Pops. It had been burned, so I just sat right here with the record and listened to it over and over and copied it by ear. Even last year when I wanted to do the fugue from 'Jaws,' I had to reconstruct it. So there's a point to keeping all of this."

The full article can be found here

The three movements correspond more or less with the soundtrack tracks as follows:

At Lowood = Restoration

To Thornfield= To Thornfield but the suite performance is nearly twice as long.

The Return = Reunion not note for note transcription but more of a new arragement of the Jane Eyre Theme.

[Mark_73 0]

Oh my god! That must have been so annoying for him! I can't beliefe that things like that could happen. Thanks for posting this information because I did'nt know about these facts

at all...

[indy4 155]

Yes, that was very interesting!

[Omen II 1,236]

I recommend Lalo Schifrin's disco / funk arrangement of Jaws from his 1976 album Black Widow. The CD is still widely available and there are some other fine tracks on it, although you need to be in a disco mood!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Meg9cjGgU

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,493]

Well there's a really good 11-minute suite from Hook by the U.S. Army Field Band from a CD called In Concert. I could never find the actual CD but it's available on iTunes or Amazon MP3.

[ChuckM 1]

Movie Brass by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band is fantastic! I love every arrangement, four of which are of Williams pieces.

http://www.amazon.com/Movie-Brass-Grimethorpe-Colliery-Band/dp/B00005Q32P

[Thor 7,658]

I bought this for the winter games thingie too, but find that it's a fine album now and then, when you want to hear the all-too-familiar themes in a slightly different dress. Don't play it very often, but once in a while.

[Miguel Andrade 1,273]

The Keisuke Wakao CD can be found at Ark Square, a japanese store. I got my copies from there, and the service was fast and reliable. Only Wakao and Pilot (and I guess, Williams) come from the BSO ranks, the remaining are a string quartet made of Japanese musicians. Wonderful album and highly recomended.

The Denver Brass album is a must as well, not only for the Winter Games Fanfare, of which I'm told uses the exact Williams orchestration, but also for some great presentations for winds of some of Williams most well known -- and some less well known -- pieces. I feel previliged to have been in touch with one of the members of that amazing brass group and have had the chance to discuss with her some of this performances.

At youtube, Philip Sear has been posting some of his performances on piano of some Williams music, and is quite impressive.

[Jay 37,522]

I think I'm gonna have to order this Denver Brass CD you all keep talking about. Found a new copy for $10.19 on amazon.

[fommes 154]

Good to hear from you, Miguel!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,493]

Wow, I'm so excited to have found that Wakao CD. Thanks a million!

[TownerFan 4,991]

At youtube, Philip Sear has been posting some of his performances on piano of some Williams music, and is quite impressive.

Yes, he's quite skilled. He even performed the super-rare "Fanfare for Ten-Year-Olds":

[King Mark 3,631]

First time I hear this in any shape or form. I hear a bit of inspiration from "Out to Sea"

[Luke Skywalker 1,810]

Another Williams unreleased piece heard at last

The name of the piece really bugs me. It sounds 'illegal' coming from an old man

[Naïve Old Fart 9,727]

I recommend Lalo Schifrin's disco / funk arrangement of Jaws from his 1976 album Black Widow. The CD is still widely available and there are some other fine tracks on it, although you need to be in a disco mood!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Meg9cjGgU

A fine record, is "Black Widow", and so is the underrated "Towering Toccata". Yep, I've got my listening for this evening sorted...along with "Rollercoaster".

[Jacob 0]

First time I hear this in any shape or form.

First time I've even heard of it. What a fun little piece.

Anyone know it's history?

I hear a bit of inspiration from "Out to Sea"

That's it. I was thinking "Hook... no... Empire of the Sun... no..." and then I read your comment.

Definitely a little of that melody there.

[King Mark 3,631]

Here's what it's for. I don't think it was composed for 10 year old kids

1988 - Fanfare for Ten-Years-Old

Composed in 1988 in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Young Charleston Theater Company

Unreleased

[Jacob 0]

Ah, "Fanfare for Ten-Years-Old" not "Ten-Year-Olds".

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,493]

Sounds a bit Out to Sea and even a little Cantina Band at points.

On topic, I highly recommend Erich Kunzel recordings.

[King Mark 3,631]

I can't really get a good idea of what it's supposed to sound like with a piano performance though

someone should make an orchestral mock up of it

[airmanjerm 78]

Arrangements are a great way to bring Williams' music into concerts, and much of his music lends itself to brass groups. To be honest, I got my own start doing this...the first time I ever wrote anything musically was an arrangement of "The Olympic Spirit" for an all-brass group when I was a freshman in college. We played it, even though it wasn't the best arrangement ever, but it was so rewarding that I did more and more. In addition to non-Williams tunes, I ended up doing a bunch of them to learn orchestration. There was the Raiders March, Duel of the Fates, Revisiting Normandy and Saving Private Ryan (with choir, which was used several times at the National Trumpet Competition), two themes from Superman, and even Summon the Heroes. I was especially excited that for the Saving Private Ryan tunes, Tim Morrison was the guest trumpet player that year at the National Trumpet Comp and played the solo trumpet parts in the arrangements. (No pressure! lol)

Some of it was successful, some of it wasn't quite as great. Of course none of this is published, but it was terribly fun. If I can find some recordings I'll try to post a link.