John Williams

Is anyone else really sick of Hook? I know it's great, and I loved it for a while but I find it a tad overrated. I'm also starting to find ESB the same (but conversely my appreciation for the original Star Wars continues to climb).
Anyways, yeah, Williams fan here. Been one since as long as I can remember, but I started collecting back when I was 11 and Harry Potter came out. Great score. Not so good sequel though (actually, a terrible sequel, both film and score - Fawkes' theme is overrated). But enough overratedness. Give me "For Gillian" and "Epilogue" from The Fury any day. My current absolute favourite tracks.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Not really. It's certainly the highlight of SPR, but it's nothing special, even if it does beat half of the stuff coming out of everyone else. It also reminds me of "Cadilac of the Skies". Must be the fact I get sick of the choir.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Excellent, excellent news. The Witches of Eastwick, one of Williams' best and rarest scores, is being re-issued by "Collector's Choice". This score for me is what Hook is to a lot of people, and does sound like a precursor to that score (having been written close to the same time as Williams started writing the original musical version of Peter Pan, which ended up as Hook) which is evident in the "Dance of the Witches". I also happen to think everyone should experience "The Balloon Sequence" once in their lifetime.

I is very happy.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I actually think a rerecording is in the works, LeHah, from Silva Screen Records. Whether it's better than the trilogy rerecording remains to be seen - I for one am hopeful, as I was disappointed in that album. But maybe I just don't like the Prague Philharmonic.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by LeHah

First off, for reasons beyond me, film score people are idiot snobs that turn their noses up at rerecordings. I personally love some of the Telarc and Silva Screen CDs but a lot of people wave their arms and scream that if its not the original recording, its flawed somehow.

Also, attempts to 'fill the gaps' with new transcription end up very badly. Silva did this for their Conan The Barbarian suite and its a godawful mess.

I can only comment on the Sliva "Indy" compilation as that's the only full rerecorded album I own, but it's a mix of both worlds for me. Some parts are transcribed horridly, such as the "Medallion" theme in "Ark Trek" which is missing notes and has wrong harmonisation, resulting in the effect of the orchestra skipping over notes because they were hard (which I know is not the case, but it's still there after eharing the original). On the other hand, I think the rerecording of the End Credits suite from ToD is rich and wonderful, particularly the Love Theme (which, in my opinion, is up with "Balloon Sequence" as best love theme ever). It's slower than the original recording, but I think it works much better.

I think most of the time it's not just the fact it's a rerecording that annoys people. It's when there are blatantly wrong notes, terrible acoustics (which apparetnyl plague Prague recordings) and other issues in addition to questionable interpretations (which in itself isn't really a problem as that's the idea of interpretation). Charles Gerhardt's rerecording of ESB is one example of a brilliant rerecording, one which some argue is superior to the original but of course which others would consider blasphemy.

Originally Posted by Minion"

Couldn't a computer basically do all the work for you? Just take the sound track from the movie, minus human voices and translate the wave form into a midi/sheet music?

The technology that exists to do so is too sensitive; natural sounds and effects in a proper recording such as reverb, breathing, page turning/chair creaking and general noise don't transcribe at all well, resulting in blobs of notes all over the place. And that raises an important issue that I believe will soon confront the film and classical mediums of music - using technology to make things "easier". I'm not about to say I disrespect Danny Elfman for not arranging or orchestrating or doing anything else to his own music beyond humming it into a tape recorder, nor praising Howard Shore simply because his LotR opus was written, orchestrated and conducted himself. But is it really a good idea for such technology to be used in the mainstream orchestral industry? Sure, people complain that human transcriptions are flawed and don't sound right, but I'd take that over a robot's interpretations of something as sensitive as music. I know you weren't suggesting it for anything more than for lost sheet music/masters, but if and when the technology is developed I doubt it will stop there.

And just to add a little bit more on the subject of lost tapes/music and ToD, the masters are apparently nowhere and I don't know if someone holds the orginal scores. Williams certainly doesn't keep most of his music except for his initial sketches (i.e. before it's sent off to be professionally printed for the orchestra).

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Lehah

They also did a fantastic version of "Dance Of The Witches" from Witches Of Eastwick that puts a gigantic over-emphasis on the tuba/bass trombone "answer" (enough to crack speakers) and they also did a powerful cover of "Never Surrender" from First Knight.

Ah yes, I believe that was the first recording I'd ever heard of that particular track. While the original recording has its charms - like the funny synth instruments and the sliding string ending - I do enjoy a bold, ear-splitting performance as much as the next person. It also helps that it's a particularly wonderfully orchestrated piece, even for Williams.

I'm interested in hearing First Knight though, I'm unfamiliar with the score outside of the film though I have seen it countless times.
I'd also like to hear Talgorn's "Duel Of The Fates"; I'll keep an eye out for it, and I'm hopeful about the ToD conductor's score too.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?