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"Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra" - new Williams concert work debuting July 1 2014


lester1231

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Wow this is complete news to me! I am glad to know there is yet another new Williams concert hall piece in the works! Hopefully we get more information on this soon! :)

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The concert is on July 1, so hopefully there'll be more details. Excited^^. And I guess it's safe to assume Williams has finished writing it.

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Awesome! Maybe this was what the countdown was about?

Since the countdown ends on the 20th of June it most likely won't have anything to do with this piece.

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Pieces like this and that for the brass ensemble make me glad that Williams has semi-retired from movie-scoring and has the time to do them.

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Interesting. They misspelled 他同时也是.

Anyway . . . I've been wondering what he's been doing with his time. If this is it, then I'm thrilled. I'd love to see him put together a few more concertos.

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Here's my translation of the Chinese text, based on a raw translation made with Google Translate:

John Williams, an American composer who has written scores for films like STAR WARS, SCHINDLER'S LIST and [the first three] HARRY POTTER [films], is also a composer of classical music. He has written a scherzo for concert piano and orchestra specificially for this concert, featuring Lang Lang as a piano soloist.

--------------------------------------------

Nothing new, really, as you can read.

Apparently, the highest priced ticket costs 880 yuan (approximately $141), whereas the lowest priced one amounts to 50 yuan (about $8).

According to statistics [data from the orchestra itself as stated earlier in the text, I presume], a quarter of all ticket orders was submitted for the ones priced at 100 yuan [about $16].

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Interesting. They misspelled 他同时也是.

What do you mean? I know it's easy to write 同事 instead of 同时, I misspell it all the time when writing on a keyboard, but this is not the case. The sentence is correct.

I've been looking for more information on the Scherzo, but this press release seems to be the only piece of info on the different media outlets. It looks legit though.

The China Philharmonic hasn't updated their website yet, so we'll have to wait patiently for further news.

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Interesting. They misspelled 他同时也是.

What do you mean? I know it's easy to write 同事 instead of 同时, I misspell it all the time when writing on a keyboard, but this is not the case. The sentence is correct.

I've been looking for more information on the Scherzo, but this press release seems to be the only piece of info on the different media outlets. It looks legit though.

The China Philharmonic hasn't updated their website yet, so we'll have to wait patiently for further news.

Your Chinese looked so great. (Y)

No problem with the Google translation of "同时", it means "also" or "at the same time".

But I'm still interested in the his first cooperation with Chinses musican, as I know, he write a piece for Seiji, is there any other works he writes espcailly for the international musican?

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I've been looking for more information on the Scherzo, but this press release seems to be the only piece of info on the different media outlets. It looks legit though.

The China Philharmonic hasn't updated their website yet, so we'll have to wait patiently for further news.

I too am trying to gather more info about it, but there is nothing more so far.

FYI, Lang Lang posted just yesterday on his FB page an update of his upcoming concert dates, but there is no mention of this concert in Beijing on July 1.

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Interesting. They misspelled 他同时也是.

What do you mean? I know it's easy to write 同事 instead of 同时, I misspell it all the time when writing on a keyboard, but this is not the case. The sentence is correct.

Well, of course, that all depends on whether you favor the British spelling or not. . . .

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Interesting. They misspelled 他同时也是.

What do you mean? I know it's easy to write 同事 instead of 同时, I misspell it all the time when writing on a keyboard, but this is not the case. The sentence is correct.

I've been looking for more information on the Scherzo, but this press release seems to be the only piece of info on the different media outlets. It looks legit though.

The China Philharmonic hasn't updated their website yet, so we'll have to wait patiently for further news.

Your Chinese looked so great. (Y)

No problem with the Google translation of "同时", it means "also" or "at the same time".

But I'm still interested in the his first cooperation with Chinses musican, as I know, he write a piece for Seiji, is there any other works he writes espcailly for the international musican?

He wrote the oboe concerto for BSO principal oboist Wakao Keisuke (若尾圭介). Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas has premiered and championed Rounds for solo guitar, but the piece was originally written for Christopher Parkening. Quartet La Jolla is dedicated to Taiwanese-American violinist Lin Cho-Liang (林昭亮).我希望这个信息就够了。 :)

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I still think how cool it would have been if Williams had written the "Rounds" piece for the "other" John Williams.

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I still think how cool it would have been if Williams had written the "Rounds" piece for the "other" John Williams.

:lol: It sure would have been.

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He wrote the oboe concerto for BSO principal oboist Wakao Keisuke (若尾圭介). Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas has premiered and championed Rounds for solo guitar, but the piece was originally written for Christopher Parkening. Quartet La Jolla is dedicated to Taiwanese-American violinist Lin Cho-Liang (林昭亮).我希望这个信息就够了。 :)

Wow, thank you so much, never heard the last two before.

BTW "我希望这个信息就够了。" is not the regular way to express in Chinese, you can say, "我希望这些信息能够帮助到你" :yes:

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He wrote the oboe concerto for BSO principal oboist Wakao Keisuke (若尾圭介). Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas has premiered and championed Rounds for solo guitar, but the piece was originally written for Christopher Parkening. Quartet La Jolla is dedicated to Taiwanese-American violinist Lin Cho-Liang (林昭亮).我希望这个信息就够了。 :)

Wow, thank you so much, never heard the last two before.

BTW "我希望这个信息就够了。" is not the regular way to express in Chinese, you can say, "我希望这些信息能够帮助到你" :yes:

:up: 谢谢,lester!活到老, 学到老。 :nod:

You can access the Rounds video here, and the Quartet La Jolla here. If you can't watch them from China please let us know. These two particular works are among my favorite JW pieces.

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Wow, this was officially confirmed a week ago and I just found it now!

A new work, "Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra", by American composer/conductor, John Williams, will be debuted at "Long Yu and Friends" on July 1 in Beijing and performed by Lang Lang and the China Philharmonic Orchestra.

https://www.facebook.com/maestrolongyu/photos/a.647911098610784.1073741829.642017702533457/664842010251026/?type=1

12 days until it debuts!

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This is phenomenal. The Maestro has written a lot of concert pieces this year. I am excited to hear "Conversations," "Music for Brass," and now this news comes up. This is awesome!

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I don't know if I'm the only one here but I'm anticipating this much much more than the 7th Star Wars score.

I wouldn't go quite that far myself, but I'm very pleased with all these smaller and longer concert pieces coming out with regular intervals. I'm just worried that they won't be recorded.

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Yea it's a shame JW doesn't seem interested in making special CDs of his music any more. Stuff like Williams on Williams, The Spielberg Williams Collaboration, the Star Wars trilogy album, etc where cool stuff. And he's written soooooo many concert arrangements and concert-only pieces since those days he could produce so many interesting CDs with all the new material!

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I don't know, he hasn't put out that type of compilation since he left the Boston Pops in '95 (Williams on Williams). Seems like the investment isn't quite there anymore.

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I don't know, he hasn't put out that type of compilation since he left the Boston Pops in '95 (Williams on Williams). Seems like the investment isn't quite there anymore.

Don't forget the AMERICAN JOURNEY album, which is a must-have. I believe that was the last time Williams recorded a Williams-centered compilation he supervised, produced and conducted himself.

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I wouldn't say he is not interested, just that his schedule is pretty busy.

Or perhaps the decline of the CD, and especially studio recorded orchestral music, industry just means that there's not much funding for those kinds of projects these days?

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I don't know, he hasn't put out that type of compilation since he left the Boston Pops in '95 (Williams on Williams). Seems like the investment isn't quite there anymore.

Don't forget the AMERICAN JOURNEY album, which is a must-have. I believe that was the last time Williams recorded a Williams-centered compilation he supervised, produced and conducted himself.

I was referring specifically to film score related compilations.

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As Marian pointed out, studio-recorded orchestral music is quite expensive to produce nowadays and all the major classical-based record labels (DG, Sony Classical, EMI) seem to have given up releasing new studio albums of symphonic music, reverting new releases mostly to live recordings (usually tied with a DVD/BD) or repackaging of old archive recordings. It looks like the returns of this niche market hit an all-time low in the last 5-6 years.

The only label constantly churning out new studio recordings appears to be Naxos, but that's because they record mostly in Eastern Europe (where orchestra fees are a lot cheaper than US, UK or Central Europe) or other emerging market countries.

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That's too bad. I just wish for a last Williams compilations of the stuff he wrote for Spielberg movies since The Lost World

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The only label constantly churning out new studio recordings appears to be Naxos, but that's because they record mostly in Eastern Europe (where orchestra fees are a lot cheaper than US, UK or Central Europe) or other emerging market countries.

They do recordings all over the world, actually. I think that the "Eastern Europe" thing was mostly on their early days. But in all honesty, I never checked if the majority of their recordings is still made in Eastern Europe countries.

The problem with the big labels is that they go just for the sure hits. You see new releases from Sony and DGG and the likes every month, but they are from a) some hot and sexy new soloist or conductor, b) well established repertoire that they know is a good seller and c) a top musician (again soloist or conductor) that as proved time and again to sell big.

Dudamel has new discs out all the time, but when was the last time he did one without the usual pieces that have been over recorded at this point?

Besides Naxos and some other smaller labels, the best place to find some great new recordings is on the orchestra's own labels (the new Berliner Philharmonic label as been getting a lot of praise, and the BSO Classics label as soon as starter was receiving awards right away) or through live broadcasts.

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The only label constantly churning out new studio recordings appears to be Naxos, but that's because they record mostly in Eastern Europe (where orchestra fees are a lot cheaper than US, UK or Central Europe) or other emerging market countries.

They do recordings all over the world, actually. I think that the "Eastern Europe" thing was mostly on their early days. But in all honesty, I never checked if the majority of their recordings is still made in Eastern Europe countries.

The problem with the big labels is that they go just for the sure hits. You see new releases from Sony and DGG and the likes every month, but they are from a) some hot and sexy new soloist or conductor, b) well established repertoire that they know is a good seller and c) a top musician (again soloist or conductor) that as proved time and again to sell big.

Dudamel has new discs out all the time, but when was the last time he did one without the usual pieces that have been over recorded at this point?

Besides Naxos and some other smaller labels, the best place to find some great new recordings is on the orchestra's own labels (the new Berliner Philharmonic label as been getting a lot of praise, and the BSO Classics label as soon as starter was receiving awards right away) or through live broadcasts.

Very well said. A few years back DG was doing very good work with the NY and LA Philharmonics, the Philharmonia, etc., releasing a large amount of live concert recordings with pleasingly varied/unique programs. That's slowed down too recently.

Naxos should be commended for giving so much attention to the less commonly explored parts of the repertoire, as well as new music. If anyone were going to do a comprehensive recording of Williams' concert music, it would probably be them.

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One should mention BIS here, an exceptional recording Company that is producing a Lot of high quality classical Studio recordings, of familiar and unusual Repertoire. The new ones are all hirez SACDs and Downloads. They Even have Great recordings of Williams, the Tuba concerto and the Saxophone pieces of catch me if you can, which I bought for a few bucks on eclassical.com.

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One should mention BIS here, an exceptional recording Company that is producing a Lot of high quality classical Studio recordings, of familiar and unusual Repertoire. The new ones are all hirez SACDs and Downloads. They Even have Great recordings of Williams, the Tuba concerto and the Saxophone pieces of catch me if you can, which I bought for a few bucks on eclassical.com.

I have both CDs of those releases. I hope Naxos would do studio recordings of JWs works. As much as I appreciate their efforts to get his concert works recorded and released my personal preference is not to have audience noise and coughs and throat clearing on my recordings. Nothing quite ruins an oboe solo like a cough in the middle of it. I am looking at you Naxos recording of the Horn Concerto! ;)

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One should mention BIS here, an exceptional recording Company that is producing a Lot of high quality classical Studio recordings, of familiar and unusual Repertoire. The new ones are all hirez SACDs and Downloads. They Even have Great recordings of Williams, the Tuba concerto and the Saxophone pieces of catch me if you can, which I bought for a few bucks on eclassical.com.

Yes, Bis is among the best labels around. And their recording of the Williams Tuba Concerto is the best one commercially available.

One should mention BIS here, an exceptional recording Company that is producing a Lot of high quality classical Studio recordings, of familiar and unusual Repertoire. The new ones are all hirez SACDs and Downloads. They Even have Great recordings of Williams, the Tuba concerto and the Saxophone pieces of catch me if you can, which I bought for a few bucks on eclassical.com.

I have both CDs of those releases. I hope Naxos would do studio recordings of JWs works. As much as I appreciate their efforts to get his concert works recorded and released my personal preference is not to have audience noise and coughs and throat clearing on my recordings. Nothing quite ruins an oboe solo like a cough in the middle of it. I am looking at you Naxos recording of the Horn Concerto! ;)

I would be happy if they release all of them in CD instead of digital downloads. And while someone coughing during a solo is terribly frustrating, I still prefer live to studio recordings -- there is a kind of energy on a live recording that I find absent on studio recordings.

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The press release mentions that Lang Lang is the featured pianist for the piece. He has a high profile and records frequently. Hopefully he will record and release a performance of the piece.

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After the debut yesterday, John Williams' "Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra" will be performed again on July 4 in Shanghai as part of the opening concert of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra's "Music in the Summer Air" festival (China's equivalent of the BBC Proms).

The concert is the same programme performed yesterday in Beijing and will be again conducted by Long Yu, but the soloist will be Chinese pianist Li Jian:

http://www.misa.org.cn/WebSite/SummerMisa/2014/en/ConcertInfo.aspx?ID=010201405200556140001

Williams' piece is a commission of the MISA festival.

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according to classicalcandor.BlogSpot.com, parts of the program will be performed and broadcasted at the BBC Proms July 19th. Hopefully the Scherzo will be part of the program.

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Thank you for the pics!

Do you know if there's any chance the July 4 concert will be broadcasted on local radio and/or TV?

the opening concert won't be broadcasted in the past years, I think the situation is same with this year.

BTW who can help upload the video of Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra to youtube? I can't visit because of the GFW.

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It's a freaky piece. I'm not sure if I like it or not. I wonder if Williams writes his concert pieces to sound as far away from his film music on purpose

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