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Quartet La Jolla


tannhauser

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Cool, thanks!!

I hope this gets a proper recording. In fact, there have been quite a few new concert works in the absence of film scores over the last few years, and they should all be out!

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Lots of Williams trademarks too, like the woodwind flurries and the quick runs up and down the scale (sorry, I'm not a music expert). It was more accesible than I had expected, compared to some of his other works -- like the flute concerto or the sinfonietta for wind ensemble.

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Wonderful, one of his most interesting concert works to date!! As pointed out before, it's easy to hear John Williams in it. If you re familiar with JW's other classical works, this one is just like his film music, regarding instrumentation. I can even hear Tintin in it. Also I didn't know Cho Liang Lin was such an eloquent guy. He's a wonderful violinist, I grew up with his Mozart recordings actually.

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Well it's pretty cool to have this "free gift" of a Williams concert piece that will probably never be released on c.d,

Agreed!

As far as the concert works are concerned, my short list is now down to these only: his ancient student pieces (piano sonata, wind quintet), his symphony (which will never see the light of day, at least not in Williams' lifetime) and the recent oboe concerto, which I'm VERY curious about, as I love his woodwind writing.

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Didn't we hear some samples of his oboe concerto on Youtube? Or was it something else?

I like this quartet actually. It's amazing how full it sounds (given the size of the ensemble) and how many JW mannerisms you can find in it.

Karol

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Wonderful quartet! The string work reminds me a bit of his Essay for Strings, and that's fantastic because I love that piece in particular.

I wish Johnny could write in this style more often for film. Although I imagine most film-music fans would hate it :P

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Having been able to listen to this quite a number of times, I think this work is by far the best of Williams premieres in 2011, quickly followed by the gorgeous Oboe Concerto. As amazing as The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse are, they are no match for this two works, and Quartet La Jolla is simply put, a masterpiece. Some who pointed out about the likeness to some of his concerti, the harp one in particular, may like to know that the second movement, Aubade, was written as a preparation for On Willows and Birches, and is dedicated to former BSO harpist Ann Hobson Pilot.

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Didn't we hear some samples of his oboe concerto on Youtube? Or was it something else?

It's supposed to air on some Internet radio station but the website isn;t clear on when and nobody knows

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Didn't we hear some samples of his oboe concerto on Youtube? Or was it something else?

It's supposed to air on some Internet radio station but the website isn;t clear on when and nobody knows

Really? Well, I hope they will provide a heads-up when it does. Wouldn't wanna miss it.

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Having been able to listen to this quite a number of times, I think this work is by far the best of Williams premieres in 2011, quickly followed by the gorgeous Oboe Concerto. As amazing as The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse are, they are no match for this two works, and Quartet La Jolla is simply put, a masterpiece.

You really are biased towards his concert works. ;)

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Give me a studio recording of Soundings conducted by Williams himself and I'll be happy

It's my favorite, non celebratory fanfare Williams concert piece

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Having been able to listen to this quite a number of times, I think this work is by far the best of Williams premieres in 2011, quickly followed by the gorgeous Oboe Concerto. As amazing as The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse are, they are no match for this two works, and Quartet La Jolla is simply put, a masterpiece.

You really are biased towards his concert works. ;)

After all, is were you can really hear his inner voice. He's writing what he really wants, not having to follow the imagination of film directors.

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It just appears to be missing the embedded video/player. Maybe they took it down. If you click on any of the other artist links under Recent Episodes on that page, it has the same exact layout except there is a player there, and the rest of the graphics are pushed down a bit.

EDIT: By the way, I encourage you all to do a search for John Williams name on that site, there are some great one-on-one interviews with him by Brian Bell.

Like this one: http://www.wgbh.org/programs/Backstage-With-Brian-Bell-268/episodes/Conductor-John-Williams-4893

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Having been able to listen to this quite a number of times, I think this work is by far the best of Williams premieres in 2011, quickly followed by the gorgeous Oboe Concerto. As amazing as The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse are, they are no match for this two works, and Quartet La Jolla is simply put, a masterpiece. Some who pointed out about the likeness to some of his concerti, the harp one in particular, may like to know that the second movement, Aubade, was written as a preparation for On Willows and Birches, and is dedicated to former BSO harpist Ann Hobson Pilot.

Miguel, do you have the exact titles of the five movements?

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Having been able to listen to this quite a number of times, I think this work is by far the best of Williams premieres in 2011, quickly followed by the gorgeous Oboe Concerto. As amazing as The Adventures of Tintin and War Horse are, they are no match for this two works, and Quartet La Jolla is simply put, a masterpiece. Some who pointed out about the likeness to some of his concerti, the harp one in particular, may like to know that the second movement, Aubade, was written as a preparation for On Willows and Birches, and is dedicated to former BSO harpist Ann Hobson Pilot.

Miguel, do you have the exact titles of the five movements?

The Movements are:

1st: Introduction

2nd: Aubade

3rd: Scherzo

4th: Cantando

5th. Finale

Actually a bit of googling sent me on the site of La Jolla Music Society where I found the programme notes of the piece:

http://www.ljms.org/...-Premieres.html :)

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Give me a studio recording of Soundings conducted by Williams himself and I'll be happy

It's my favorite, non celebratory fanfare Williams concert piece

Yes, that's a cool piece.

Karol

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Nope,that was a one time deal . At least we have Song for World Peace

And I count it in the Williams "Celebratory Fanfares" section

For which we are missing good recordings of :

Celebration Fanfare

Tributes( the radio broadcast is ok-ish)

Were Looking Good

Variations on Happy birthday

Esplanade Overture

And the 2 unreleased ones, Fanfare for Ten Year Old and Fanfare for Michael Dukakis

And other various Williams pieces we need in good quality:

NBC NEWS:

Rodeo Theme

Fugue for the Changing Times

Scherzo for Today

Botanicus Theme

Great Performances

Marion's theme updated

Irina's theme updated

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Williams reworked the Song for World Piece and premiered the revised version with the Chicago Symphony in the same concerts were the Suite for Cello and Orchestra from Memoirs of a Geisha was recorded. The revised version was recorded as well, and will hopefully be released some time soon...

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Let's hope so.

I wonder why a full live concert conducted by JW has never been released on CD or DVD... I guess it would sell like gangbusters. It's strange Sony never took the occasion, especially considering there's already a vast repertoire of JW performances recorded.

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It would be indeed great to hear the reworking of Song for World Peace to hear what kind of revisions Williams made to the piece. I think the performance we have on the Call of the Champions CD is wonderful, lyrical and even at its grandest carries a great gentleness and humanity. And of course hearing the original in good quality would be brilliant.

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Speaking of Call of the champions. The recording on the c.d. is terrible

Well it really lacks the resounding quality you would think a full symphony orchestra and a choir of 350 people should have. I think the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra have recorded the piece for one of their albums and the choir sounds much stronger and powerful there. On the other hand the orchestra is weaker in that performance.

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They should have used only 30 singers for that album. DOTF had that and it was enough.

Karol

Yes, perhaps the symphony hall where recording took place would have magnified their voice into 350. Yeah. That must be it. It was a backwards effect for a large group and the acoustics there.

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Williams seems to be sneakily recording his works but hoards the performances and never releases them. Curious. Perhaps a suitable opporturnity hasn't presented itself.

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