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Angela's Ashes concert suite available on BSO.org


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The live recording done in 2000 at Tanglewood is available!

WILLIAMS: MUSIC FROM ANGELA'S ASHES

DURATION: 20:00

Koussevitzky Music Shed, August 5, 2000

Boston Pops Orchestra

John Williams, conductor

Frank McCourt, narrator

Martha Babcock, cello

Ann Hobson Pilot, harp

Free Stream will be available until July 24, 2012 8:30 AM

Available for purchase starting July 24, 2012 8:30 AM

http://www.bso.org/b...=twd75downloads

Check out Richard Dyer's insightful liner notes as well.

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Thank you for the heads up Maurizio! :)

Once again I was reminded how profoundly beautiful this music is. Simply gorgeous. And Martha Babcock's cello solos are just about as soulful as they come.

Dyer makes one small mistake in the otherwise excellent liner notes. McCourt did not himself perform the narration on the soundtrack CD but that was rather an actor called Andrew Bennet. Funny how Dyer makes special point that fans did not like the narration on the CD. :P

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I only listen to the CD with narration.

Also, there was another mistake, in the short review quote, as the cello solos weren't written for Yo-Yo Ma. On the original recording they were performed by Steve Erdody. Ma only played the solos on the Symphony Hall premiere of the suite, also with McCourt narrating.

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I only listen to the CD with narration.

Also, there was another mistake, in the short review quote, as the cello solos weren't written for Yo-Yo Ma. On the original recording they were performed by Steve Erdody. Ma only played the solos on the Symphony Hall premiere of the suite, also with McCourt narrating.

Well the review might refer to that first concert since not all this cello material was originally written for the instrument in the film score and Williams specifically adapted it for cello. Ma if I have understood correctly performed this suite first.
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I agree, I think the album is great with the narration. It works. I own both the versions with and without narration, and I find myself gong back more to the narrated album.

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I prefer the music as pure music and only own the Decca European release of the score but I have to admit that the suite with Mr. McCourt's narration is superbly dramatic and emotional combination.

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I too find the narration to flow perfectly with the music, and yes, it flows that well, because that's how Williams intended it to flow.

Nevertheless, I do have a particular appreciation for both the music and the book (one of my favorite Williams' compositions and my favorite book), so to have them combined in a single work of art is a great treat, at least for myself.

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It flows very well with the narration. Just like the Reivers suite is wonderful with Burgess Meredith's voice

I want that one but can't buy it, since it doesn't have a download from iTunes due to it's length; and can't download from Amazon because I'm outside the continental USA (Mexico). I posted at the marketplace help for downloading it and of course paying for it with pay pal, but no answer :(

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It flows very well with the narration. Just like the Reivers suite is wonderful with Burgess Meredith's voice

I want that one but can't buy it, since it doesn't have a download from iTunes due to it's length; and can't download from Amazon because I'm outside the continental USA (Mexico). I posted at the marketplace help for downloading it and of course paying for it with pay pal, but no answer :(

It's same for me! :-(

I tried to buy it but it's impossible from France.....

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I had no problem during the purchase process (I'm from Italy).

FYI, the file is NOT available on iTunes or Amazon, it's exclusive to the BSO.org digital store. You have to set up an account over there and only then you can purchase the item.

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I had no problem during the purchase process (I'm from Italy).

FYI, the file is NOT available on iTunes or Amazon, it's exclusive to the BSO.org digital store. You have to set up an account over there and only then you can purchase the item.

I just try with several way of paiement and it's same answers... "We are sorry for the inconvenience". :-(

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Try their customer support. It works great.

I bought their digital subscription around the time they released the Williams' Harp Concerto, and at first also experimented some problems, but they helped me out and eventually all went fine. Last year, when they revamped the site, my subscription was still valid, but it stopped allowing me to download the new stuff, so they kindly sent me the CD released between then and my subscription expiration date. Great service if you ask me.

I also just subscribed the Tanglewood Archives, and have been happily downloading all this stuff.

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Try their customer support. It works great.

I bought their digital subscription around the time they released the Williams' Harp Concerto, and at first also experimented some problems, but they helped me out and eventually all went fine. Last year, when they revamped the site, my subscription was still valid, but it stopped allowing me to download the new stuff, so they kindly sent me the CD released between then and my subscription expiration date. Great service if you ask me.

I also just subscribed the Tanglewood Archives, and have been happily downloading all this stuff.

Thanks Miguel,

I will contact the customer service... Let's see.

Thanks again.

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Usually I don't need help with things like this, but I purchased the suite and followed the directions to download the .mp3 and have become stumped. On my Android device, I was able to long-click the 'download' link and get a file called DownloadDigitalMedia.bin and on an old Mac, the right-click produced a useless three-second .mp3.

Double clicking the .bin file decompresses yet another file which decompresses yet another (and so on). Long pressing on Android allows me to use the .bin file as audio and I can listen to it, but it's not very handy having it in a format other than what I paid for.

Is anyone else having this difficulty?

(I previously purchased the Harp Concerto with no problems.)

TJH

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It flows very well with the narration. Just like the Reivers suite is wonderful with Burgess Meredith's voice

I want that one but can't buy it, since it doesn't have a download from iTunes due to it's length; and can't download from Amazon because I'm outside the continental USA (Mexico). I posted at the marketplace help for downloading it and of course paying for it with pay pal, but no answer :(

I had no problem during the purchase process (I'm from Italy).

FYI, the file is NOT available on iTunes or Amazon, it's exclusive to the BSO.org digital store. You have to set up an account over there and only then you can purchase the item.

I meant that I couldn't download The Reivers suite. I downloaded the Angela's Ashes suite w/o any problem

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Hey, I'm really enjoying this suite, even if it more resembles podcast (with all the clapping and introduction). Certainly worth if you have 3 bucks (or 2 quid in my case) to spare (for the FLAC version). It seems it is the same one that showed up on Youtube, with Yo-Yo Ma playing cello solos.

Karol - who never heard the album with narration so he can't compare

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It seems it is the same one that showed up on Youtube, with Yo-Yo Ma playing cello solos.

The premiere of the suite was given in May 2000 at Symphony Hall, with the same performers. For the Tanglewood performance, Ma was replaced by Boston Symphony principal associate cello Martha Babcock, the only change on the performers. One of the Symphony Hall performances was taped and included on an "Evening at Pops" show for that summer, that being the source for the youtube videos.

While I love both performances, this one now made available seems to have something to it, that makes me prefer it to the former.

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