{"id":2378,"date":"2009-09-16T11:09:11","date_gmt":"2009-09-16T11:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jwfan.com\/?p=2378"},"modified":"2012-03-12T11:10:51","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T11:10:51","slug":"cincinnati-september-11-13-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwfan.com\/?p=2378","title":{"rendered":"Cincinnati, September 11-13, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cincinnati Pops Music Hall<br \/>\n<strong>September 11-13, 2009<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by Jack Everly<br \/>\nAnthony Daniels, Narrator<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;A John Williams Spectacular&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Star Wars Suite edited and compiled by Erich Kunzel<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>CONCERT PROGRAM<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>J.S. Bach\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Air from Suite No. 3<\/p>\n<p>John Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 Call of the Champions<\/p>\n<p>Hymn to the Fallen, from\u00a0<em>Saving Private Ryan<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Olympic Fanfare<\/p>\n<p>arr. Kunzel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When the Saints Go Marching In<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Intermission<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>John Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<em>Star Wars<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Episode I: The Phantom Menace<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Adventures of Jar-Jar<\/p>\n<p>Anakin\u2019s Theme<\/p>\n<p>The Flag Parade<\/p>\n<p>Duel of the Fates<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Episode II: Attack of the Clones<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Across the Stars<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Episode III: Revenge of the Sith<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Battle of the Heroes<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Episode IV: A New Hope<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Little People<\/p>\n<p>Princess Leia\u2019s Theme<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Imperial March (Darth Vader\u2019s Theme)<\/p>\n<p>Yoda\u2019s Theme<\/p>\n<p>Han Solo and The Princess<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Episode VI: Return of the Jedi<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Luke and Leia<\/p>\n<p>Parade of the Ewoks<\/p>\n<p>The Forest Battle<\/p>\n<p>Star Wars Main Theme<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Encore: Cantina Band<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>EXTERNAL REVIEWS<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.cincinnati.com\/article\/20090911\/ENT03\/309110171\/1028\/ENT\/Kunzel+s++Star+Wars++goes+on\" target=\"_blank\">Kunzel&#8217;s &#8216;Star Wars&#8217; Goes On (Cincinnati.com)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>JWFAN REVIEW<\/p>\n<p>By Adam Thomas<\/p>\n<p>The concert began on a solemn note, as the founder and conductor of the Cincinnati Pops, Erich Kunzel, passed away less than two weeks before the concert.\u00a0 The strings\u2019 unconducted performance of the Bach work accompanied a video presentation dedicated to Kunzel, a master of the Pops genre.\u00a0 It was truly the softest and most heartfelt performance I have ever heard of the Bach\u00a0<em>Air<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>With the arrival of conductor Jack Everly (of the Baltimore and Indianapolis Pops Orchestras) and the May Festival Choir, the concert moved on to a more uplifting note with the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics theme,\u00a0<em>Call of the Champions<\/em>. \u00a0I was pleased to hear this work, to which the choir added a joyful energy.\u00a0 I spent part of the piece feeling that the timpanist was being a little timid, but by the final measures, he let loose and did not disappoint.\u00a0 His performance for the rest of the concert was a real highlight for me.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, there was a special video message from John Williams, speaking on the passing of Kunzel.\u00a0 It was a nice surprise to hear from the Maestro, and a fitting tribute.\u00a0\u00a0<em>Hymn to the Fallen<\/em>\u00a0was then performed, with a more powerful, Williams-esque ending than the soft conclusion featured on many recordings.<\/p>\n<p>The concert was supposed to include music from\u00a0<em>E.T.<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Close Encounters<\/em>, and\u00a0<em>Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull<\/em>, but they were left off the revised program.\u00a0 I absolutely understood the need for revision, due to the circumstances, but I couldn\u2019t help being a little disappointed to not hear a live performance of\u00a0<em>The Adventures of Mutt<\/em>, which I think would have added a nice energy to the show.<\/p>\n<p>The first half ended with stirring performances of the\u00a0<em>Olympic Theme<\/em>\u00a0(using Williams\u2019 fanfare, rather than\u00a0<em>Bugler\u2019s Dream<\/em>) and an unconducted rendition of\u00a0<em>When the Saints Go Marching In<\/em>, Kunzel\u2019s own arrangement which started as a Dixieland-style group of soloists and branched out to the entire orchestra.\u00a0 The orchestra seemed to have as much fun as the audience!\u00a0 The only disappointment I had with the first half is that it seemed to go by so quickly\u2026<\/p>\n<p>When the orchestra announced the start of the second half with Alfred Newman\u2019s\u00a0<em>20<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Century Fox Fanfare<\/em>, the audience knew they were in for an hour of The Force and great music.\u00a0 The afternoon\u2019s host, Anthony Daniels, (C-3PO himself!) arrived on the stage in his (appropriately) golden jacket, and after a brief mention of Kunzel, proceeded to entertain the audience with a few stories.\u00a0 He even took a humorous but unsuccessful turn at conducting the orchestra (he said of the baton, \u201cThis thing\u2019s broken!\u201d), but quickly passed the conducting responsibilities off to Everly.<\/p>\n<p>As Daniels narrated the story of the Star Wars saga, the orchestra painted a picture of George Lucas\u2019 classic story through the music of John Williams.\u00a0 From the prequel selections,\u00a0<em>Anakin\u2019s Theme<\/em>\u00a0and<em>Across the Stars\u00a0<\/em>were moving, and I was particularly impressed by the full ensemble\u2019s presentation of<em>The Flag Parade<\/em>.\u00a0 Definitely a highlight of the concert for me.<\/p>\n<p>The May Festival Chorus added so much just by being present for\u00a0<em>Duel of the Fates<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Battle of the Heroes<\/em>. \u00a0Both were thrilling.\u00a0 Although both are in my top ten John Williams pieces, I typically find\u00a0<em>Duel<\/em>to be the (slightly) superior work.\u00a0 However, I was completely blown away by this performance\u00a0<em>Battle of the Heroes<\/em>.\u00a0 Hearing the tense strings and sinister horns during the opening measures took me back to May 2005, eagerly anticipating the release of Episode III.\u00a0 Kudos to the Pops and the May Festival Chorus for outstanding performances of both works.<\/p>\n<p>For the Classic Trilogy selections, I found\u00a0<em>The Imperial March\u00a0<\/em>performance to be excellently powerful (with surprise visits from members of the 501<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0Ohio Garrison and Rebel Legion Midwest Base, in full costume!),\u00a0<em>Yoda\u2019s Theme<\/em>\u00a0playful and sentimental, and\u00a0<em>The Forest Battle<\/em>, though performed a bit slower than I was used to, an exciting climactic moment, especially in the spiraling accelerando, well handled by Everly and the Pops.\u00a0 And how can you beat the full orchestra having fun with\u00a0<em>Cantina Band<\/em>\u00a0as an encore?<\/p>\n<p>Everly had big shoes to fill as a conductor, and did so admirably.\u00a0 Daniels mentioned that he was sure Kunzel was with us in the hall that afternoon, and his spirit was evident in the performance.\u00a0 Daniels himself was enjoyable, pointing out with pride any moment in the story when C-3PO was important.\u00a0 Who better to tell the story than the one man who appeared in all six films?<\/p>\n<p>I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting with Mr. Daniels briefly before the concert.\u00a0 He was incredibly kind, and I will always be grateful for his generosity in spending just a few minutes with this\u00a0<em>Star Wars<\/em>fan.\u00a0\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>has always been my favorite movie, C-3PO my favorite character, and John Williams my favorite composer, so this afternoon couldn\u2019t have been more exciting for me.<\/p>\n<p>I consider the music of\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>one of the reasons I got into music education as a career, and it was great to hear a high quality ensemble perform the works so well.\u00a0 It was a great tribute to the amazing talents of John Williams, as well as to the spirit of Erich Kunzel.\u00a0 Bravo, congratulations, and thanks to the Cincinnati Pops, May Festival Choir, Jack Everly, and Anthony Daniels for bringing a wonderful afternoon of music to a very receptive audience.\u00a0 May the Force be with You!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cincinnati Pops Music Hall September 11-13, 2009 The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by Jack Everly Anthony Daniels, Narrator &#8216;A John Williams Spectacular&#8217; Star Wars Suite edited and compiled by Erich Kunzel<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/jwfan.com\/?p=2378\">Read more 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