{"id":405,"date":"2003-06-08T17:08:37","date_gmt":"2003-06-08T17:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmmakerb.com\/jwfan\/?p=405"},"modified":"2003-06-08T17:08:37","modified_gmt":"2003-06-08T17:08:37","slug":"williams-concert-in-pittsburgh-may-28-fan-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwfan.com\/?p=405","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh, June 6, 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh Symphony Heinz Hall
\nFriday, June 6, 2003
\n<\/span>The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by JOHN WILLIAMS
\n<\/span>
\nConcert Program and Brief Overview, by ‘DU Lou’
\n<\/strong><\/span>
\n1. Liberty Fanfare<\/strong>\u00a0– Always a crowd pleaser… played a tad more slowly than o\u00adn the Philips album but a great heart pumpin’ peice to start with…!!!!!<\/p>\n

2. Suite from JFK<\/strong>\u00a0(Theme, The Motorcade, Arlington)
\nWow!!! I have been waiting years to hear this done live and it was worth the wait, Williams slightly extended the main theme a bit to make it more concert worthy and to hear the motorcade with all the brass and percussion was amazing… Of course Arlington was beautiful and performed stunningly.<\/p>\n

3. Seven Years in Tibet\u00a0<\/strong>
\nNot much to say about this o\u00adne. I have heard John Williams perform this o\u00adne before. Someone correct me if i am wrong but was the cellist a bit out of tune?<\/p>\n

4. Suite from Hary Potter\u00a0<\/strong>(Hedwig’s Theme, Fawkes the Phoenix, Nimbus 2000, Harry’s Wondrous World)
\nMany people were looking forward to this o\u00adne I think. Hedwig’s theme was the movie trailer basically. Fawkes was played beautifuly and JW was very graceful in his conducting (as an aside, every time he mentioned Fawkes the Phoenix he spoke with a slight british accent, very cute). Next came something we won’t hear o\u00adn any album or the past two films. He made a speacial arrangement of the Nimbus broom sequence for woodwinds. There was a huge grin o\u00adn my face, after JW started them off he stepped off the podium and gave just a few nods with his head from time to time that they were o\u00adn cue. It was absolutely delightful. And finally of course Harry’s Wondrous World, great end to the 1st half just like in Chamber of Secrets.<\/p>\n

INTERMISSION<\/p>\n

5. Hooray for Hollywood
\n<\/strong>Just like in 2001, a great way to start a second half<\/p>\n

6. Monters, Beauties, and Heroes\u00a0<\/strong>(King Kong – Jaws – Casablanca – An Affair to Remember – Robin Hood – Superman)
\nThis was a collage of movie stills of just what the title suggests and it was accompanied by the pieces listed above. Overall a nice medley.<\/p>\n

7. Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra – Catch Me if you Can
\n<\/strong>This was a suite of the 3 main themes… The Opening Credits, The Family Turmoil, and The Float – The alto sax player was amazing and the pieces were o\u00adnce again slightly altered for the concert hall.<\/p>\n

8. Across the Stars
\n<\/strong>Once again Williams was glad to have written a “love theme” for Lucas and it was a joy to listen to live.<\/p>\n

9. Throne Room and Finale from Star Wars\u00a0<\/strong>
\nBut not just any throne room…. The Uber Throne Room from the Skywalker Symphony recording!!!!!! WOW<\/p>\n

Aplause, aplause, standing ovation<\/p>\n

Encores…..\u00a0Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/strong>,\u00a0E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial<\/strong>\u00a0and…. just in case you missed the evening news,\u00a0NBC’s The Mission<\/strong>!!!!!<\/p>\n

Applause, applaus, hands to his cheek o\u00adnce again as if to say time for bed…..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Concert Review by ‘Justin’<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We arrived in Pittsburgh about 6 PM. After struggling to find a spot in a nearby parking garage we started walking back towards the hall. Since it was still quite early we ate and then checked out the Pitts Symphony Store where I picked up a copy of the original Jaws album (suprised they had it.). Around 7:30 we went up to our seats way up in the balcony but hey, we brought binoculars so what the hey… ;)<\/p>\n

At 5 after 8, Williams showed up starting off the evening with\u00a0Liberty Fanfare<\/strong>. I acctually hadn’t heard this before, but it was very nice, similar to Call of the Champions. Next,\u00a0Suite from JFK<\/strong>, a very nice I really love the score to JFK so I got a kick out of this. :)<\/p>\n

After that,\u00a0Theme from Seven Years in Tibet<\/strong>, a nice brassy performance of the theme really quite great.<\/p>\n

Suite from Harry Potter<\/strong>. All the classic stuff: Hedwigs Theme, Fawkes the Phoinex, Nimbus 2000 which Williams said was Harry’s wand. :) I also hadn’t heard the Nimbus piece very very neat. Finishing off with Harry Wondrous World with the CoS ending.<\/p>\n

:INTERMISSION:<\/p>\n

We’re back with\u00a0Hooray for Hollywood<\/strong>\u00a0by Whiting\/Mercer, a real fun piece. I think Williams really liked conducting it. Next came a fun little tribute to the\u00a0Monsters, Beauties, and Heroes<\/strong>\u00a0featuring music fromKing Kong<\/strong>,\u00a0Jaws<\/strong>\u00a0(Monsters)\u00a0Casablanca<\/strong>,\u00a0An Affair to Remember<\/strong>, (Beauties) Korngold’s\u00a0Robin Hood<\/strong>,Superman<\/strong>\u00a0(Heroes). Very nice performance by the orchestra switching quickly between pieces.<\/p>\n

Next up was\u00a0Escapades for Alto Sax and Orchestra: Catch Me If You Can<\/strong>, featuring the Main titles, Recollections, and The Float. Very nice all around, more sax in this version -they really wanted to show off this Mark Ortwein.
\n
\nAcross the Stars<\/strong>\u00a0What can I say, it’s across the stars. ;)<\/p>\n

Throne Room and Finale<\/strong>. From here o\u00adn in, it was pure classic. Everyone burst into applause when the triumphant Force theme was performed. They did Gerhardt’s version, which gave a very nice suite of things.<\/p>\n

When Williams said they were going to perform\u00a0Indiana Jones<\/strong>, the whole crown cheered and then applauded when we heard Indy’s theme. After that, Over the Moon from\u00a0E.T.<\/strong>, again cheering and applause when Elliot’s theme started.<\/p>\n

One more Encore “In case you can’t get home in time to see the news.”\u00a0NBC Theme<\/strong>\u00a0that got a great big laugh from the audience. After being done the applause just didn’t seem to stop, he finally had to disband the orchestra because they didn’t have anything else to play. I made sure I was the loudest and the last o\u00adne clapping :)<\/p>\n

Overall o\u00adne the greatest experiences of my life. Gooooooooo Johnny!!<\/p>\n

List of full program:<\/p>\n