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Posted: |
Nov 4, 2009 - 12:43 PM
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By: |
Adam S
(Member)
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I've heard Williams refer to his "serious" concert works as opportunities to work through technical problems. And at the very least all his concertos are very difficult compositions, showing off both the soloist and JW's technical and musical prowess with an orchestra. His best concertos, for me, bridge the gap between his film music and the more modern, "advanced" type of orchestra writing. My favorite is probably his bassoon concerto which has some very pretty passages. Its more accessible than most while still taking advantage of the freedom of not having to be tied to a film. The melodies lines can be longer and not so emotionally direct but still, at his best, achieving something moving in the subtleties and complexities. It demands a little more of the listener but I've grown to like some of his concertos. At the same time, the flute concerto would be an example of the other extreme, and I don't have much use for it, however impressive it may be in pure technical terms.
But it all lends credence to Williams statement that he doesn't have a style. He's about as chameleon as it gets and still be the same person. I think a lot of people are surprised, I was too, at how different his concert music is but it makes sense from the point of view of someone who is well-versed in so many musical languages and brings completely different solutions to what are, after all, too very different challenges - film and the concert hall.
- Adam
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It's great that finally a very fine conductor at the helm of a prestigious symphony orchestra decided to give Williams' concert output its due respect. A good deal of Williams' concert works has already been officially recorded and released, but it's great nonetheless that we will be treated with new readings. Slatkin has always been a N°1 fan of Williams' concert-hall compositions and he performs them quite regularly.
I wonder if Slatkin will take the opportunity to record also some other unreleased Williams' orchestral concert works (like "Soundings", "for Seiji!" and "Seven for Luck") to be paired with the concertos.
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Yes, it will be lovely if, as someone said above, all of these concerti will be recorded and released in Williams' lifetime. Right now, I'm hoping and praying it will be recorded and released in Mr. Slatkin's lifetime. He just suffered a heart attack while conducting a concert -- which he went on to complete, not realizing what was happening to himself -- and has now cancelled his next two weeks' worth of concerts.
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In fact I prefer the Slatkin recording of the Violion Concerto.
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We can only hope that cooler heads will prevail, as the saying goes.
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