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Posted: |
Jun 14, 2013 - 12:30 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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From facebook:
Do you call yourself a film music and/or Star Wars fan? Then you cannot miss MUSIC FROM THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE - tomorrow night! Check out videos about the show at http://tinyurl.com/gspo-sw
We've been posting all week about how excited we are to perform music from "Shadows Of The Empire," "The Old Republic," "Star Wars Kinect" and "Ryan Vs. Dorkman 2," but of course, we'll also be performing JOHN WILLIAMS' epic music for George Lucas's Star Wars double trilogy!
Mr. Williams has been conducting the Boston Symphony this week and cannot attend our concert, but he will be sending his personal librarian, Karen Smith, to read a letter he has written to the Golden State Pops and our audience, at tomorrow night's concert. We are honored to have Ms. Smith in attendance - check out an audio interview with her at http://tinyurl.com/gspo-karen
And come hear the Golden State Pops perform:
-Star Wars Main Title
-Anakin’s Theme from The Phantom Menace
-Across the Stars (Love Theme from Star Wars: Episode II)
Plus music from a brand new (not even published yet) suite, "Music From The Star Wars Saga" by John Williams:
-Here They Come (TIE Fighter Attack)
-Luke and Leia
-The Asteroid Field
-The Forest Battle
and of course, a few surprises, TOMORROW night! Tickets & info at www.gspo.com
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Posted: |
Jun 17, 2013 - 1:42 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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Let me first talk about the performance. I thought the last concert's superb playing was due to them playing for, and with, the top composers working today. Naturally they wanted to be at the top of their game. But when I heard the first few bars of the STAR WARS main titles played with such precision and dynamics I knew I was going to have a great night. I have heard those titles TOO many times and with Williams himself and the STAR WARS concert tour and every generic film music concert out there. So for me to sit up and take notice is an achievement and a half. And this time there was with no one listening out there except us fans, even Joel McNeely was a no-show. But this was no accident, as conductor Steven Allen Fox explained to me, the GSPO has gone on a tremendous upgrade in the last few years and it is now attracting top talent. His newest addition, a THIRD violinist, knows this material well because he has worked for Williams!
Now after that first piece, to the consternation of some but to the pleasant surprise of many of us, there was no more Williams until part 2. The biggest surprise for me, reversing expectations, was despite the thematic richness of McNeely's work SHADOW OF THE EMPIRE (introduced by Robert Townson who commissioned and released it) I thought for this particular performance the music of the newbies Kyle Newmaster and Gordy Haab captured the spirit and sound of the Williams work better. Again the playing was wonderfully exuberant!
The new Williams arrangements in part two was accompanied by a letter from him (read by Karen Smith who in charge of the Williams library and has worked with everyone from Elmer Bernstein to Danny Elfman) apologizing for not being there due to previous "entanglements" in Boston. And while I am a prime adherent of the idea that the original is best, this is William's rearrangements and for every thing he takes away he replaces with something different and new which helped this becoming a VERY different STAR WARS concert. That is why, for me, it is one of the better ones, going all the way back to my very first one. That and the fact Steven Allen Fox always does his best to make every concert memorable which is heavily appreciated. Whether it is the starscape he employed at different moments in the concert utilizing different colors to emphasize the particular mood:
...or inviting special attendees to come in costume and mingle.
Above is composer Neal Acree (CURSE OF THE KOMODO, WORLD OF WARCRAFT) on the left with John Shanen, who unfortunately forgot his costume. 
Anyway these days I simply can't lose when I go to any GSPO concert (I actually attended a couple disappointments in their early days). And no I am not paid or receive anything from the GSPO (although many have told me they should). I am just a hardcore fan of a company that exudes film music out of every pore and love that I can get so close to them at the Warner Grand theater that I can see them sweat during frenzied numbers.
Speaking of which next season's film composer tribute is being decided on. The only rules are he/she has to be able to show up for the concert. Any suggestions?
(I will eliminate Danny Elfman because he is in the middle of a 3 year concert series at Royce Hall).
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Posted: |
Jun 20, 2013 - 11:29 AM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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John Williams' newly published music titled "Music from The Star Wars Saga", including never before released music "Asteroid Field", "Here They Come", "Luke and Leia" and "The Forest Battle"...
My question is: how is this "newly published"? Were they published before and only now re-published? "Never before released music?" What in the world does this mean? Seems like the same music cues I have seen on CDs and albums (and concerts) for the past 35 years. Did Williams alter the music in some way, change it up so much that it is quite different?
-Rick O.
Well the idea is when you are as big as Williams or Morricone and your music is in demand all over the world you tend to micro-manage it. You want it presented in concert the way you want it. Indeed certain pieces of this concert like "Anakin's Theme", "Across The Stars", "Main Title" and "Throne Room and Finale" are the arrangements we have heard many times. Although as I said above this performance (with emphasis on percussion) sounded like I'd never heard it before.
But with so many STAR WARS concerts everywhere (and anticipating renewed interest from the franchise renewal) Williams probably wanted the rest of the music presented exactly the way he wants it. So the titles "Here They Come", "Luke and Leia", "The Asteroid Field" and "The Forest Battle" from his new assemblage "The Star Wars Saga" are now the new "official" presentations of these cues. Are they different? Enough for me to hear the difference but for most mainstream audiences no one will tell.
My opinion of these arrangements has always been the same. Whether it is Williams or Morricone or Goldsmith or Herrmann, they all tend to water down their music for the concert hall. Smoothing out parts of a piece that may have had dramatic shifts to match the images. Creating perfectly "pleasant" presentations for the general public and Thor  . But it goes against what I consider most exciting about film music. It is that those composers felt the freedom to structure the orchestra non-traditionally in order to try find a unique sound that perfectly matches the images. And so pushing the envelope in any way they deemed necessary. And by scoring specifically to an image for an effect their music is separated from all other types, which makes it unique. Nothing matters but fitting that image with a "feeling" and watering down that feeling is not an improvement.
To be fair they are all trying to protect their work in these re-arrangements. Otherwise if someone couldn't figure out HOW to use just strings for their performance of PSYCHO the local orchestra might be tempted to tinker with the music. With an "official" arrangement this "mickey mousing" is minimized. Still I admire unendingly and give big props to conductors like William Stromberg and David Newman who haul in 4 pianos or 6 harps to recreate the original work as close as possible.
So for me to get past all that is a big tribute to the power of a passionate performance. It is what our local conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen and all the way back to Andre Previn and Zuben Mehta, consider their stock-in-trade. It is the level Steven Allen Fox has now hit with film music.
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