NEWS: John Williams' iconic movie themes get Dolby Atmos treatment

[Andy Bassett]

Legendary film composer John Williams has his recent Live in Vienna concert released in Dolby Atmos.

Read the news.

 

[Krobar]

Just ordered this.

For some reason Amazon is expensive. Prestomusic.com have it at an OK price.

 

[Krobar]

Legendary film composer John Williams has his recent Live in Vienna concert released in Dolby Atmos.
Read the news.

Why isn't this on the front page? Good to see Deutsche Gramophone releasing in Atmos and makes a nice change from the usual news.

 

[nickkuk]

Just ordered this.

For some reason Amazon is expensive. Prestomusic.com have it at an OK price.

Thanks, I wanted to order the Atmos blu-ray version, but thought the price was a little bit much on Amazon. The Prestomusic price is more reasonable.

 

[mikeybabes2]

I had tickets to the John Williams conducting the LSO Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2018.

I was devastated when he was taken ill shortly after arriving in London, but pleased he recovered not long afterward. I do hope he will try and come to the RHA again.

His friend Dirk Brosse took the baton that evening, and the LSO seemed to take it as a personal challenge not to let him down, and it was the most wonderful Orchestral Concert I can ever remember.

If this concert is even half as good as that one, it will be wonderful indeed. Just a bit impatient as it is out of stock at the moment. One for the projector and set the amp to stun.....

 

[nickkuk]

I had tickets to the John Williams conducting the LSO Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2018.

I was devastated when he was taken ill shortly after arriving in London, but pleased he recovered not long afterward. I do hope he will try and come to the RHA again.

His friend Dirk Brosse took the baton that evening, and the LSO seemed to take it as a personal challenge not to let him down, and it was the most wonderful Orchestral Concert I can ever remember.

If this concert is even half as good as that one, it will be wonderful indeed. Just a bit impatient as it is out of stock at the moment. One for the projector and set the amp to stun.....

That must have been a real treat to hear live!

There are parts of the concert available on youtube, including this spectacular rendition of the Imperial March that was played as an encore: I have only watched a short snippet as I would rather watch it in full when the blu-ray arrives with the volume up loud

I found it was also available in stock from a German website for 29.50 Euro: John Williams - Live In Vienna - Blu-ray mit Dolby Atmos Mischung Deluxe Edition

 

[mikeybabes2]

I just discovered it is availble on Amazon Music for streaming. I've got a long car journey tomorrow, which I'm now rather looking forward to....

 

[Paul7777x]

Oddly, I have never planned a full hog DA system for films; the expense for a quality one being prohibitive as the number of films I watch is quite small.

But I will now reconsider if this recording of high quality concerts as a thing continues.

 

[MWP1985]

I had tickets to the John Williams conducting the LSO Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2018.

I was devastated when he was taken ill shortly after arriving in London, but pleased he recovered not long afterward. I do hope he will try and come to the RHA again.

His friend Dirk Brosse took the baton that evening, and the LSO seemed to take it as a personal challenge not to let him down, and it was the most wonderful Orchestral Concert I can ever remember.

If this concert is even half as good as that one, it will be wonderful indeed. Just a bit impatient as it is out of stock at the moment. One for the projector and set the amp to stun.....

I was also at the RAH concert when Dirk Brosse took over, which was excellent, and I was lucky enough to get tickets to the first of these two dates in Vienna in January.
It was well worth the trip and a fantastic afternoon - the performances were electrifying and JW was in no rush and clearly enjoying what is an incredible venue.
I’ve got hold of this Blu-ray and I’m looking forward to reliving it!

 

[gibbsy]

Just ordered it on BR. Will it be as much fun as the Hanz Zimmer concert or is JW more staid in his approach.

 

[mikeybabes2]

I was also at the RAH concert when Dirk Brosse took over, which was excellent, and I was lucky enough to get tickets to the first of these two dates in Vienna in January.
It was well worth the trip and a fantastic afternoon - the performances were electrifying and JW was in no rush and clearly enjoying what is an incredible venue.
I’ve got hold of this Blu-ray and I’m looking forward to reliving it!

Bet it was a phenomenal evening. I'm an amateur composer myself, and I've spent many hours studying his scores and ripping them off completely learning much from them. He is one of my musical heroes .... I have now given up the hope of ever seeing him conduct in person. I mean he's now 88, and after this pandemic and what happened in London, I simply don't see him back in Europe again.

Just ordered it on BR. Will it be as much fun as the Hanz Zimmer concert or is JW more staid in his approach.

Well his music is more orchestral in nature and you won't see him rocking out with an electric guitar that's for sure. Hans Zimmer is a very talented man but from a different musical epoch. John Williams composes with a piano pencil and paper but Hans Zimmer is much more sound design orientated using DAWS, synths and samplers. (Funnily enough, I find that as I learn more and get better at composition and orchestration, I move further away from DAWS, and compose with notation).

Having said that, I find John Williams music is inherently more suited to concert form, I think you sometimes lose a lot when you don't have the picture with Hans Zimmers music. (I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Tina Guo live though !)

Hans Zimmer, BTW, is a really top bloke, and even drops in to a composers forum I frequent, often dispensing tips and advice, and generally being a nice humble guy to all and sundry. You can immediately tell he simply adores what he does - and his success is of secondary importance.

Going back to the Blu-ray - This particular Williams concert has some of lesser known works on it, striking nice balance of the well known pieces and some of his less performed works.

If you have never seen a top flight orchestra in a great hall (the Royal Albert Hall is my personal favourite) I cannot recommend it enough. The first time I took my wife there to see the LSO, she was completely pole-axed when the first few bars struck up. The sound is incredible. I'm sure she only came along for the promised trip to Harvey Nicks and Harrods the next day, but now insists on coming to any concerts I attend. On one occasion I took my daughter, 9 years old at the time, as my wife unexpectedly couldn't attend. It was to see the film composer James Newton Howard.

Now I have to buy three tickets.....

However, in Atmos, I'm sure that this will be the next best thing, and it won't cost £ 36 for a bottle of wine.....

 

[gibbsy]

Well his music is more orchestral in nature and you won't see him rocking out with an electric guitar that's for sure. Hans Zimmer is a very talented man but from a different musical epoch. John Williams composes with a piano pencil and paper but Hans Zimmer is much more sound design orientated using DAWS, synths and samplers. (Funnily enough, I find that as I learn more and get better at composition and orchestration, I move further away from DAWS, and compose with notation).

I watched the John Williams performance during the Proms couple of years ago in DD 5.1 and enjoyed it very much. I think Atmos is a media that is so suited to classical, or motion picture soundtrack concerts and hope it makes it onto audio only discs as well.

Only classical performance I've ever been to was with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the St David's Hall, Cardiff. The theme of the evening was Music and Water and I had two free tickets after winning the photographic competition on that theme. Really enjoyed the evening and the one performance that got the audience involved was John Williams Jaws theme.

 

[Blupetros]

I urge any classical or music lover to watch the Prom on BBC4 this coming Sunday 23rd at 7:25. They are repeating Proms from previous years and this Sunday is The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel from 2007. Even if the first half is not your cup of tea (a great performance of Shostakovitch's 10th Symphony), stay for the second half. Bernstein's: Symphonic dances from West Side Story, some great South American composers pieces and fantastic encores. Make sure you watch the encores if nothing else! Young people putting their heart and soul into playing great music and really enjoying it. One of the most uplifting concerts I have ever seen. I saw them twice at London's RFH after this and even met Dudamel after a concert in Canterbury and he agreed what a special night this prom was. My partner and I have been waiting for them to repeat this prom for years. PVR's ready!

 

[Krobar]

My copy arrived today from Presto Music.

The package is quite nice and the box marks this as an Atmos 9.1.4 presentation although the audio has 15 objects so if it is a fixed mix then could also be 9.1.6. There is a small booklet with a few details in both German and English.

Sound quality is excellent with Atmos being used to accurately present the large Vienna hall and acoustics. Dynamic range is good although not as high as some recordings, video is sharp and nicely balanced (1080I/59.94). Jon Williams is not as fun or gimmicky as Hans Zimmer (Doesn't have the orchestra eye candy either) but this disc will remind you of the astonishing number of awesome film scores he put together and is well worth a purchase IMHO.