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Playing John Williams

David Helbock

Playing John Williams

Format: CD
Label: ACT music
UPC: 0614427976420
Catnr: ACT 97642
Release date: 30 August 2019
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1 CD
Buy at PlatoMania
 
Label
ACT music
UPC
0614427976420
Catalogue number
ACT 97642
Release date
30 August 2019

"Helbock's own view of John Williams film music."

Dagblad De Limburger, 12-8-2019
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
Press
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About the album

We all have the music in our lives from which there is no escape. It reaches deep inside, becomes planted ineradicably in the memory. Other, extra-musical occurrences can often get mixed in with the experience of listening, which has a way of imprinting the music on the mind even more firmly. This was what happened to David Helbock when he discovered cinema for himself and had his first encounters with the music of the American film composer John Williams: “He’s been with me just about all of my life. I can still remember clearly how as a child I saw “E.T.” countless times and was excited about the extra-terrestrial being and his human friends. I won’t forget how my feelings would flicker between fascination and fear when I first saw the shark in “Jaws”. These were all deeply emotional and formative experiences for me, and it was always the soundtrack to the films that was at the root of them.”

But why is John Williams’ music quite so effective, how is it that his music comes straight to mind when one thinks of any of the films in which he has been involved as composer? “Deep down, Williams is a great writer of melodies. They touch the heart profoundly, they release emotions. Take “Hedwig’s Theme” from “Harry Potter”, it’s a simple but incredibly deeply felt melody. Or the emotive theme from “Schindler’s List”. Rather than relying on sound effects or sonic ostentation, Williams puts his trust in the power of melody.”

“I’ve done all kinds of things with John Williams’ music. I’ve re-harmonised it, I’ve used different time signatures and much more, so that my own voice can flow naturally into it,” says Helbock. “But despite all the alterations, the melody always stays the same and remains recognisable. Much of the process of adaptation was done intuitively, driven by the emotions that the films sparked in me. So I wrote down the main melodies, I watched the films, before finally developing my improvised versions on the piano and slowly extending them.” And so this “storyteller at the piano” (3sat) gives us a very different John Williams from the one we know from the cinema, but the man in the picture remains unmistakably the doyen of film music himself.

Artist(s)

David Helbock (piano)

Two rewards and the audience prize at the world biggest jazz-piano-solo competition of the Jazzfestival Montreux, a lot of enthusiastic/international reviews for his CDs and the most important prize in Austria 2011 - the 'Outstanding Artist Award' - David Helbock, the pianoplayer coming from a small little village in Austria called Koblach, is with no doubt, on his way up to a great international musical career. Helbock is not only a great pianist, he is also a very individual thinker, who is investing not only a lot of dexterity but also quite an amount of brain activity to his projects.  David Helbock, born on the 28th of january 1984, began playing the piano at the age of six. He studied at the Feldkirch Conservatory with Prof. Ferenc Bognar,...
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Two rewards and the audience prize at the world biggest jazz-piano-solo competition of the Jazzfestival Montreux, a lot of enthusiastic/international reviews for his CDs and the most important prize in Austria 2011 - the "Outstanding Artist Award" - David Helbock, the pianoplayer coming from a small little village in Austria called Koblach, is with no doubt, on his way up to a great international musical career.

Helbock is not only a great pianist, he is also a very individual thinker, who is investing not only a lot of dexterity but also quite an amount of brain activity to his projects.

David Helbock, born on the 28th of january 1984, began playing the piano at the age of six.
He studied at the Feldkirch Conservatory with Prof. Ferenc Bognar, where he finished 2005 with an "excellent" degree in performance and since 2000 he took lessons with the New York jazz pianist Peter Madsen, who became his teacher, mentor and friend.

David Helbock played Tours and Recordings with different projects in countries like the US, Australia, Mexico, Russia, Kasachstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Mongolia, Southafrica, Ethopia, Kenia, Senegal, Marokko, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Brazil, Argentinia, Chile and all over Europe.

Since the start of his musical career David Helbock is also very active as a composer. One of his works is among others a big „One-Year compositional project“ where he wrote a new piece every day for a whole year. (In April 2010 his "Personal Realbook" with over 600 pages of music was released)


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Composer(s)

John Williams

John Williams is the best known composer in Hollywood. His music can be heard in well-known blockbusters such as Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List. Williams was born in 1932 in New York. His father, who was also called John Williams, was a jazz drummer. Besides composer, Williams was also conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 till 1995. (Source: Muziekweb.nl)
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John Williams is the best known composer in Hollywood. His music can be heard in well-known blockbusters such as Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List. Williams was born in 1932 in New York. His father, who was also called John Williams, was a jazz drummer. Besides composer, Williams was also conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 till 1995.
(Source: Muziekweb.nl)
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Press

Helbock's own view of John Williams film music.
Dagblad De Limburger, 12-8-2019

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