Summon the Heroes

Last updated
"Summon the Heroes"
Single by John Williams
from the album Summon the Heroes
ReleasedJuly 19, 1996 (1996 Summer Olympics)
Venue Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, US
Genre Classical
Length6:17
Label NBC
Songwriter(s) John Williams
Producer(s) John Williams
John Williams singles chronology
"The Olympic Spirit"
(1988)
"Summon the Heroes"
(1996)
"Call of the Champions"
(2002)

Summon the Heroes is a one-movement orchestral composition written for the 1996 Summer Olympics by American composer John Williams for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). It premiered on July 19, 1996, in abridged form, at the opening ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia, played by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Williams. The piece is the third of four compositions he has written for the Olympics, following 1984's Olympic Fanfare and Theme and 1988's Olympic Spirit, and preceding 2002's Call of the Champions . [1]

Contents

Composition and performances

Summon the Heroes is scored for a full orchestra. It is in the key of C major and is marked at 80 beats per minute, lasting about six minutes. [2] The piece is dedicated to Tim Morrison, trumpet soloist of the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Music journalist Jon Burlingame described the piece as having "antiphonal brass choirs" and added that it was "longer and more complex" than Williams' previous Olympic compositions. [1] Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks noted "Roman and Greek-like historical appeal" in the brass writing that the work "featured with nobility." [3] Musicologist Margaret Dilling compared the piece to Williams's previous Olympic works, noting their common elements including an opening fanfare, theme performed by solo or soli trumpet, and a penultimate "galloping bolero-type ostinato" leading to a "grand-slam finale." [4]

It was played in full on the album Summon the Heroes by the Boston Pops Orchestra, released April 30, 1996.[ citation needed ] The piece was played at the 1996 Summer Olympics on July 19 by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, in an abridged form lasting three-and-a-half minutes, and conducted by Williams. [5] [6]

Reception

In reviewing Summon the Heroes on the 2002 album American Journey (featuring an eponymous composition and the 2002 Olympic theme Call of the Champions , among other Williams' pieces), film music critic James Southall highly praised the work, saying that it "...manages to offer in six minutes the kind of development and depth that simply isn't possible in the shorter tracks that have come before." Southall added, "For my money it's Williams's best concert piece, and maybe his best piece period." [7] Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks also praised the work for having more world appeal than Williams' other Olympic compositions. [3] Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times , however, called it "junk" and "no more than an exercise in chest-thumping and whooping", preferring Michael Torke's Javelin, which was commissioned for the 1996 Cultural Olympiad. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Williams</span> American composer and conductor (born 1932)

John Towner Williams is an American composer and conductor. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable, and critically acclaimed film scores in cinema history. He has a distinct sound that mixes romanticism, impressionism, and atonal music with complex orchestration. He is best known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and has received numerous accolades including 26 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person, after Walt Disney, and is the oldest Oscar nominee in any category, at 91 years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Goldsmith</span> American film composer (1929–2004)

Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer, with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was considered one of film music history's most innovative and influential composers. He was nominated for eighteen Academy Awards, six Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, nine Golden Globe Awards, and four British Academy Film Awards.

Call of the Champions is a fanfare for orchestra and choir composed by John Williams for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Premiering at the Opening Ceremony on February 8, 2002, it began with the call by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square of "Citius! Altius! Fortius!", which is the Olympic Motto chosen by the founder of the modern Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

Music of <i>Star Wars</i>

The music of the Star Wars franchise is composed and produced in conjunction with the development of the feature films, television series, and other merchandise within the epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas. The music for the primary feature films was written by John Williams. Williams' work on the series included the scores of nine feature films, a suite and several cues of thematic material for Solo and the theme music for the Galaxy's Edge Theme Park. These count among the most widely known and popular contributions to modern film music, and utilize a symphony orchestra and features an assortment of about fifty recurring musical themes to represent characters and other plot elements: one of the largest caches of themes in the history of film music.

<i>Ein Heldenleben</i> Symphonic poem by Richard Strauss

Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss. The work was completed in 1898. It was his eighth work in the genre, and exceeded any of its predecessors in its orchestral demands. Generally agreed to be autobiographical in nature despite contradictory statements on the matter by the composer, the work contains more than thirty quotations from Strauss's earlier works, including Also sprach Zarathustra, Till Eulenspiegel, Don Quixote, Don Juan, and Death and Transfiguration.

<i>Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith</i> (soundtrack) 2005 film score by John Williams

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film score to the 2005 film of the same name released by Sony Classical on May 3, 2005, more than two weeks before the film's release. The music was composed and conducted by John Williams, and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices in February 2005, with orchestrations provided by Conrad Pope and Eddie Karam. The score was Williams' sixth score in the saga. Shawn Murphy recorded the score. Ramiro Belgardt and Kenneth Wannberg served as music editors; Wannberg served as music editor for the previous Star Wars scores. A remastered version of the soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on May 4, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allan Gilliland</span> Canadian composer

Allan Gilliland is a contemporary Canadian composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Arnaud</span> French-American arranger and composer (1904–1991)

Leo Arnaud or Léo Arnaud was a French American arranger, composer, and orchestrator of film scores. He composed "Bugler's Dream", which is used as the theme by television networks presenting the Olympic Games in the United States.

Majestic Fanfare is a short orchestral piece of music written by the British composer Charles Williams in 1935. It is well recognized as the theme to ABC news broadcasts in Australia. Currently, it is being used on ABC NewsRadio, usually at the top of every hour.

Arthur Eckersley Butterworth, was an English composer, conductor, trumpeter and teacher.

<i>The Last Airbender</i> (soundtrack) 2010 film score by James Newton Howard

The Last Airbender is the soundtrack album of the fantasy adventure film The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The score was composed by James Newton Howard. It was released on June 29, 2010, by Lakeshore Records.

For New York (Variations on Themes of Leonard Bernstein) (originally titled To Lenny! To Lenny!) is a one-movement orchestral composition by the American composer John Williams. Written as a tribute to fellow composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, the piece premiered on the last day of Bernstein's 70th birthday gala at Tanglewood on August 28, 1988. The premiere was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Williams, who was then conductor of its sister orchestra, the Boston Pops. Music critic John Rockwell of The New York Times described the work as "feathery and flashy."

Javelin is a composition for orchestra by American composer Michael Torke. It was finished in 1994.

Music for Orchestra is a one-movement orchestral composition by the American composer Jerry Goldsmith. The piece was commissioned by Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony in 1970 and premiered later that year.

American Journey is a six-part orchestral composition by the American composer John Williams. The piece was commissioned by U.S. President Bill Clinton to accompany a multimedia presentation titled The Unfinished Journey directed by Steven Spielberg for the 2000 "Millennium" celebrations. The work premiered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on New Year's Eve, 1999.

Loco is an orchestral composition in one movement by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Ravinia Festival of Highland Park, Illinois to commemorate the Ravinia train as part of the Train Commission Project. It was first performed on July 31, 2004, at the Ravinia Festival by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Sculpture is an orchestral composition by the Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. The music was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with support from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation to celebrate the orchestra's inaugural season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Its world premiere was given by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen on October 6, 2005.

Dani Howard is a British composer originally from Hong Kong, where she attended the South Island School.

The Golden Compass (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2007 film The Golden Compass directed by Chris Weitz. It features musical score composed by Alexandre Desplat and an original song "Lyra" written and performed by Kate Bush. The soundtrack was released through New Line Records on December 11, 2007.

References

  1. 1 2 Burlingame, Jon (February 21, 2014). "Film Composers Achieve Olympic Victory: Tiomkin music to be featured in Sochi closing ceremony". The Film Music Society . Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  2. "Summon the Heroes - Deluxe Score". Hal Leonard Online. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  3. 1 2 Clemmensen, Christian (January 14, 2002). "American Journey (John Williams)". Filmtracks.com . Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  4. Dilling, Margaret W. (1997). "Review of The sound of the Games: Music for the 1996 Centennial Olympics; Summon the Heroes, ; Rhythm of the Games, , ; Voces Unidas, ; One Voice, ; People Make the World Go 'Round". Ethnomusicology. 41 (2): 316. doi:10.2307/852621. JSTOR   852621 . Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  5. Henry, Derrick (28 March 1996). "WILLIAMS' MUSIC TO SUMMON OLYMPIC HEROES". Deseret News. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  6. 1 2 Swed, Mark (18 July 1996). "The Best Music Doesn't Get 'Official' Nod". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  7. Southall, James (2002). "American Journey Review". Movie Wave. Retrieved February 27, 2015.