“If we hold on together” is a beautiful song performed by Diana Ross. It was written in 1988 for the animation film THE LAND BEFORE TIME directed by Don Bluth and produced by Steven Spielberg. The music was composed by James Horner, Barry Mann and lyricist Will Jennings. Yes, the same Will Jennings that will write 10 years later the lyrics to the hit song “My Heart Will Go On” with Horner. Decades later, this melancholic melody is still played at Cannes Film Festival for the Awards Ceremony.
First of all, here are three versions of this little gem that you can listen to online.
This first video contains the 1988 original version sung by Diana Ross.
The second video is a 1992 version sung by Diana Ross with children choir and orchestra in Vienna.
The third video is a 2013 version made for the Hollywood in Vienna Ceremony conducted by David Newman. In this video, you can see that James Horner is genuinely moved by his own song. Film music lovers will recognize that Horner is surrounded by great people that have an influence in the music industry:
- Steve Bransom (he orchestrated James Horner’s “Apollo 13”, “Balto” and “Jumanji” and wrote the music for “Jag”, “Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” and “Space Mountain” for the Disneyland Paris version)
- Robert Townson (Varese Sarabande ex-Producer and now CEO of Robert Townson Productions)
- Herb & Sabine Tucmandl (CEO of Vienna Symphonic Library)
- Dennis Sands and his wife (music scoring mixer genius who worked on Alan Silvestri‘s most iconic scores)
I interviewed some of them few months ago. I will post their interviews soon so don’t hesitate to subscribe to my English YouTube Channel to be sure to receive by email the notification of the upload of these upcoming interviews 😉
​THANK YOU FOR ​READING THIS ARTICLE​
​As a ​BONUS GIFT, here is a one-page PDF that illustrates the various musical influences of JOHN WILLIAMS that you can explore and apply to your projects to improve your ​ARRANGING and ​ORCHESTRATION skills. ​Feel free to enter your information below to receive it 😉
​​I hate spams: your email won't be given or sold to anyone! By subscribing here, you will receive articles, videos, commercial offers, podcasts and free advice to help you in improving your skills in Music (Orchestration, Film Music, Jazz, Classical Music, Harmony, Music Analysis, Solfege, Sibelius, etc...) You can unsubscribe whenever you want!
