This weekend will be a special one for fans of the music of John Williams. The prolific and multiple Academy Award-winning composer will be celebrating 40 years of conducting at the Hollywood Bowl with three concerts beginning Friday night. David Newman will be leading the LA Philharmonic in the first half of the program. Then Williams himself will be conducting the second half. And if that isn’t enough, Steven Spielberg will also be on hand to help celebrate his go-to composer.
We thought it would be appropriate to ask several artists about their memories about Williams, his appearances at the Bowl and his scores.
David Newman – composer/conductor
“I would say that John Williams along with Jerry Goldsmith, really lead the latter half of [film scoring] in the 20th century and John into the 21st century. Aside from his gigantic contribution to film music with Spielberg, Lucas and these event films starting with Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones movies and the Jurassic movies, this other part of his life of making film music part of the conversation in the high arts in Western concert music makes John Williams an ambassador.”
Michael Arden – actor/director
“He’s our Mozart. He’s the composer they should make busts of and put on music teachers’ pianos. He’s writing music in the most sophisticated of forms for film – which is our highest synthesis of art as a civilization now and he does it the best. I hold a special place in my heart for E.T., the movie of my childhood.”
Matthew Aucoin – Composer/Conductor
“I love the Star Wars soundtrack as much as the next guy.”
Gerald Sternbach – Composer and Music Director for Reprise 2.0
“I’ve always been listening to film music. The first time you heard Star Wars or E.T., it’s like wow! What is that? It’s something that makes an impression. I saw him do an opening night [concert] at the Bowl. One of the things he did was the Olympics Theme. It’s one of those things you never forget. He represents what music is in this country like Leonard Bernstein did.”
Lara Downes – Pianist
“He represents the sound of American movies. He’s that iconic sound of American movies. The part of that story that I really love is about [Aaron] Copland and [Leonard] Bernstein and this whole American thing we’ve made up out of thing air and we count on in some cultural way. When I hear a John Williams score, I also hear a [Erich Wolfgang] Korngold score and I think about where that music came from. And that’s really at the heart of American music. It’s music that comes from a tragic moment in world history, a migration and immigration, and people whose musical roots lay elsewhere and these roots came together in a unique way. John Williams is the next chapter in that.”
Roger Bart – Actor
“He’s the Henry Mancini of our generation.”
John Williams on revisiting his work
“Every time Brahms went to hear one of his symphonies played, he would go in the audience and listen to the symphony and the next day he would go to the Bibliotheque in Vienna, get the original score out and make changes – he never could leave it alone. Some sage said the a work of art is never finished, it’s only abandoned. That’s really true of all of us; it’s like one of our children. You never finish trying to groom it; the child could be 60 years old, and you’re still saying, “Well, you look better if you dress this way.” I think on the one hand don’t tamper with it, and on the other an artist can, should and, I think, must be excused for wanting to continue to improve his or her work.”
Images of John Williams courtesy of the LA Philharmonic.
John Williams quote from an interview I conducted with him in 1996. Also published at Film Score Monthly