![]() ![]() Spielberg, who first sought out a lunch with Williams in 1972 after being captivated by his score to “The Reivers,” has called him “the single most significant contributor to my success as a filmmaker.” Williams’ enduring partnership with Steven Spielberg has, of course, helped the composer’s odds. Occasionally we get lucky and we find one.” Film offers that opportunity - not often but occasionally it does. “But some of the greatest music ever written has been narrative. “A purist may say that music represented in film is not absolute music. In the world’s elite orchestras, Williams’ compositions have passed into canon. Williams, who led the Boston Pops from 1980 to 1993, has conducted the Berlin, Vienna and New York philharmonics, among others. This late chapter in Williams’ career is in some ways a chance to place his mammoth legacy not just in connection with cinema but among the classical legends. “They were floored by the musicianship of this man.” People just wanted to play for him,” says Ma. “Recording with the New York Philharmonic, the whole orchestra to a person were awestruck by this gentleman at now 90 who hears everything, is unfailingly kind, gentle, polite. Increasingly, Williams has the aura of a venerated old master who bridges distant eras of film and music. Now, many are gravitating toward synthesized music for film. When Williams began (his first feature film score was 1958’s “Daddy-O”), the cinematic tradition of grand, orchestral scores was beginning to lose out to pop soundtracks. “My younger colleagues are much faster than I am because they have electronic equipment and computers and synthesizers and so on.” ![]() “It’s like cutting a stone at your desk,” he says. Williams does most of his work sitting for hours at a time at his Steinway, composing in pencil. He began an interview by offering: “Let me see if I can give you anything that might be useful.” All those indelible, perfectly constructed themes, he believes, are the product less of divine inspiration than daily hard work. Williams has a warm, humble, courteous manner despite his stature. I can only see what’s in front of me at the piano right at this moment, and do my best with that.” What could be more rewarding than that?” says Williams. “I’m told that the music is played all over the world. A billion people might be able to instantly hum Williams’ two-note ostinato from “Jaws” or “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars.” But even that hardly hints at the cultural power of his music. Five Oscars and 52 Academy Award nominations, a number bested only by Walt Disney, is one measurement. It’s an amount of accomplishment that’s hard to quantify. “He is one of the great American voices.” “He’s lived through the better part of a century, and his music encompasses all of the events and changes of those times,” says Ma, a longtime friend. So it’s an essential part of our humanity.Īnd, in turn, Williams has provided the soundtrack to the lives of countless others through more than 100 film scores, among them “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park,” “Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T.,” “Indiana Jones,” “Superman,” “Schindler’s List” and “ Harry Potter.” I always like to speculate that music is older than language, that we were probably beating drums and blowing on reeds before we could speak. We can reflect on how necessary music has been for humanity. Music can raise one’s thinking to the level of poetry. “Without being religious, which I’m not especially, there is a spiritual life, an artistic life, a realm that’s above the mundanities of everyday realities. “It’s given me the ability to breathe, the ability to live and understand that there’s more to corporal life,” Williams says. ![]() Turning 90 - an event that the Kennedy Center and Tanglewood are celebrating this summer with birthday concerts - has caused Williams to reflect on his accomplishments, his remaining ambitions and what a lifetime of music has meant to him. It’s a radiant collection of cello concertos and new arrangements from the scores of “Schindler’s List,” “Lincoln” and “Munich,” including the sublime “A Prayer for Peace.” This spring, Williams and cellist Yo-Yo Ma released the album “A Gathering of Friends,” recorded with the New York Philharmonic, Pablo Sáinz-Villegas and Jessica Zhou. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |