BBC Radio 3 will be celebrating John Williams’ life and music in a series of five daily programmes from Monday 14th to Friday 18th January as part of the station’s “Composer Of The Week” series.
The programmes are based upon an exclusive two-hour interview the BBC conducted with John Williams in September this year at Universal Studios, with the composer in conversation with presenter Donald Macleod. The series will feature more than four hours of John Williams’ music, spanning his entire career – and as well as excerpts from Star Wars, E.T., Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, A.I., Tintin…and many many more – it’ll be featuring a selection of his concert and jazz work, including his flute, violin and bassoon concertos, and his score to “Checkmate”.
The series can be heard daily at noon (repeated 6.30pm), anywhere in the world on the BBC Radio 3 website: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
There will be further information on the BBC’s website – including an exclusive ‘teaser’ of the interview – early in the New Year.
PROMOTIONAL NOTE
Composer Of The Week: JOHN WILLIAMS
Monday 14th – Friday 18th January, 1200-1300 and 1830-1930, BBC Radio 3
Listen live online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
Film music legend John Williams speaks exclusively to BBC Radio 3’s Composer Of The Week, with more than four hours of music spanning Williams’ entire career – including his scores to Star Wars, E.T., Schindler’s List, Harry Potter…and many many more…
John Williams is probably the most recognised – and popular – composer in the world today. In a career spanning more than half a century, he’s delighted and entranced audiences with his scores to an unparalleled roll-call of movie blockbusters, and taken film music out of the cinema and into the living rooms of millions of people worldwide. He’s been nominated for more Oscars than anyone in history, after Walt Disney.
At the end of Williams’ 80th birthday year, he discusses his remarkable life in music and film with Donald Macleod, in an interview recorded last Autumn at Universal Studios, Los Angeles – with five hour-long episodes showcasing some of Williams’ most beloved scores and works for the concert hall.
Fans of Williams’ famous music to Star Wars will enjoy Tuesday and Friday’s programmes, as we feature extended excerpts from across all six movies in the Star Wars series, including one of Williams’ most brilliant musical sequences – the Battle Of Hoth, from The Empire Strikes Back. Williams chats to Donald Macleod about how he and George Lucas dreamed up the score to this ‘space opera’, the plot clues he secreted deep in the musical score, and the challenge of returning to his music nearly two decades on…
But naturally, it’s John Williams’ relationship with Steven Spielberg that dominates the week, as he talks about how a chance meeting with a rookie director in 1974 blossomed into one of the most brilliant partnerships in movie history – and comments on Spielberg’s own keen musical ear…
We’ll hear extended excerpts from Williams’ Spielberg scores throughout the week, beginning with E.T., Close Encounters and Jaws on Monday and Tuesday – before Wednesday’s episode concentrates on Williams’ tragic, Oscar-winning music to Schindler’s List, as the composer discusses how he approached the almost impossible task of composing music for Spielberg’s Holocaust drama.
Thursday and Friday bring us right up to date, as Williams chats about creating music for the fantastical worlds of Harry Potter and Jurassic Park, and his recent scores to A.I. and Tintin. Williams also lifts the lid on his work on a host of other Hollywood directors, including his scores for Richard Donner’s Superman, Oliver Stone’s J.F.K., and – most surprisingly perhaps – his score to Alfred Hitchcock’s last film, Family Plot…
But this week is not just about film. John Williams has enjoyed an acclaimed career as jazz bandleader and conductor and composer for the concert hall. Throughout the week, we’ll be hearing about this less well-known side of his career – as he talks about his early life as a jazz pianist, writing TV scores in the studio hothouses of Los Angeles, and the orchestral concert works that have spanned his career. Listeners who thought Williams was ‘just a film composer’ might be surprised, as he evokes Stravinsky, Bernstein and Tippett in a series of acerbic and effervescent instrumental concerti.
John Williams speaks exclusively to Donald Macleod in “Composer Of The Week”, from 14th – 18th January on BBC Radio 3.
FULL PLAYLIST
COMPOSER OF THE WEEK: JOHN WILLIAMS
BBC Radio 3 – 14th-18th January 2013 – 1200, repeated at 1830
Listen online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
MONDAY
John Williams talks to Donald Macleod about a meeting with a young rookie director that changed movie history. Williams discusses the lunch date with Steven Spielberg in 1972 that precipitated one of the film’s greatest partnerships – as well as introducing his pioneering score to Spielberg’s “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind”.
Before that, we hear about Williams’ early life in jazz, working with Henry Mancini and André Previn, and composing big band jazz scores for television – including the detective drama Checkmate. He discusses the perils of the hothouse studios of the 1960s, and introduces his score to the TV film Jane Eyre, for which he visited the Yorkshire Dales.
The programme ends with the first of a series of Williams’ concert works – the pungently dissonant, Bartók-tinged Flute Concerto from 1969.
E.T. – Flying Theme
LSO / John Williams
Checkmate (1960)
Main Theme – 2.14
The Bishop’s Retreat – 3.10
Cyanide Touch – 2.35
The Johnny Williams Orchestra
Jane Eyre (1971)
Theme from “Jane Eyre” – 3.18
Restoration – 3.43
City Of Prague Philharmonic / Nic Raine
Suite: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra / Zubin Mehta
Flute Concerto (1969)
Peter Lloyd (flute)
LSO / Leonard Slatkin
TUESDAY
Star Wars: the greatest movie score of all time, according to the American Film Institute – exclusively introduced by the composer himself on BBC Radio 3.
John Williams talks to Donald Macleod about the most famous film score in history. He discusses the moment George Lucas proposed his “space opera”, and explains why he chose the ‘old-fashioned’, lush Romantic style of Tchaikovsky and Korngold to accompany this futuristic tale of aliens and spaceships.
We’ll hear some of the most memorable musical moments from the first three films to be made (Episodes IV-VI), including the iconic Main Title, the Imperial March, and Luke and Leia’s Theme. Donald Macleod also introduces perhaps the finest extended musical sequence in the series: Williams’ mesmerising score to the battle on the ice planet of Hoth.
The programme ends with a deeply personal work in Williams’ career – his Violin Concerto, written by the grieving composer after the tragic death of his first wife, Barbara Ruick Williams; a tragedy that overshadowed the huge success his music enjoyed in the mid 1970s.
Jaws (1975): Main Title
Universal Studios Orchestra / John Williams
Star Wars: Episode IV “A New Hope” (1977)
Main Title – Rebel Blockade Runner
Leia’s Theme
The Millennium Falcon / Imperial Cruiser Pursuit
LSO / John Williams
Star Wars: Episode V “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980)
The Battle Of Hoth
The Imperial March – Darth Vader’s Theme
LSO / John Williams
Violin Concerto “In Memory of B.R.W.” (1976)
I. Moderato
Gil Shaham (violin); Boston SO / John Williams
Star Wars: Episode VI “Return Of The Jedi”
Luke and Leia
WEDNESDAY
John Williams talks to Donald Macleod about working with Steven Spielberg on the Holocaust drama, Schindler’s List – and how he approached the enormous challenge of writing music to complement such a tragic and harrowing story. We’ll hear excerpts from his Oscar-winning score, infused with the inflections of Jewish traditional music.
Before this, a very different – and much loved – Spielberg score: Williams’ music to the “Indiana Jones” series of films, and the composer’s Olympic Fanfare, written for the Los Angeles Summer Games of 1984, and reprised every games since.
We end with a real rarity, and likely a real surprise to many: John Williams’ score to Alfred Hitchcock’s last film, Family Plot. Williams is one of the very few people in history to have worked closely with both Hitchcock and Spielberg – and he tells us how these two directorial giants compare…
Superman (1978): Main Title
LSO / John Williams
Indiana Jones and the Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)
The Adventures Of Mutt
Raiders March
Hollywood Studio Orchestra / John Williams
Olympic Fanfare (1984)
Orchestra of the Brandenburg State Opera, Cottbus / Evan Christ
J.F.K. (1991): Arlington and End Titles
City of Prague Philharmonic / Nic Raine
Schindler’s List (1993)
Theme From Schindler’s List
Oyf’n Pripetshok / Nacht Aktion
Remembrances
Theme From Schindler’s List (Reprise)
Itzhak Perlman (violin); Giora Feldman(clarinet);
Li-Ron Herzeliya Children’s Choir + Boston Symphony Orchestra / John Williams
Family Plot (1976): End Title
City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra / Paul Bateman
THURSDAY
Music of the fantastical and the fabulous today, as John Williams explains to Donald Macleod how he created his scores to Jurassic Park and to the Harry Potter series – with musical highlights from the first three Williams-scored films, in which the composer’s love of Viennese waltzes, big band jazz, and Victorian Gothic are given free rein…
After a unique concerto for bassoon and orchestra, inspired by trees and the writings of Robert Graves, John Williams introduces a score unique in his output – his music to Spielberg’s A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, in which he draws upon the minimalist style of Philip Glass and John Adams to create one of his finest futuristic scores.
Suite From Jurassic Park (1993)
City Of Prague Philharmonic Philharmonic / Paul Bateman
Bassoon Concerto: Five Sacred Trees (1995)
III. Eó Rossa
IV. Craeb Uisnig
Judith Le Clair (bassoon); LSO / John Williams
Excerpts from the “Harry Potter” series
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)
Hedwig’s Theme
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Aunt Marge’s Waltz
The Knight Bus
Professor Hagrid
The Dementors Converge
Studio Orchestra / John Williams
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
The Mecha World
Rouge City
The Reunion
Studio Orchestra / John Williams
FRIDAY
John Williams talks exclusively to Donald Macleod for the final time this week, with Star Wars once more taking centre stage…
Williams discusses the challenges of returning to the series, nearly two decades on, and the hidden plot clues hidden deep in his music…We’ll hear highlights from Williams brand new music for the three ‘prequels’ (Eps I-III), including “Duel Of The Fates” and the climactic “Battle Of The Heroes”.
The programme opens with two works that throw back to his background in big bands and concert halls some of his most recent scores – the effervescent, jazz-infused Main Title from Tintin – and a spiky, Stravinskyan Horn Concerto. We also showcase one of Williams’ most haunting scores of the previous decade – his music to Rob Marshall’s Memoirs Of A Geisha.
Donald ends the week with thoughts on Williams’ career and position as “America’s composer”, a unique musical voice transcending popular and classical music, and the inheritor of a mantle once held by Gershwin, Copland and Bernstein. The week plays out with Williams’ music for the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2008 – his “Air and Simple Gifts”.
The Adventures of Tintin (2012): Main Title
Studio Orchestra / John Williams
Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005)
Sayuri’s Theme
Chiyo’s Prayer
The Chairman’s Waltz
Sayuri’s Theme And End Credits
Horn Concerto (2003)
I. Angelus: “Far Far Away, Like Bells…At Evening Pealing” – 5.40
II. The Battle Of The Trees: “Swift Oak…Stout Guardian Of The Door” – 2.11
Karl Pituch (horn); Detroit SO / Leonard Slatkin
Excerpts from Star Wars Eps 1-3 (1999-2005)
Star Wars: Episode 1 “The Phantom Menace”
Duel Of The Fates
Anakin’s Theme
Star Wars: Episode 2 “Attack Of The Clones”
Across The Stars
Star Wars: Episode 3 “Revenge Of The Sith”
Battle Of The Heroes
London Voices & LSO / John Williams
Air and Simple Gifts (2008)
Anthony MacGill (clarinet); Itzhak Perlman (violin); Yo-Yo Ma (cello); Gabriela Montero (piano)