First of all, I think we must be gratefull that Mark was kind in making this available to everyone, despite the fact that this is unlike to be a faithful representation of the actual interview. For the record, while I did mede some conjectures based on things that we know to be facts, and things that only came up in this interview, that to the least sound weird, I did some serious investigation on the interviewer. I should say for starters, I have no feeling toward him whatsoever: never met him, never talked to him, nothing. But I do know people who know him, and none of them had a nice word about him. What I was able to get from at the time, he is just a weird fan, who claims to be able to get interviews with everyone in the business (funny, FSM, a major thing on the film music scene waited years to be able to interview Williams), and when he publish this interviews, composers and musicians always make the most unexpected revelations. Furthermore, several of the people I talked about this, say to be sure that he does change the actual replies on some of this interviews (the ones to be known to have happened, and never with big names... aparently, the Williams and Horners only are interviewed by him alone...) That would be the only time anyone would have found Williams on a less diplomatic manner... at least on interview. Back in 1984, during the time he quited from his Pops job, he had all reason to be pissed, and never had a bad word torward the orchestra. At the time, all the info leaked throught orchestra musicians and personel, not Williams. Also, other funny things... March of the Villains was originally done for the Jawas... Williams always claimed he don't pick on material from previous projects. Complaining on McNeely work, when he was one of the people who reportedly helped the younger composer on his early years in Hollywood... All sound totally unlike Williams. But yes, those are conjectures on my part. And Regarding the comments on Episode I, it said what many fans wanted to hear, not necessarily what Williams thinks. As for being printed on a fancy magazine, that doesn't makes anything true. This interview ran originally on the interviewers fanzine, and was later added to Starfix, or so I found out through my investigation. Just my two cents. Believe on what you will, but I don't trust one word of this one.
In an interview last year, he's quoted as saying this: He still goes to the piano every day, pencil in hand. “Well, I take the occasional Sunday off. Mind you, there are good days and bad days. A lot of it is rubbish! But it’s the process. It’s picking up the pencil, writing it, having it played, moving on.” While almost every other composer on the planet now employs some kind of electronic technology, for Williams, the old-fashioned tools are key. “It’s an influence that would be hard to quantify, but I think methodology is intimately connected to result,” he considers. “The pencil and paper are still very good tools, as is the piano. It’s something you do with your hands, so there’s an aspect of craftsmanship involved, even penmanship. And largely because I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had the time to go back and re-tool, and learn new methods I might have greatly benefited from.” It is an extraordinary thought that there might have been more from John Williams had he only learnt to use a synthesiser. With the 80th birthday gala approaching, is there anything of which he is most proud? He looks momentarily troubled. “There must surely be bars, here and there, but it’s my personality never to be completely sure that what I’ve done is the best. There’s enough dissatisfaction gnawing at me all the time that I want to try to keep pushing forward.” And what would Johnny Williams Senior think, I wonder, if he could see his son today? “He’d be very surprised by the amount of writing I’ve been able to do!” he chuckles. “I’m surprised! My personal library is a huge clutter, I’ll put it that way.” His voice drops to a wistful near-whisper. “After 60 years of doing this, it’s like breathing for me, or daily meals. My wife is often chiding me – why don’t you give yourself a break for a month or two, you might write better if you got away from it! But my vacation from the Hollywood work has been to sit down here at Tanglewood and write an overture for someone, a concerto for a friend.” He contemplates this. “I think the best way it has ever been put was by Rachmaninoff, who said ‘music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.’ As long as we’re fortunate enough to tinker around with music, I believe it is deserving of our interest until we draw our last breath.”
[This was posted by myself on the FSM board, so I hope you don't mind the 'double dipping'. I know many of you don't frequent FSM, and I think you might find it interesting] WARNING! This is an article-length post. I made this for personal research, but thought it might be interesting to share here on the forum. I'm on an eternal quest to see everything John Williams ever scored, but much of the TV material, in particular, is really hard to find. See this thread for more general musings on the quest: http://www.filmscore...mID=1&archive=0 However, I was finally able to see all the episodes of KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATER (1963-1965) that John Williams scored, and below follows a walkthrough of said episodes – 18 in total. Williams was not the only high-profile composer working on the show. Other luminaries included Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, Lalo Schifrin and Pete Rugolo. And of course a whole lot of musical tracking, as was customary at the time. Like most anthology shows, however, it was never released on VHS or DVD, and the music tracks seem to be lost. In general, the quality of the episodes vary. I was surprised by how many of them focus on domestic settings, courtroom drama and crime investigation. There is rarely "action" and outdoors adventure. Most of it is psychological, relying on character interactions. At some point, I will probably try to rip some of the Williams tracks that stand out, where there's very little sound effects and dialogue. That would be the closest I ever get in terms of a "soundtrack", I think. Zooba has actually done a few already, but I want to focus even more on the dialogue/sound-free sequences, making them as musically worthwhile as possible. ----------------- Season 1 Episode 1 & 2: The Case Against Paul Ryker, Part 1 & 2 I haven't seen this 2-part pilot episode, but a few years later (1968) they used the material for the feature film presentation SERGEANT RYKER, and that I have seen. See this previous thread for more about film and score: http://www.filmscore...mID=1&archive=0 Episode 3: The End of the World, Baby Set in the Riviera, a love triangle drama occurs as both mother and daughter fall in love with the same man. Williams either tracks or uses the Ryker theme for much of this episode. Other noteworthy moments include some funky source music (for a pool and party sequence, respectively), as well as some very dramatic climax/murder music. Episode 4: A Hero for Our Times High-ranking bureaucrat Lloyd Bridges is witness to a murder in the adjacent building while visiting his mistress. The striking thing here is the sultry jazz sax, almost film noir-like theme. There's also a fair bit of jagged brass for the suspense scenes as well as some jazzy source music in a restaurant scene. For the most part, there's a lot of rather discrete dialogue music. Episode 5: Are there any More Out There Like You? After a hit-and-run accident, a high-ranking politician tries to find out if it was his daughter or her friends that drove the car. Love the opening tamtam music that reminded me a bit of the Leonard Bernstein-like opening of DADDY-O. There's also a cute jazz rendition of "Jingle Bells" used as source music in a hotel – hope this is Williams' arrangement. Music in this episode is rather sparse, and usually used for segues (intros and outros). Episode 6: One Step Down Wife of absent doctor Leslie Nielsen is about to have an affair at a motel when the guy keels over and dies, probably from alcoholism. She's torn between telling the truth or hiding it. The interesting thing here is that the score is written almost exclusively for strings – very Bernard Herrmann-style, whether used in a motif style or pizzicato. Episode 7: The Machine that Played God A girl accidentally gets her husband killed while driving up the wrong freeway ramp, and doubts her own innocence after taking a lie detector test. For the most part, it's mostly rather non-descript string writing for a few key moments – basically runs up and down the scale. Again rather sparse. Episode 8: The Long, Lost Life of Edward Smalley Soldier Edward Smalley (Richard Crenna) accidentally kills his commanding officer during WW2, and needs to stand court martial while he ponders his own guilt. Robert Altman wrote and directed. The main thing, musically, is a brass motif that sounds like a precursor to the suspenseful brass motif from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, in addition to a beautiful use of vibraphone in a dream sequence. Episode 9: The Hunt Unlucky traveller James Caan's car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. He gets tangled up in the twisted ways of hillbilly sherriff Mickey Rooney and his gang, who like to hunt prisoners for sport. Finally some outdoors adventure in this show! Again there are some interesting and dramatic brass motifs, but the striking thing is the atonal piano plunkings for when Caan rummages through the sheriff's office. Very avantgarde! Episode 10: The Name of the Game A brilliant 'architect' knows the name of the game while playing the dice in Las Vegas, and enters into a collaboration with millionaire Pat Hingle, not knowing that his love interest is in to hussle him. In this Sidney Pollack-directed episode, the music is very sparse. Mostly jazzy source cues in the casino, plus a brief "love" theme for the architect and his deceitful mistress. Episode 11: The Deep End A bit confusing storyline, but a private investigator tries to find out if the drowning of a woman working at a construction company was accidental or a murder. He's hired by the woman's sister, played by a young and gorgeous Ellen Burstyn. There's some source music again, and a reappearance of the Ryker theme (during a meeting at the elevator), but the really cool thing is an almost JAWS-like ostinato for when the murderer attacks and drowns the victims, rising from below – 11 years before he wrote JAWS! Episode 14: Leviathan Five A group of scientists get trapped in an underground facility and make an arrangement of who's going to live and who's going to die. They face their moral dilemmas in a court of law. David Giler of ALIEN fame wrote the episode, and it seems to have some of the 'isolated people' aspects that the famous sci fi film had. Very cleverly and smart written. There seems to be a lot of tracked music here – the Ryker theme as well as the brass motif from "The Hunt", plus some original suspense writing. Episode 16: The Action of the Tiger An American POW escapes from a German Stalag camp to deliver vital information to the French resistance. While on a train, he encounters the "help" from an undercover German officer (Telly Savalas). There is more action in this episode and some really intense suspense. Again, the Ryker theme appears (could this be Williams' recurring 'leitmotif' for the series?), some brass motifs and flourishes and a pretty cool percussion-only segment in the opening. Episode 18: The Threatening Eye A psycho woman with a hilarious French-Canadian accent tries to hussle a man out of money, killing his wife in the process. There are some wild string harmonies a la "One Step Down" here, with some occasional dramatic brass. Episode 20: Knight's Gambit A man named Knight is hired to investigate the corruption charges of a retired (and alchoholic) politician vacationing in Mallorca, falls in love with his wife and needs to choose sides as the mafia people who payed the politician off arrive on the island. The storyline is a bit confusing at times, and also a bit boring. There are some swingin' cocktail/pop source music for the festivities at the steamboat, a super-sweet soap opera-type love theme and some wild suspense/action music, relying on a descending riff. Episode 21: Once Upon a Savage Night I haven't seen this episode either, but I've seen the film version which was made (similar to SERGEANT RYKER) called NIGHTMARE IN CHICAGO (1964), directed by Robert Altman. You can read more about the film and score in this thread: http://www.filmscore...mID=1&archive=0 Episode 27: The Robrioz Ring Set in some pittoresque coastal village at the west coast, Mario Robrioz (Robert Loggia) tries to get back the ring his mother pawned, wooing the vacationing woman who bought it. This episode feels very dated in terms of sex stereotypes, especially the woman who constantly apologizes to Robrioz, even though he is the transgressor. There is some wonderful pastoral writing for woodwinds, a few highpitched soap opera strings, a little bit of source music (piano), and lots of music with little dialogue. Should be possible to rip some really good tracks from this one. Season 2 Episode 1: The World I Want An elderly man wants to change his will and give everything to his niece, since his own wife is a psycho. The wife, in turn, resorts to some pretty drastic measures. The title of the episode is the voiceover story the niece is writing. This is a very bad episode, with lots of overacting and a ridiculous "German" accent. The best thing about it is Leonard Nimoy as the lawyer who changes the will. However, there's some really nice flute writing for the niece, a reappearance of the CE3K string motif for the chase sequences as well as some "standard" TV suspense music. Episode 15: Four Into Zero Four guys plan to heist a train, steal some money plates and forge a million dollars while on board the train. Their wives become suspicious. Williams' score is quite monothematic; there's the main theme (which I've heard somewhere before, I can't place it....sounds a bit CE3Kish) is arranged according to setting -- a western/"train"-like arrangement, one for the city and a love theme version of sorts. There's also some very dramatic, staccato writing for the climax sequence. Pretty cool music. -------------- I tried to see if there were any other episodes scored by Williams, but I couldn't find any. Whenever the credit reads "Kraft theme by John Williams", he didn't score it (it was either tracked or scored by other composers), and that was the credit for the others throughout the two seasons of this show. If anyone knows something I don't (Jeff Eldridge?), I'd love some info, though. One last thing – did Williams write anything (new) for the spin-off/replacement(?) show KRAFT MYSTERY THEATER?
I think that Lockhart sometimes conducts sans baton. No idea why. As for the "extra" yes on "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas", that's how the concert version ends.
Good ones Maurizio. The ones I would ask were basically put by this fellow David Kay... But some very good ones overall. Though some of them, the more well informed fan would already know the answer
Good ones Maurizio. The ones I would ask were basically put by this fellow David Kay... But some very good ones overall. Though some of them, the more well informed fan would already know the answer
The full piece is performed. It is a wonderful work. I just felt like the time stopped and all there was in the world was the sound of the guitar. Really a terrific piece. Can't wait to have it published, as I have someone who will have the time of his life performing it
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from crocodile in Conversations - New Chamber (piano solo) by John Williams
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from Incanus in Conversations - New Chamber (piano solo) by John Williams
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from karelm in Conversations - New Chamber (piano solo) by John Williams
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from Once in Uncommon 1999 JW Interview
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from mahler3 in Which John Williams Piece...
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from Omen II in Friday Night Is Music Night 2012 & 2017
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from Muad'Dib in DSO and Five Sacred Trees Broadcast
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from Jair Crawford in DSO and Five Sacred Trees Broadcast
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from mortegae in What is the most asoundingly magical moment of JW writing ever?
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from TownerFan in Submit your questions to John Williams via ClassicFM on Facebook
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from Thor in New Williams piece, "Rounds" for guitar, to be premiered today [UPDATE: Studio recording released September 11 2015]
Miguel Andrade got a reaction from Ricard in New Williams piece, "Rounds" for guitar, to be premiered today [UPDATE: Studio recording released September 11 2015]