Ian Stouffer

In a couple of months, I'll be celebrating my '30th anniversary' of being a John Williams fan and collector.
 
Growing up with films like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and E.T., I've been intrigued by Williams' music since childhood, but it was during the Spring of 1993 that I became a true and devoted fan.
 
My life was very different 30 years ago. I was still living with my parents, attended the final year of high school, had hair on my head and I had no idea how my life was going to turn out. 
 
I look back on 30 years filled with significant events, ranging from wonderful to not so great. I became a teacher and headmaster, got married to a beautiful wife, bought a house, lost my stepfather and grandparents, traveled the world, became father to an autistic son and successfully overcame an episode of depression.
 
The music of John Williams has been an integral part of my personal journey and has always had a positive effect on me. 
 
Today I had some photos taken of my entire collection, something I've been wanting to do for years. I hope you will enjoy them and here's to the next 30 years! 
 
 
 
 

The concert was an incredible concert. The Beethoven Triple Concerto was played very well. I really loved the Schindler's List Trio (that as far as I'm aware was a world premiere). Anne-Sophie Mutter is amazing as always, and the anecdote about violins in space was interesting. Scherzo for Violin and Motorcycle was a lot of fun, as was Across the Stars. My second John Williams concert was awesome, just like the one from April of last year.

Can't wait to hear the world premiere of Scherzo for Violin and Motorcycle! Last Crusade is my favorite of the Indiana Jones films, and I even have an original poster for it.

A truly magnificent evening! The Maestro was in top form and still sharp as a nail (except only a couple self-described “senior moments”, and during one I helped him remember Sean Connery’s name!). The new version of “Scherzo” was great fun and very much tailored for Anne-Sophie’s style, but the bigger highlight for me was the new version of “Anakin’s Theme” that was also done for her. It took the changes from the version debuted at Tanglewood this past summer and greatly expanded on them, ending on a haunting harp rendition of the Imperial March very similar to what’s played when the character dies at the end of Return of the Jedi - a truly unexpected and chill-inducing callback!
 
My photos:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The concert was an incredible concert. The Beethoven Triple Concerto was played very well. I really loved the Schindler's List Trio (that as far as I'm aware was a world premiere). Anne-Sophie Mutter is amazing as always, and the anecdote about violins in space was interesting. Scherzo for Violin and Motorcycle was a lot of fun, as was Across the Stars. My second John Williams concert was awesome, just like the one from April of last year.

The concert was an incredible concert. The Beethoven Triple Concerto was played very well. I really loved the Schindler's List Trio (that as far as I'm aware was a world premiere). Anne-Sophie Mutter is amazing as always, and the anecdote about violins in space was interesting. Scherzo for Violin and Motorcycle was a lot of fun, as was Across the Stars. My second John Williams concert was awesome, just like the one from April of last year.

Can't wait to hear the world premiere of Scherzo for Violin and Motorcycle! Last Crusade is my favorite of the Indiana Jones films, and I even have an original poster for it.

Upcoming concert to be broadcast at Stage+
https://www.stage-plus.com/video/live_concert_9HKNCPA3DTN66PBIEHFJAC1M

Pretty cool having a concert with Williams splitting the bill with Beethoven.  

Just got tickets for me, my sister and my mom. Can't wait to see him in concert!

Just got tickets for me, my sister and my mom. Can't wait to see him in concert!

Many to choose from in Barry Lyndon. Meticulously composed portraits and landscapes inspired by the paintings of the period.
 

 

 

 

Maybe this doesn't exactly fit the criteria for this thread, but it is a JW encounter (of sorts) in what I consider to be an unexpected place.
 
On Deutsche Grammophon's website, their news page has an announcement about their 125th anniversary -- and it's JW who gets to grace the article with its main and only photo right beneath the headline. And it's JW who gets listed first in the murderer's row of talent that DG is touting for its anniversary activities. Moreover, reading the press release, it sure sounds like JW's Tokyo concert with the SKO was DG's official kickoff event for its 125th anniversary.
 
It's hard not to feel all warm inside when the world's premier classical label gives JW pride of place for its 125th anniversary announcement, right??
 

https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/projects/diverse-kuenstler/news/deutsche-grammophon-celebrates-125-years-270831

How likely is it that a recording of Williams' music could be bought in Paris in 1962? The image is from the Jean-Luc Godard film, Vivre Sa Vie (1962)

Powell and Pressburger films are loved for their incredibly gorgeous Technicolor photography, and Tales of Hoffmann is no exception.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Maestro.   You are remarkable. 
 
You never cease to amaze and inspire me. Milan,  L.A., NY, Chicago, Japan, Tanglewood, etc.  This is a world tour on the level of a person in their 20s. 
 
The gifts keep coming with Grit and Glory, Fabelmans, Indy5, more concert works. 
 
Don’t stop! Can’t stop! Won’t stop!  
 
You are my favorite artist of any media.   Cheers, thank you, and here’s to many more happy years and wonderful music. 
 
I plan on crying many happy tears today. 

Underrated is Jaws 2, a score that expands on concepts from the first Jaws and has many incredible pieces.

I don't know about underrated, but I think the most overrated score here in this forum is The Lost World.
 

Underrated is Jaws 2, a score that expands on concepts from the first Jaws and has many incredible pieces.

I reflected on this a lot over the years and even more since I began the Legacy project. Several things mentioned above here are true and I agree with such statements. It’s possible to do a critical evaluation of JW and put him into a definite historical context. In this regard, Williams is very much a fixture of the 20th century, as he grew up, matured and found his success throughout the second half of the 1900s, so he belong to this specific timeframe and absorbed its wide variety of influences, as many of the greats who lived in the same era did. 
 
Anyway, what I understood is that JW is pretty much a unique and irreplaceable figure in the history of film music, but also music in general. The fact he found fortune and glory in the glitzy commercial world of Hollywood (to which he will always be inextricably tied) doesn’t diminish his formidable skills as a composer who has been able to synthesize and revive a musical tradition (i.e. the classical Hollywood scoring style) and let his own voice be also heard loud and clear nonetheless. He has always been popular and sophisticated at the same time, a quality that is really rare to find. I think he’s the musical equivalent of a Charles Dickens or a Mark Twain in this regard. He fuses unbridled Mozartian genius with a Haydn-like balanced sense of sophistication. Hollywood offered him an ideal platform, in which he was able to express his own talent. He was the right person in the right place at the right moment of history, surrounded by talent and creativity since his early days there and part of a generation who also loved jazz and modern music. 
 
There won’t be another John Williams as there never was another Twain, Dickens or Haydn. He will always be a benchmark, a fixture and a role model for many many composers and artists for centuries to come.

Perhaps the recording from NY comes closest.
John Williams Conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra | Carnegie Hall Live | WQXR
 
 

Williams was sitting in the balcony right over our seats during the first half.

As Jay said, it just doesn’t happen anymore, given his age and the fact that we are still in a pandemic.  It’s a very nice thing you’re doing for your son. I will be there at this concert too.  So although you may be disappointed that autographs or meet and greets are completely out of the question, live in the moment and realize how lucky we are. Enjoy the opportunity and consider yourself so fortunate to even be able to attend.  It’s quite miraculous to me that the Maestro is doing so many concerts in such a short period of time. 

In a film filled with great shots, these are two of my favorites. Gregg Toland was unfairly snubbed at the Oscars.

Tomorrow is the day of the concert. I can't wait.