His music introduced me to the glories of the symphony orchestra and changed my life forever. The world’s greatest living film composer is 90. Happy birthday, John Williams!
One need only listen to this fan compilation of Williams’ contrapuntal writing, including some unexpected choices, to understand that there really is no one else in the field today who can touch him. You certainly won’t hear anything like it from the Zimmer school.
This one still gives me chills 43+ years later!
Williams and Steven Spielberg discuss music from the piano bench:
Good exchange with Tavis Smiley (especially toward the end):
Perhaps Williams’ best interview, an unusually candid conversation with André Previn:
Williams is the recipient of five Academy Awards, 25 Grammy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. He’s been nominated for an Oscar 52 times, more than any other living person, and second only to Walt Disney.
So what’s he up to now? Although he suggested he would be retiring with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” he’s been conducting concerts all over place, with Anne-Sophie Mutter the soloist in his new Violin Concerto. He’s also scoring Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” – their 29th collaboration – and prepping for the fifth Indiana Jones adventure, out next year.
Over the coming month or so, I’ll be including some Williams selections in my “Picture Perfect” programming. Tune in this week to enjoy a suite from “Jane Eyre” (1970), as part of hour of Gothic romances for Valentine’s Day, and next week for music from “JFK” (1991), “Nixon” (1995), “Amistad” (1997), and “Lincoln” (2012) for Presidents Day Weekend. More to come. “Picture Perfect” can be heard Saturday evenings at 6:00 EST on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.